Brazil

[apistomaster]

We admire and desire so many of Brazil's tropical fish but also criticize many of it's Interior Department's regulations and seeming disregard for the environmental impacts of Brazil's hydroelectric projects.
It bans many desirable fish endangered primarily by the Government's own projects yet those fish banned for export still freely flow out of the country.

I came across this short piece about Brazil's increasing importance as a world economic power but in this piece are pointed references to the scale of it's underground economy.
I thought it was a good background piece which might help us understand some of the issues we discuss at length about the underground commerce in banned fish although fish are not specified as being one of many among Brazil's growing pains. Hope the readers will enjoy this.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... :b32319020

[andywoolloo]

I had no idea about this:

Brazil is already the biggest economy in Latin America and the 10th-biggest in the world. By 2050, it will likely move into fourth place, leapfrogging countries including Germany, Japan and the U.K., according to a study by Goldman Sachs.

I wonder if California is still the 8th largest economy.

thanks for sharing that article, Larry. interesting indeed.

I have a friend in São Paulo , i think i will ask her about the dam if she knows anything.

[Mike_Noren]

Corruption is rife. Large dam projects without fail end up costing several billion dollars more than projected because money just "disappear". I'm probably extremely naive, but up until a few days ago I thought that these projects in -amongst other countries- Brazil were about generating electricity, and the graft and environmental destruction were unfortunate side effects. That does not appear to be the case.
Instead it's so that the electricity is an excuse for pocketing vast amounts of taxpayer and/or investor money. That 10 - 20% of the money is spirited away to private accounts is an enormously strong motivator to propose, approve projects like these, and ignore any problems or opposition. What plans would you approve, what objections would you be willing to ignore, if it meant $100 million in a swiss bank account?

The solution to destructive megaprojects like the amazonian dams or the 'meeting of the rivers' project in India therefore would be to stamp out corruption in developing countries. That would greatly temper the enthusiasm, and allow consideration of environmental and societal (and even economic) issues. But it's not going to happen.

[apistomaster]

I'm sure it was one or many who have said, "We have to deal with things as they are, not as we wished them to be."
It is an eye opening article; Brazil is expected to be the 4th largest economy in the world by 2050.
Who would have guessed?

[Janne]

The solution to destructive megaprojects like the amazonian dams or the 'meeting of the rivers' project in India therefore would be to stamp out corruption in developing countries.

They try but the "culture" is so deep "rooted", every week there are always someone in the news that got caught for bribes... sometimes they do it so open so they catch them on film. This is also one of my problems here, if I paid things would go faster but since I'm swedish and not used with this kind of culture I refuse.

Brazil is expected to be the 4th largest economy in the world by 2050.
Who would have guessed?

I knew and maybe it will go faster then that.

Janne

[apistomaster]

Janne, you are in a much better position to be aware of the Brazilian economic potential and are intimately knowledgeable about the state of Brazil's conservation issues. I had no doubts about these things and your awareness.
But I don't think many of us who discuss Brazil's conservation policies' status are as well informed yet we debate what should or shouldn't be done as outsiders looking in. I hoped by posting the link to the Wall Street Journal article it might help many of us have a greater appreciation about the position Brazil has in the world.

I have been especially critical about their pleco policies but my gripes began long ago when the decision was made to build their capital, Brasilia, in the middle of what was then nowhere. The construction of the capital all but wiped out what may be my favorite SA Annual Killiefish, Simpsonichthys boitonei circa 1965. I believe a small pocket of survivors was discovered in the last 10 years but all Brazilian Simpsonichthys are also on the protected fishes list. Even without human intervention species like these live on Nature's razor thin edge between survival and extinction. Fortunately many species are being maintained around the world from this genus. Annual Killiefish eggs' long incubation period makes it pretty easy to mail in a small zip lock bags with a teaspoon of peat moss. The existing aquarium strain of S. boitonei have become rather feeble and stunted and they are a very small species to begin with. I have kept and bred the successfully a couple tomes. Once and my best results were from some eggs i bought from a breeder in France. Mailing Killiefish eggs and beginning your stock is a fun aspect of this hobby.These grow to 1-1/2 inches in the wild but most aquarium strains do not exceed 1-1/4 inches TL. This is one of the five species of Simpsonichthys species I have bred from eggs received from breeders from all over the world.
Look at how beautiful they are:
http://www.petshop-zoomania.com/Tetras, ... itonei.jpg

[Janne]

Larry,
I think you made something really good putting the link to the Wall Street Journal, most people think that Brazil is an underdeveloped country but they have one of the strongest economies in the world even today... they are for sure undrdeveloped but in other areas, if they wanted they could do so much good things here but their culture makes it really difficult.

Killifishes is very beautiful here, I think 1 species is allowed for export... maybe 2, didn't you get upset when they started to build the "Amazonia Highway" ? Not finished yet and it's one of the most terrible roads here, most time of the year it's almost impossible to use the road... they can't build roads, highways or whatever they try to build, maybe that is good slowing down the migration of people into the forest that are left.

Janne

[apistomaster]

If it were merely a transportation corridor the Trans-Amazonian Highway wouldn't be the end of the world.
But it is the settlements, farms and ranches which inevitably expand out from every direction from a major highway which is the ultimate insult. The culture of corruption is probably the most pernicious problem to what and how Brazil develops it's vast territory and reserves of natural resources that will determine the ultimate fate of the Rain forests.
It isn't reasonable to expect the resources to go untapped but a strong lobby for mitigation of environmental impacts of development and a plan to minimize the creation of rain forest islands segregated by vast agribusiness farms and over grazing from huge cattle ranches coupled with poor choices in number and locations of more hydroelectric projects than are needed combine to threaten everything natural. Hydroelectric projects can be a wise use of all that water but some locations suitable for siting them are less threatening to unique species than others. I would rather see the latest countries to enter the developed stage look to more solar, wind and even, GASP, nuclear power options than destroy river systems.
I grew up in an area which has famous, large wild rivers and some dams got built and some were blocked but I have have experienced first hand the destruction of the largest runs of native salmon species and Sea Run Rainbow Trout in the lower 48 United States by more than 95% of of their historic norms. The hatchery fish used to replace a fraction of the original runs of native Salmonids are a pale and paltry alternative to what was lost. The thing is, now more than any other time since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the knowledge and tools to have both nature and strong economic development are possible and do not have to be completely mutually exclusive philosophies. I am proud that my home and now next door State of Idaho has the largest, officially designated, untouched primitive road free, boreal forested areas in the mainland USA. But the wild Salmonids paid dearly for the development which was pushed through. The series of Hydroelectric projects that were constructed, especially the last two built on the lower Snake River, ruined hundreds of miles of free flowing wild river. Only about a 55 mile stretch of the Columbia River has been left free flowing, the part that has much restricted access due to its proximity to the Hanford, Washington nuclear weapons materials production facilties. Ironic that plutonium production is what saved about 55 miles of the once great Columbia River.