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ENVIRONMENT-LATAM: Ethical Development to Cool Off the Planet

Fabiana Frayssinet

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil, Oct 18 2007 (IPS) - Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva suggested an ethically and politically sustainable development model at a conference in this southeastern Brazilian city that has brought together national and international authorities and experts, business leaders and researchers to discuss solutions to fight climate change in the region.

"More important than the proposal for a model of sustainable development is its political and ethical dimension," Silva said at the 7th Latin American Conference on the Environment and Social Responsibility, running Tuesday through Friday.

"Solutions will depend on the government and on companies. We all have to think outside of the box – the government, non-governmental organisations, civil society, the scientific community – to come up with answers to this urgent crisis," said Silva, referring to the problem of climate change.

Most scientists believe that an increase in "greenhouse gases" caused by human activities like the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation is leading to global warming and climate change by trapping the sun’s heat in the atmosphere.

Ecolatina, the Argentine consulting firm that organised this week’s conference in Belo Horizonte, is calling for a broad debate among political leaders, academics, NGOs and companies on the question of fighting global warming.

The conference is discussing new environmentally and socially sustainable business opportunities and the need to adopt modified models of consumption in order to mitigate climate change.

The United Nations Environment Programme’s director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Ricardo Sánchez, said the region must contribute to the fight against global warming based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, a position that was backed by Silva in a press conference here.

The fight against global warming "must be undertaken as an effort by all countries, because even if developing countries, which are responsible for 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, do 100 percent of their homework, they will also be affected if the developed countries do not reduce their 80 percent," she said.

Silva reminded her listeners that rich countries "have a greater historical responsibility because they began to emit gases from fossil fuel burning during the industrial revolution, while developing countries have been emitting gases since the 1940s."

In Brazil, the world’s fifth biggest producer of greenhouse gases, mainly from deforestation of the Amazon jungle, "45 percent of energy is produced from clean sources, compared to a mere six percent in the developed countries," Silva noted.

The minister underlined the need for multilateral efforts "for rich countries to increase their obligations" and so that "developing countries can be assisted."

Brazil’s aim is to promote positive incentives for reducing emissions by curbing deforestation, "in order to change our development model," she said.

Silva said that in the last four years, the rate of deforestation of the Amazon jungle has been reduced by 50 percent, and that this year it is expected to be cut by 65 percent.

Among the measures that contributed to that achievement, the minister mentioned the creation of 20 million hectares of protected areas, the formal demarcation of 10 million hectares of indigenous reserves, the issuing of 1.6 billion dollars in fines to companies that have broken environmental laws, the shutting down of 1,500 companies found to be engaging in "criminal" actions against the environment, and prison terms for 665 people.

Latin America "has to make an effort to prevent deforestation, not only because of climate change but also because of the disastrous exodus of people that it can cause," said Silva.

Referring to so-called "environmental migrants," Sánchez said 20 million people in Latin America are vulnerable to meteorological catastrophes.

But the 16 percent growth in the region’s gross domestic product seen between 2003 and 2007, "the highest economic growth since the 1970s," has not been reflected in an improvement of living conditions, said the UNEP official.

Latin America is the region with the greatest gap between rich and poor, and 43 percent of the population lives in poverty, Sánchez pointed out.

The problem, he said, is that economic growth without equity increases "the pressure on natural resources."

José Marengo at Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE), one of the bodies that have contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told IPS that Latin America is particularly susceptible to climate modifications in large areas like the Amazon jungle.

"We will not have to wait till the end of the 21st century to see the impact of climate change," said the expert. "Studies show that by 2040 or 2050 we will see the Amazon jungle turning into savannah, and semi-arid areas like the Brazilian northeast turning into desert," said Marengo.

In the "worst case scenario," temperatures, which have already increased 0.7 degrees in the last 50 years, could go up three or four more degrees this century, he said.

Ecolatina is promoting the search for environmental solutions based on changes in production and consumption through seminars and workshops on questions like sustainable technologies and companies that generate environmental and social services.

A forum on biofuels will debate the potential and the environmental impact of this alternative energy source obtained from vegetable oils and crop by-products.

There is a booming market for biofuels, in which some 21 billion dollars were invested in 2006 alone, driven largely by the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.