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O Eucalipto: um século no Brasil (The Eucalypt - Celso Foelkel

O Eucalipto: um século no Brasil (The Eucalypt - Celso Foelkel

O Eucalipto: um século no Brasil (The Eucalypt - Celso Foelkel

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A demanda era tão forte, que em 240 a<strong>no</strong>s os portugueses acabaram com todas as árvores da<br />

Ilha da Madeira, mas aos ingleses bastaram 20 a<strong>no</strong>s para eliminar a última árvore da ilha de<br />

Barbados. E <strong>no</strong> <strong>Brasil</strong>, os engenhos de açúcar, 70 em Pernambuco e 40 na Bahia, <strong>no</strong> <strong>século</strong><br />

XVI, afetaram a Mata Atlântica de tal modo, que hoje restam só 8% dessa floresta.<br />

Muito antes, entretanto, em 1760, D. José I, rei de Portugal, baixa o alvará que é considerado<br />

a primeira lei ecológica relativa ao <strong>Brasil</strong>. El Rey tinha sido informado de que “os povos<br />

das referidas capitanias cortam e arrasam as árvores chamadas mangues, a fim de<br />

as venderem como lenha”, e proíbe tal atividade, por temer que os mangues deixassem<br />

de existir, o que não podia ocorrer, já que essas árvores eram as únicas, acreditava, que<br />

forneciam tani<strong>no</strong> para os curt<strong>um</strong>es.<br />

No Hemisfério Norte, a derrubada dos pinheirais foi tão grande, que os inspetores da Nova<br />

Inglaterra previram já em 1719 o fim das florestas nativas.<br />

No <strong>século</strong> XIX, quando o homem começou a vencer as doenças infecciosas e,<br />

em conseqüência, multiplicou por várias vezes a população sobre o planeta, aguçou ainda<br />

mais o apetite por madeira. A demanda cresceu intensamente, inclusive <strong>no</strong> <strong>Brasil</strong>, com o<br />

advento das ferrovias, a primeira de 1830, na Inglaterra, cons<strong>um</strong>indo madeira nas fornalhas<br />

das locomotivas, nas pontes, <strong>no</strong>s túneis, nas estações e <strong>no</strong>s dormentes.<br />

O E U C A L I P T O - U M S É C U L O N O B R A S I L<br />

52<br />

Locomotiva Barão de Souza Queiroz.<br />

A exigência de lenha das marias-f<strong>um</strong>aça resultou <strong>no</strong>s primeiros plantios de eucalipto <strong>no</strong> <strong>Brasil</strong>.<br />

<strong>The</strong> demand of steam trains resulted in the first plantations of eucalypts in Brazil.<br />

<strong>The</strong>re was so much demand that in 240 years the Portuguese depleted all of the trees<br />

in the Madeira Islands. <strong>The</strong> English, meanwhile, needed only 20 years to eliminate the<br />

last tree on Barbados. In Brazil, the sugar mills, 70 in Pernambuco and 40 in Bahia, in<br />

the 16 th century, affected the Atlantic Forest in such a manner that today only 8% of this<br />

forest remains.<br />

Well before, however, in 1760, D. José I, the King of Portugal, signed the permit which<br />

is considered the first ecological law related to Brazil. El Rey had been informed that<br />

“the peoples of the mentioned captainships cut and drag the so-called marsh trees to<br />

sell them for firewood”, and prohibits the activity, fearing the marshes would disappear,<br />

something that couldn’t happen since it was believed those were the only trees that<br />

provided tannin to the tanning.<br />

In the Northern Hemisphere, pine tree slashing was so intense that New England inspectors<br />

foresaw native forests would disappear completely by 1719.<br />

In the 19th century, when mankind started defeating infectious disease and multiplied<br />

its population on the planet many times over, the appetite for wood became even more<br />

voracious. Demand grew even more, even in Brazil, with the advent of the railways, the<br />

first, in 1830, in England, cons<strong>um</strong>ing wood in the engines, to build bridges, in tunnels,<br />

in stations and in the sleepers.

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