Ohe serious environmental problems affecting Latin America are, with some exceptions, similar to those on other continents. The difference is only in the level of degradation, which is much more pronounced in developed countries. The finding was made during the annual meeting of the Geological Sciences Commission for Environmental Planning (Cogeoenvironment), which took place between November 16 and 22 in Tokyo, Japan. The commission is part of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), whose mission is to work to increase the awareness of society and governments regarding the importance of Geoscience in planning and managing the environment.
The meeting brought together a dozen experts from
around the world, including professor Bernardino Ribeiro de Figueiredo, from the Geosciences Institute (IG) at Unicamp, who joined the entity this year and went to Japan to represent Latin America. According to him, Cogeoenvironment members presented detailed reports on the environmental situation of their continents. Except for some specific issues, the regions face practically the same problems (see table). A common difficulty, according to Figueiredo, is the scarcity of water. “River and groundwater pollution are present everywhere,” he says.
The coincidences, however, do not stop there. According to the report referring to Africa, the continent experiences problems such as floods with landslides, periods of drought and famine and impacts caused by the oil industry, a scenario very similar to that found, for example, in Brazil. Professor Figueiredo released to his peers a complete survey on Brazilian environmental issues. The work, also presented at Rio + 10, held between August 26th and September 4th in Johannesburg, South Africa, was prepared jointly by the Ministry of the Environment and non-governmental organizations.
The coincidence of problems between continents, says the IG professor, suggests the search for cooperative solutions, which should involve entire blocks of nations. A successful Brazilian initiative in this aspect, this at the supra-municipal level, are the river basin committees, which have done great work with regard to the protection and rational use of water. Currently, Figueiredo is committed to finding out whether environmental preservation is included in multilateral agreements such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and Mercosur. "The development of a country or a region cannot be defined solely based on the economy and the market," he says.
Oil in water - In addition to the work meetings themselves, the experts who were in Tokyo participated in other activities. One of them was a geoenvironmental excursion to several locations in the Kanto district. There, researchers found a series of environmental problems. One fact that caught the group's attention was the contamination of groundwater by waste originating from gas stations and other similar sources. The Japanese maintain monitoring wells in various parts of the country's capital. When groundwater samples are taken, the water is mixed with a dense layer of oil. "We, in Brazil, are heading towards the same situation", warns the IG professor.
Events in AL - Figueiredo took advantage of his first participation in Cogeoenviron-ment to publicize events of interest to the scientific community that will be held in South America in 2003. In July, a Summer School on Earth Sciences will take place at the Federal University of Ouro Preto. The following month, Unicamp will host a Medical Geology course. Still in August, in Londrina, the Brazilian Toxicology Congress will take place. Finally, in October, it will be the turn of the 9th Brazilian Congress of Geochemistry, scheduled for Belém. Outside Brazil, in Chile, also in October, the 10th Chilean Congress of Geology and the International Symposium on Medical Geology will be held. "These will be events in which we will be reflecting on the need to create sustainable development models for the planet", says Professor Figueiredo.
