Current news
SAVING THE FORESTS:
Deforestation was extreme in 2004 but has fallen thanks to government action and impact of global financial crisis. Although the rate of destruction is very high, in the last two decades the Amazon rainforest was destructed less. The country’s National Institute for Space Research found that the loss of the Amazon forest reached a record low of 6,450 square kilometers between August 2009 and July 2010, 67% lower than the average deforestation rate between 1996 and 2005. Brazil’s environment minister, Izabella Teixeira, described the numbers simply as “fantastic”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/01/brazil-logging-deforestation
and http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/21521
Even so, parts of Brazil’s agricultural sector have come under fierce criticism from the country’s international competitors for allegedly expanding output at the cost of destroying native forests.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6B553620101206
CRIMES ARE TAKING PLACE:
Brazil is setting up police, soldiers and aircraft to patrol borders in its biggest drive ever to stop the smuggling of arms and drugs and prevent criminals from crossing country boundaries. After a violent week-long stand off in one of the city’s most dangerous slums, national security forces took control of the drug businesses who had held sway in Rio’s poorest districts for close to three decades.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-03/brazil-fight-on-crime-unites-police-army-in-border-patrol-minister-says.html and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roberto-ramos/brazil-gets-tough-on-crim_b_789534.html
GOING ECOLOGIC:
Brazil is taking another step towards sustainable development. Vehicles will start to run on ethanol. The city’s mayor, Gilberto Kassab, announced yesterday (25 November) that ethanol buses will become part of the public transport system. The first 50 buses will go into service in May 2011. There are a total of some 15,000 public transport buses in São Paulo. One official environmental target is that all such buses should operate on renewable fuels by no later than 2018.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101126005070/en/Brazil-Invests-Environment-Scania-Ethanol-Buses
ECONOMY:
Brazil is trying to slow down as its economy expands at the fastest pace in twenty years. Brazil’s central bank will keep up and strengthen a assurance to predictability in its continued effort to keep up price stability in the local economy, the nominee to the presidency of the institution, Alexandre Tombini, said Tuesday in Senate confirmation hearings.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20101207-708682.html
HOSTING EVENTS:
- Brazil will hold the olympics in Rio De Janeiro, in 2016
- Brazil will also host the FIFA World Cup in 2014
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© Lightning Bolt Staff
