Rio Building 7 Miles Of Walls Around Biggest Slums To Cut Deforestation In Surrounding Terrain

[hatrack]

The Rio state government will build concrete walls around some of the city's biggest slums in an attempt to halt deforestation of the surrounding jungle, officials said yesterday.

Seven miles of walls, reaching a height of three metres (10ft) will be built around sections of at least 11 slums this year, Icaro Moreno, the president of the state's public works department, said. The project will cost $17m (£12m).

Standing in the Dona Marta slum, in the shadow of Rio's famous Christ statue, Moreno pointed out a section of the first wall under construction. Work began a few weeks ago. "Each year that passes, we're losing more of the Atlantic rainforest," he said. "Now we're setting limits on where these communities can expand."

In December, Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, which monitors forest destruction, reported that, between 2005 and 2008, the deforestation of Rio's urban rainforest doubled compared with the previous three years. About 205 hectares (506 acres) were destroyed in that time, with officials blaming most of the destruction on the expansion of slums as more newcomers arrived from Brazil's interior.

EDIT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/01/rio-slums-walls-deforestation

[XemaSab]

1. While I support protection of the rainforest

I wonder if Brazil wouldn't be better off spending money on lifting people out of poverty so they don't have to cut down trees for money, space to grow crops, space for housing, or firewood. :shrug:

[Auggie]

2. This sounds like a plot for a futuristic sci-fi movie

[rocktivity]

3. April Fool, right?

Translation: Rio Builds Walls Around Slums To Hide Them From The Tourists

Wouldn't passing LAWS against them expanding, or FIXING THEM UP, work better?

But who are we Americans to talk? We're building a wall around Baghdad!

x(
rocktivity

[pscot]

4. They're going to wall off the slums over 500 acres

while tens of thousands of acres are laid waste up country by cattlemen, loggers and farmers. Makes perfect sense.

[AlecBGreen]

5. exactly

Its easier to beat up on the poor. The politicians in Mato Grasso are often big landholders who grow 10's of thousands of acres of soybean and cattle. They're causing far more deforestation than city-dwellers looking for some charcoal. OTOH, the atlantic forest is distinct from the greater Amazon rainforest and needs more protection. I can understand why they're doing this.

Its like banning the hunting of mountain lions vs. banning deer hunting. The deer are hunted in GREAT numbers every year but its not considered a major problem. Mountain lions are few and far between so even shooting a few has a great impact on the remaining population. Its the same with Brazilian raiforest. Soybean and cattle operations gobble up huge chunks of the Amazon but there is just SO MUCH more of it they havent made a real effort to control the deforestation. OTOH the Atlantic rainforest is almost all wiped out so even a few hundred acres lost to city-dwellers is a big loss.