A North American plan sometimes called a "debt for nature swap" involves eradicating parts of Brazil's debt to First World countries in return for a percentage of the profit Brazil makes being spent on environmental projects. While this plan sounds good, some people are strongly against it, noting that any such expenditures would most certainly be managed by the same people that initiated the forest's destruction. Possibilities such as the foregoing now have Brasilia seriously listening to plans for resolving the deforestation problem. In this regard, several plans are being considered, the most major of which can be delineated here. One plan, discussed in The Economist, is basically to conserve the rain forest by having the government concentrate on making profits from forest products such as fruit, nuts, and rubber. This plan also calls for the identification of new medicines and aromatic oils as forest products. In addition, the plan specifies that there should be remediation of deforestation from bad fiscal policies such as unprofitable hydro-electric schemes and the unwarranted state funding of iron smelting plants. Under this plan, Brazil would be assisted in all efforts by the rich industrial countries. Another plan has been discussed in Discover magazine. Focusing mainly on technological efforts at halting deforestation, this plan calls for "sustainable exploitation" of the trees. Implementation of the plan would involve determining the rate at which trees can be cut down while maintaining the forest as a balanced ecosystem. The article suggests that, if the plan works, Whether Brazil likes it or not . . . the rest of the |
