2024-05-07 03:01:00
From Brasilia
The environmental disaster that left more than 200 dead or missing in southern Brazil could have been avoided, or at least mitigated. That was one of the proposals formulated this Monday by the Brazilian government when taking stock of the havoc caused by the storms in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
The devastation of the Amazon, located in northern Brazil and where the largest reserves of biodiversity and water on the planet are located, often causes “effects in a distant region as is happening now in Rio Grande do Sul,” explained the chief of staff. , Minister Rui Costa.
Along with Costa were the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, and the head of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira.
Climate change
When a region as vast as the Brazilian forest with its 4.5 million km2 – a surface area similar to that of Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela combined – is systematically cleared by farmers, ranchers and miners, imbalances with gigantic consequences occur that alter the rain regime in addition to modifying the temperature.
So far in 2024, in addition to the unprecedented deluges that occurred in Rio Grande do Sul, there have been five atypical heat waves, in cities such as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia. The latest example of this happened on Saturday, when thermometers touched 34 degrees, well above the usual temperature, in Copacabana hours before Madonna’s show.
Devastation
The intentional modification of the Amazon geography (with the use of its lands to produce soybeans or feed livestock) is one of the factors that, by breaking the ecological balance, triggered the disaster that occurred in Rio Grande do Sul, at the other end of the country. .
According to reports released on Monday night, intense rains in that southern province caused 85 deaths and 134 missing while 200,000 people had to leave their homes to stay in public shelters or be welcomed by their families.
Chief of Staff Rui Costa presented the government’s point of view during an event, held at the Planalto Palace, where he attended after meeting with President Lula da Silva to finalize the details of a package of emergency measures.
Measurements
The government’s priority is to help citizens whose homes are threatened by landslides in the mountain region, located in the center of Rio Grande do Sul, where the storm began last week.
At the same time, the rescue of thousands of residents of the capital Porto Alegre began, located in the east of the province, almost at sea level, surrounded by the waters of the Guaíba River.
To follow up on the aid sent from Brasilia, the government set up a crisis cabinet in Porto Alegre, formed by ministers Paulo Pimenta (Social Communication), Nícia Trinidade (Health) and Waldez Goes (Regional Integration).
Once these pressing problems have been resolved in a second moment, “when the waters recede,” the government plans to restore the water and electricity services of which some 800,000 citizens are currently deprived, and the infrastructure affected by the force of the storms will be rebuilt. waters.
In a third moment, the government is going to increase the allocations for the construction of popular housing within the framework of the My House, My Life program.
Lula enters the field
Lula traveled twice to the southern province hit by storms. Her first visit occurred on Thursday when she landed in the city of Santa Maria, in the central region and this Sunday she traveled to Porto Alegre, where she flew over the city covered by water.
“I know that the state is in a difficult financial situation and I want you to know that the federal government is going to support you,” said the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT), before Governor Eduardo Leite, of the conservative Social Democracy Party. Brazilian (PSDB).
Border with Argentina
The province of Rio Grande do Sul is in the extreme south of the country, where it shares borders with Argentina and Uruguay, and like these two countries, its economy is based on agriculture, thanks to its extensive plains, and a manufacturing park linked in part to the agribusiness.
Since the 90s, the state and its capital were, beyond some impasses, bastions of the PT. But that leftist hegemony was diluted and in recent years it was eclipsed by the rise of a right linked to large agricultural producers quite in tune with Bolsonarism.
Denialism
A good part of the Gaucho parliamentarians, natives of Rio Grande do Sul, are part of the agribusiness bench in the national Congress known for sabotaging government projects to mitigate climate change.
These legislators work “day and night to destroy environmental legislation” and the policies promoted by Lula since January 2023, denounced Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory.
For these congressmen, climate change is an invention of the “globalists”, among whom include ministers Marina Silva and Sonia Guajajara (Indigenous Peoples).
With the same intensity, the “Bancada del Buey”, as it is known in political jargon, supports the advance of the agricultural frontier on the Amazon, including the invasion of the lands of indigenous peoples, guaranteeing economic progress and sovereignty. Theses that in the 70s were part of the dictatorship’s discourse and currently have Jair Bolsonaro as their main publicist.
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