Oyster farmers in Brazil embrace sustainability

Sonya Angelica Diehn – DW, 06/17/2013

Sustainable oyster farmers have turned Brazil’s Bay of Guaratuba into a model of eco-friendly food production. They are producing some of the tastiest oysters in the world and educating locals about how to be green.

In the southern state of Paraná, a large inlet in the middle of dense Atlantic forest forms the Bay of Guaratuba. This is one of Brazil’s most biologically rich ecosystems. On the calm waters of the vast bay, the tranquility is only broken by the occasional sound of human activity.

Nereu de Oliveira discovered this place about a decade ago. He liked the area so much that he decided to leave his job as a lawyer and open an oyster cultivation site on the bay. He built a restaurant and environment education center and started to get interested in new ways to protect the environment.

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Farmers v Ameridians

The Economist, 06/15/2013

WHEN Brazil’s constitution was adopted in 1988, five years was meant to be enough to decide which areas should be declared Amerindian tribal lands. Nearly 25 years later, the country has 557 indigenous territories covering 13% of its area, most of them in the Amazon. But more than 100 others are still being considered. The delay is causing conflict in long-farmed regions farther south.

In the past month several Terena Indians have been injured and one killed in confrontations with police and farmers in Sidrolândia in Mato Grosso do Sul (see map). It is just the latest flashpoint in a heavily agricultural state that is home to less than a tenth of Brazil’s 900,000 Indians, but more than half of those murdered since 2003. Federal security forces have been sent to keep the peace at Sidrolândia. Funai, the agency that advises the federal government on demarcation, is under fire in Congress and faces losing some of its powers. On June 7th its boss stepped down, citing ill health.

In the past month several Terena Indians have been injured and one killed in confrontations with police and farmers in Sidrolândia in Mato Grosso do Sul (see map). It is just the latest flashpoint in a heavily agricultural state that is home to less than a tenth of Brazil’s 900,000 Indians, but more than half of those murdered since 2003. Federal security forces have been sent to keep the peace at Sidrolândia. Funai, the agency that advises the federal government on demarcation, is under fire in Congress and faces losing some of its powers. On June 7th its boss stepped down, citing ill health.

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Green pool cuts sugar surplus by 23% as Brazil makes Ethanol

Isis Almeida – Bloomberg, 06/13/2013

The global sugar surplus will be 23 percent smaller than forecast as millers in leading producer Brazil direct more cane to making ethanol at the expense of the sweetener, according to Green Pool Commodity Specialists Pty.

Sugar supplies will be 2.89 million metric tons higher than consumption, the Brisbane, Australia-based researcher said in its second estimate for the 2013-14 season that starts in most countries in October. That compares with a previous forecast of 3.75 million tons and excess supplies of 8.99 million tons in 2012-13. Millers in Brazil’s center south, the main growing region, will direct 45.2 percent of the cane harvested to making sugar, down from a previous estimate of 47.6 percent and last year’s 49.4 percent.

“Ethanol obviously pays more than sugar, and it is usually paid for more promptly than is sugar,” Tom McNeill, a director at the company, said in a report e-mailed yesterday. “While there is some price pressure from stronger supply, we expect that consumption will kick in strongly for hydrous ethanol at the pump, and steady prices.”

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TEDGlobal is heading to Rio de Janeiro in 2014

Kate Torgovnick – TED, 06/12/2013

Next year, TEDGlobal will be held for the first time in Latin America — in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from October 6-10, 2014, on the beach of Copacabana. The theme for the event is, appropriately, “South!” and will be a celebration of the innovation, dynamism and creativity pouring out of South America, as well as out of the global south at large. Because fresh ideas can come from any direction.

“Rio has been beckoning TED for many years, both metaphorically and literally,” says curator Chris Anderson, explaining why we opted for this new location. “It’s at the heart of a continent bursting with fresh thinking. We’re delighted to finally be going. This conference will be ambitious, a thrilling new chapter for TED’s growing community of global souls.”

TEDGlobal Director Bruno Giussani adds, “We are proud of the conferences we’ve held in Edinburgh. As TED’s international reach has expanded, Latin America has emerged as a clear and exciting next move. Rio is not only a hub of innovation, but presents a rich history and exquisite physical setting.”

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Brazil counting on Siemens infrastructure solutions for upcoming mega events

Webwire, 06/12/2013

Brazil is counting on Siemens to provide key infrastructure solutions for its major upcoming sporting events. The country will play host to the Confederations Cup in 2013, to the World Cup in 2014 and to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. In the run-up to these mega events, Siemens has received orders of approximately 1 billion Euro for infrastructure projects. “These major sporting events will turn the world’s spotlight on Brazil. We’re looking forward to exciting games, powerful emotions and the people visiting our country. Whether in transportation, energy supply, the environment, healthcare, safety or security – we want our infrastructure solutions to help make the events a success. The solutions we’re providing will improve the quality of life in Brazil for generations to come and support the country’s long-term economic development. Brazil is at a turning point in its economical development, and these major events will speed up works in infrastructure laying the foundations of sustainable growth.” said Paulo Stark, CEO of Siemens Brazil.

Major events like soccer championships and the Olympic Games are a catalyst for investment in their host countries’ infrastructures. Only ten to twenty percent of this investment goes into event-specific installations such as stadiums. Eighty to ninety percent goes into urban and countrywide infrastructure – for example, new streets, traffic management systems, airports, metro stations, safety and security systems, housing, hotels, sports facilities and, even, new power plants.

In today’s world, sustainability, efficiency and environmental impact are also important selection criteria when infrastructure investments are being planned. In everything from stadiums, water supply and energy supply to safety, security, healthcare and transportation, Siemens is making a key contribution to ensuring that the games in Brazil will be conducted on a sustainable, energy-efficient basis. The company is providing Mane Garrincha National Stadium – the venue for the Confederations Cup opener and for seven World Cup games – with advanced safety, security and building systems. Equipped with energy-efficient building technology solutions from Siemens, Mane Garrincha is the world’s first stadium to aim for LEED platinum – the top category of the international standard for ecofriendly construction.

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Brazil’s Petrobras studies refinery JV with S. Korea’s GS Energy

NASQAD, 06/11/2013

Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR, PETR4.BR) said Monday it is studying a possible joint venture with South Korean energy company GS Energy Corp. to build a refinery in northeastern Brazil.

Petrobras, as the company is known, and GS Energy last month signed a letter of intent to study the creation of a joint venture to operate a premium-fuel refinery, Petrobras said in a regulatory filing. The companies didn’t provide additional details, saying only that the agreement doesn’t obligate either company to commit to any future investment or partnerships.

Last year, the governor of the state of Ceara, where the refinery could be built, met with GS Caltex to discuss a possible joint venture. GS Energy was spun off from GS Caltex in June of last year, according to the company’s website.

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Brazil “on alert” over an oil spill from Ecuador

BBC UK, 06/10/2013

Brazil is “on alert” over an oil spill that originated in Ecuador and is travelling downstream towards the Brazilian Amazon.

In a statement, the Brazilian foreign ministry said the navy and other agencies had been informed, and help was offered to Ecuador and Peru.

Last month, an estimated 11,480 barrels of oil leaked from a damaged pipeline into the River Coca in Ecuador.

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In Brazil, “dammed” if you do, damned if you don’t

Nina Wegner – The Atlantic, 06/10/2013

Deep in the Brazilian Amazon, the world’s third-largest dam has had a rocky month. Two indigenous occupations and a worker’s strike at the construction site of Belo Monte, Brazil’s most expensive public project ever, have shown that the project may turn out to be far from the minimum-impact, socially responsible beacon of development that President Dilma Rousseff would like people to believe it is. Belo Monte still has many flaws — such as over 50 lawsuits in regional and federal courts challenging the dam’s legality — and although indigenous demands make up Belo Monte’s splashiest headlines, there is another important but lesser-known conflict playing out in the town of Altamira, just 25 miles from the main dam site.

Maria Reis, a fishmonger whose home hugs the shore of the Xingu River, is furious, and she is not alone. As Belo Monte rapidly takes shape downriver on the Xingu, Altamirans like Reis are accusing the Brazilian government of failing to properly balance the rights of local citizens against the national interest. “Dilma is always on TV saying she wants a new Brazil without poverty and with progress. But what progress is it that kills people, kills dreams?” says Reis.

In response to outcry from environmentalists, indigenous groups, and activists, the dam has been redesigned to minimize its impact on the local communities and environment, scaling down the originally proposed five-reservoir dam to one “run-of-the-river” project. Thus re-envisioned, Belo Monte will only flood 516 square km of land as opposed to the originally planned 18,000 square km, minimizing displacement and the flooding of indigenous lands. With its maximum capacity of 11,233 megawatts, the newer, gentler, “greener” dam has become a top priority in Brazil’s PAC 2 (Program for Accelerated Growth), a spending plan of $582 billion on public projects from 2011 to 2014.

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Brazil’s Petrobras plans to leave Peru

Teresa Cespedes and Terry Wade – Reuters UK, 06/07/2013

Brazil‘s Petrobras plans to leave Peru, six high-level sources inside and outside of the company said, as the overextended state-run firm sheds assets abroad to focus on its domestic market.

The sources did not say how much the Peruvian assets – which basically consists of two natural gas blocks – could be worth. Globally, the company reportedly expects to generate about $9 billion (5 billion pounds) from an asset sale program being carried out to help fund the development of enormous offshore reserves in Brazil.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SA), as Petrobras  is known, has already shopped some of its Peruvian assets to potential buyers,  according to three of the sources.

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Brazil defies steryotypes of “developing” nations

Anne Applebaum – Washington Post, 06/06/2013

In the sunshine, this is a city of bright colors, fast movement, soaring vistas. But in the rain — and it can rain very hard indeed — the colors fade to gray, the traffic slows to a halt and the vistas disappear into the fog. In the favelas, the tin-roofed slums that cover the hills just behind the famous beaches, the steep walkways turn slippery and slick.

Which is why it was so surprising, on a recent rainy day, to climb up into the favela that spreads out behind Copacabana and come upon Bar do David, a famous favela eatery, as well as David himself. We didn’t exactly get dry while chatting with David and eating his seafood croquettes, but we did hear about the multiple awards he has won for “favela cuisine” and read the reviews framed on the walls. He’s been in business three years, he said. “And if I’d been here four years, I would have won an Oscar by now.” Next door, the news blared from a large, flat-screen TV.

The economics of favela life are complex, not to say mysterious: The next day, I met an articulate teenager with a fifth-grade education and brand-new sneakers. But then, of all of the nations misleadingly known as “developing” economies, Brazil might be the one that most emphatically defies stereotypes and expectations. Once, the world imagined that international trade meant that people in poorer countries would provide “hands for Western brains,” as writer Adrian Wooldridge put it. Instead, Brazil is one of several “developing” countries that have become innovators in their own right, producing not only entrepreneurial businesses such as Bar do David but also multinational companies such as airplane manufacturer Embraer or Natura, which makes a fortune out of organic cosmetics. The country is an international leader in the production of biofuels and the use of ethanol in cars; Brazilians tweet more than any other nationality except Americans.

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