Is That Dolphin Supposed to Be Pink?: Energy Independence and Its Impact on the Biodiversity of the...
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Transcript of Is That Dolphin Supposed to Be Pink?: Energy Independence and Its Impact on the Biodiversity of the...
Is That Dolphin Supposed to Be Pink?: Energy Independence and Its Impact on the Biodiversity of the Brazilian Amazon.
Daniel [email protected]
Where are we going?
What is biodiversity and why is it important?
The Amazonian Rainforest and Brazil Energy Shortage and Independence The Future
Pipelines
Biodiversity is…
Complicated. “…The key to the
maintenance of the world as we know it.”
Defined as the full variety of life, from genes to species to ecosystems.
Estimations Worldwide Low estimates: 10 million
species Driving to extinction rate: 50-150
per day 10,000 times greater than the
“background” extinction rate Rate increasing yearly
SO WHAT?!?
Future Economical benefits Food stuffs
Latin American produce: $200 million/year 3000 Different Types of Fruit
Medicine Only 1% of Earth’s plant species known
SO WHAT?!?
Environmental Services Protecting and Generating soil
Cost of soil erosion worldwide: $400 billion Converting solar energy into plants Movement of water Detoxification
SO WHAT?!?
Nature Related Tourism Contributes $500 billion to nations
The Amazon
Brazilian Amazon
Biodiversity of the Amazon
Estimation 1 million different species of plants and animals in Amazon
Unique Plants and animals no where else
Biodiversity of the Amazon…Plants
Half of the remaining rain forest on earth
One hectare of forest near Manaus 300 different types of
trees Catalogued 50,000
plants 20% of the world’s total
Biodiversity of the Amazon…Animals
One tree 163 species of beetles
Thus far catalogued 2500 snakes species 2000 fish
Comparison: Mississippi River has 250 1500 birds
Biodiversity of the Amazon…People
Indigenous peoples Historically considered sparse However, evidence shows
migrants in area from 10,000-14,000 years ago
By 1500s, populations denser than today
Then the Iberians came… Importance in the Sustainable
Development argument
Brazil and the Environment
Constitution (Title VIII) Dedicated to Environmental Protection
Right belongs to all Does not belong to government
National Environmental Policy Act of 1981 Not first, but set the ball rolling Established principles, goals
Brazilian Environmental Orgs.
Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) created in 1989 The national Brazilian Ministry of the
Environment’s enforcement agency
Instituto de Protección Ambiental de Amazonas (IPAAM) Executes the State Politics of
Environment of the State of Amazonas
Manaus
Though the numbers were large, no indigenous civilization had sizable villages in Amazonia.
Today, Manaus has 2 million people, a population that tripled in size in the last twenty-five years.
Approximately the size of Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States.
Manaus History
Became a major player in the world due to rubber exports as the Amazon was the main supplier. “Paris of the tropics”
However, with synthetic rubber, their power waned.
Teatro Amazonas
“Grand ideas gone awry”
Completed in 1896
As rubber fell, so did condition.
Recently remodeled
Splendid Isolation?
Two roads N. to state of Roraima and
Venezuela S. road washed away in ’80s,
in disrepair. Rebuilt? Most born in Manaus never
venture far, if at all.
Amazonia as a Whole
Manaus is important…we’ll return. But overall, the Amazon region has
experienced the highest urban growth rates in Brazil. 1970, urban population comprised 35.5% of
the total population. 44.6%: 1980 58%: 1991 61%: 1996 68%: 2000
Population growth and Urbanization =
MORE ENERGY! Pipelines Hydroplants
Deforestation Roads Progress?
Go West, Young Man
Energy Shortage of 2001
• Since 1993, increases in:
•Energy generating capacity
•3%
•Consumption
•5%
But… there was a lack of planning and lower investments in energy… And a drought which effected the hydropower which supplied Brazil with 87% of its electric energy.
Energy Shortage of 2001
Rationing and Rainfall Still risk of deficit
Projected Shortfall of 20K to 44K MW
Policy directives that emerged: Increased hydropower generation Expansion of use of natural gas
Which includes the creation of two pipelines
Energy Independence. Automobile edition
A short segue… Ethanol/Gasoline Oil shocks of ’70s began move
However, oil still 85% of gas usage Most efforts to improve efficency Increase production
Oil production has most significant contribution to energy independence.
Manaus and Energy Independence
Rolling blackouts Holding back employment expansion Slowed factory construction “If people want development that
preserves the environment, we have to have energy. It’s no good people saying the Amazon has to be the sanctuary of humanity and forget there are twenty million people living there.”
President Lula da Silva Development agenda
Social Participation Sustainable development National Environmental System Integrated Environmental Policy
Coordinating actions
Progress?
Exploration in the Amazon?
Most of the oil comes from off of the shores of Rio de Janeiro
Solimões Basin
Jurua gas province Urucu oil province
In December 2000, proved reserves and total reserves, for the state of Amazonas, corresponded to approximately 129 million and 157 million barrels of oil and 44 billion and 88 billion m3 of natural gas.
Where is this basin?
And here is why we return to Manaus…
The Urucu Gas Reserve
Small scale since its discovery in 1986
Solved solution of supplying energy to Manaus and the Western Amazon
Now We Need Pipelines! North from Coari to
Manaus 417 km (259 miles)
South from Urucu to Porto Velho 538 km (334 miles)
Cost: $875 million Decreases generation
costs in Manaus to $30/MW/hr
Current costs: $100/MW/hr
IL: 6.69¢/MW/hr
The Producers
Petrobras, the semi-public Brazilian oil company rallied support in The Government Funders in the private
sector Petrobras avoided
public discussion of alternatives, insisted on pipelines
Fears of the opposers
Building Roads = deforestation Water pollution Increased river traffic Migration
Point out that the reserves exhausted in 15 years, leaving behind irreversible impacts
What they were afraid of: The Completed Urucu-Coari Pipeline
Completed in 1998 Blocked three streams used
for drinking water and bathing Fish populations said to have
fallen dramatically Animals will not cross
pipelines Cut down fruit and nut trees
Combined many food sources eliminated
How the Urucu-Coari Pipeline works
Pumped to Coari Loaded onto tankers for a 16 hr.
journey to Manaus 2nd pipeline
Moved cooking gas, also sent by boat Output:
16,000 barrels of oil per day 353 million ft3 of natural gas
The Calvary Arrives A media campaign in
1999 against the project began
By 2001, the attorney general of the State of Amazonas and the Amazonas state government joined the opposition. Lawsuit!
Lawsuits – 2001 (Coari-Manaus)
Alleged that the preliminary environmental license for pipelines did not fulfill legal requirements Did not provide enough to describe impacts on
the environment No alternatives presented No cost/benefit analysis
NEPA? EIS? Lawsuit led to public hearings (2002)
More Lawsuits – 2003 (both)
Again Brought by Govt. Suspension of the temp.
licenses Request accepted
Gave IPAAM Coari-Manaus Gave IBAMA Urucu-Porto
Velho Stopped construction
from Apr. 2003 to May 2004.
May 2004: An Agreement
Governor agreed with Petrobras Gaspetro (branch of Petrobras) must establish a
fund of $3.3 million to: Mitigate impact of Urucu-Porto Velho “Sustainable development” program for Coari-
Manaus Agreement removed lawsuit IPAAM gave go-ahead for Coari-Manaus
Why did the Government Give Up?
Strong support for the project Jobs Political powers like the idea
Governor wanted to lower energy costs to increase support in private sector
But the project is still slow going with plans to start in 2007.
Urucu:Progress in Harmony with Nature
“We want to make the smallest footprint we can.”
No roads into Urucu, must be barged in
1800 workers come and go on 3-day flights
Resembles a military base Wastewater treated Trash recycled, sent to
Manaus Plant nursery
Plan for the Pipelines
Built on same principles as Urucu facility
A small slit of forest without an access road
Helicopter pads along the way for maintenance.
Concerns still present
Degradation of Rivers and Streams Urban to Rural Migration
Oil brings modern “civilization” Purus/Madeira Jurua Tropical Moist Forest Highly biodiverse areas affected
Abufari Biological Reserve Aiapua Lake Environmental Protection
Area
Purus/Madeira
Moist forest between Purus and Madeira Rivers
Very diverse 160 species of
mammals 570 species of birds
Also threatened by deforestation and cattle ranching
Jurua Tropical Moist Forest
Evergreen tropical rain forest Super-high floristic diversity High diversity of timber species 171 species of mammal (121 at mouth
of the Urucu River) 554 species of birds including toucans
Currently no roads But regular deforestation due to oil/NG
Jurua Tropical Moist Forest
Urucu FieldsCoari
Abufari Biological Reserve
Established to control fisheries
Protect endangered species Manatees Podocnemis
turtles Model of
sustainable development
Aiapua Lake Environmental Protection Area
Flooded forest 681 birds
species Over 200
mammal species
Some species restricted to wetland areas
Fruit that fruit-eating fish consume
Long history of human occupation
Lies on edge of this region Of few restricted areas in region
In the end… Progress may run over these regions Just how safe can any pipeline
construction be? No matter the pledges.
Sustainable Development “Gas will give us the energy to allow industry
to grow in Manaus. Gas will give us the energy in small towns to improve their quality of life. Gas will give us the money to do the other things, to improve social services here and to have programs to develop the rest of the state in a way that protects the environment.” - Governor Braga of Amazonas
And Yes, The Dolphin Should Be Pink
In a traditional Amazon River myth, at night a Boto becomes a handsome young man who seduces girls, impregnates them, then returns to the river in the morning to become a Boto again.
A Boto The color varies
from grey to pink
A vulnerable species