Amazon Selling for $50Bn, Brazilians Not Happy

4 years ago Nature

amazon rainforestPhoto:
Image from Keepps

Johan Eliasch, Gordon Brown's deforestation advisor took a step towards joining the ranks of American politicians who don't know what a national border and sovereignty means by claiming that the entirety of the Amazon rain forest could, and should, be purchased in order to protect it from Brazillian management. This could be accomplished for the bargain price of 50 billion dollars he claimed, sparking minor controversy in Brazil and an investigation into some 160,000 hectares of land he owns privately there.

Mr. Elisach clearly meant well however. When he's not Mr. Brown's deforestation advisor, he's the head of an organization called "Cool Earth" which seeks to control the carbon levels in our atmosphere via natural means of sequestration. One of these methods includes securing the rainforest via sponsorship. Therefore is Brazil’s reaction disproportionate?

The country has for some time been sensitive to overtures by British politicians about the nature of the rain forest, and Brazil’s management of the issues. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s main message was that Brazil remains conscious of the need to conserve the land, but also to develop it in line with its growing economy.

Johan Eliasch’s move is highly charged: coming from a man that can only be assumed to be a surrogate of the British government (until his dismissal of course) must bring back feelings of colonialism to a continent that was raked by it, and still feels the negative economic effects of their former colonial overlords. For their part, the Brazilians have done well since emerging from Portuguese rule in 1825, unlike many of their neighbors. The last thing they want, is to be stumped economically by British environmental policy.

[Times of India]

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Comments

Old Comments

Max Dobbratz says

Dec 26th, 2008 at 12am
Greetings from the Amazon. One thing that you need to understand that Brazilian school children are being taught that he British and the Americans claim the Amazon Rainforest and are planing to invade it just like they did Iraq. As a result, anti-Americanism is incredibly high in Brazil and especially the Amazon. This does not help world effort to save the Amazon Rainforest. What is needed here is agroecology. This is the only real solution. For more information on agroecology, check out the Agro-Ecology Organization.

Steve N. Lee says

Jun 2nd, 2008 at 12am
The basic idea - to buy the Amazon - is sound. Why shouldn't we buy it to preserve it? And why should anyone complain, even the local people? Well, because we rarely do anything purely for the good deed that it could be anymore - we always want to know "what's in it for me?". Look at those wonderful national parks in the U.S. which are currently suffering from pollution because the powers that be see dollar signs instead of an environment crying out for help. But, if we could buy the Amazon, and, like some geek with an unopened Star Wars toy, protect it, treasure it, preserve it in pristine condition, FOREVER, then I'd dig in my pocket and chip in right this second! Sadly, I don't think I'll need to be dipping into my wallet any time soon. Steve N. Lee author of eco-blog Lions led by Sheep - http://www.lionsledbysheep.com and eco-suspense thriller 'What if...?'

Alex says

Jun 1st, 2008 at 12am
Brasil must prohibit that swedish albino from ever setting foot in our country.

Richard Trillo says

May 28th, 2008 at 12am
This smacks of a political move to me, cooked up by sections of the Brazilian media, and brought on by the recent resignation of Brazil's outspoken environment minister who was despairing of her inability to hold back the tide of greedy deforestation. This Times of India article (no byline?) makes the issue sound like a dubious neo-colonial plot, when in fact CoolEarth.org is all about preventing the wealth of the rainforest being lost into 1) the pockets of timber merchants and 2) the already overburdened and overheated atmosphere. Eliasch's charity, co-headed by Frank Field MP (one of Gordon Brown's most oustspoken critics - no surrogate government minister he), is completely above board, and thousands of people have paid money to secure forest on behalf of local people (it's not owned by anyone outside Brazil) that would otherwise be lost to loggers.

jw says

May 28th, 2008 at 12am
What would be the reaction of the British people if we returned 100 years ago and started talking of taking over their Island and mainly River Thames Vale from them due to the fact that they were completely polluting it, killing and destroyng it's environment and fauna? Also, the person who has written this article should be aware that we Brazilians have a president, not a prime minister: our system of government is called presidentialism and not parlamentarism, therefore we don't have a prime minister. Shame that people "in the name of the environment" put their greed eyes on other's people resources... but be aware that we are not a nation which never gave even one milimiter of our territory to others... and we won't do it!

Chris says

May 28th, 2008 at 12am
Thanks JW - we updated the mistake. Chris