| European
Tropical Forest Research Network |
GLOBALISATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT: THE EFFECTS OF THE FINANCIAL CRISIS ON TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT IN BRAZILIAN AMAZONIA
By Sjur Kasa and Lars Otto Næss
Two main views have dominated the debate on globalisation and the environment over the last decade. One view argues that the financial and economic instability created by liberalising financial markets during the 1980s and 1990s undermines the ability of developing countries to manage their environment in a sustainable manner. Another, more optimistic view holds that linking environmental problems in developing countries to 'new' global issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss, as well as the emergence of transnational networks of environmental NGOs, may motivate and enable states to improve their environmental practices and to introduce environmentally benign local practices by disseminating knowledge and empowering marginalised groups.
Contrasting impacts
Brazil provides an interesting case for studying how these forces have been
played out and how they have affected tropical forest management in the Brazilian
Amazonia. since 1994, the country has gone through an extensive liberalisation
and privatisation process and Brazil was also hit hard by the major 'Asia-Russia-Brazil'
financial crisis of 1997-99. Brazil came under considerable pressure during
the crisis, which led to a devaluation of the Brazilian Real and massive cuts
in national budgets. IBAMA, the national environmental agency, experienced budget
reductions of up to 90% in 1999.
The impacts of this crisis on forest management seem more complex however. Increasing attention to the deforestation in Amazonia and its effects on biodiversity loss, climate change and the livelihoods of local people had already triggered very strong pressure on the government from the late 1980s onwards, coupled with an emerging wave of transnational environmental mobilisation. Initiatives involving foreign funding, notably the Pilot Program to Conserve the Brazilian Rain Forest (PPG7), were not affected by the crisis. For example, a PPG7-funded monitoring system was successfully introduced in Mato Grosso, run by the state government. After it was introduced, the deforestation rates in the state were reduced by a third from previous years.
Likewise, a number of NGOs, such as the Institute of Environmental Research for Amazônia (IPAM) and the Brazilian branches of Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace were able, thanks at least partly to foreign funds, to expand their activities in Amazonia during the crisis. Moreover, NGOs such as the Institute for Agricultural and Forest Management and Certification (IMAFLORA) and WWF-Brazil have promoted campaigns for the certification of timber under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) criteria, which have had a significant impact. The financial crisis, along with the devaluation of the Brazilian Real, increased the attractiveness of the export market. However, controversies over the FSC certification system run high, and many argue that with only 15% of the Brazilian timber going for export, it will only have an impact on forest management in the Amazon if it manages to penetrate the domestic market as well.
Improved forest management
The above suggests that active NGOs - at local and international level - as
well as new forest management systems implemented by state governments ameliorated
the impacts of the 1998-99 financial crisis in Brazil and led to improvements
in the tropical forest management systems over the same period. Foreign funding
played a part, but the limited effect may also be explained by the fact that
Brazil has well-established and robust institutions and that the crisis did
not precipitate the kind of institutional breakdown as was seen in Southeast
Asia. While the economic and political instability in Brazil of the early 1990s
produced a very fragile setting for institutional consolidation of the environmental
sector, the economic and political stabilisation following the inauguration
of President Cardoso in 1994 undoubtedly contributed to such consolidation.
Economic stability was a key precondition for a more effective public sector
in general as uncontrollable inflation also decreased the real value of government
funding.
It is important to note, however, that despite signs of improved forest management in some parts of Amazonia, deforestation - caused by the three main forces of cattle ranching, soybean cultivation and logging - is still widespread in the Amazonia as a whole.
Further information:
Dr Sjur Kasa (sjur.kasa@cicero.uio.no)
Lars Otto Næss (l.o.nass@cicero.uio.no)
CICERO (Center for International Climate and Environmental Research)
Oslo, Norway