Environmentalism in Rio Grande do Sul

However, the state also faces the issues of pollution, deforestation and desertification, among others, and is suffering the impacts of progressive global warming, which pose important challenges for its future development, besides having a long list of endangered species, many of them already considered locally extinct or in the process of imminent disappearance.

In 1738, government provisions tried to protect the people of the Rio Grande and Pelotas regions from the jaguars that lived there in great numbers, and in the early 19th century, the traveler Nicolau Dreys reported the existence of hunters who still sold fifty pelts of the feline per month.

Reinhold Hensel, arriving in the state in 1865, was one of them, and in his writings recorded that the birds that Lallemant had described as abundant less than a decade ago were already scarce, that the hills of Porto Alegre, also once covered with trees, were already largely taken over by undergrowth, and, in observing the way German colonization was taking place in the Sinos valley, expressed a prophetic concern:[5][6] "In contrast to the frequently mentioned precariousness in the construction of roads and bridges is the lack of consideration with which the forests are destroyed in the establishment and expansion of the settlements, so that timber for construction, at least in the older tracks, is already becoming scarce.

[9] In 1955, he founded the União Protetora da Natureza (Nature Protection Union), the first environmentalist organization in Brazil,[9] and then began publishing pamphlets and a series of articles on ecological issues in the newspaper Correio do Povo, in Porto Alegre.

According to Maria Cristina da Silva, the environmental issue played a channeling role for the population, prevented from expressing their concerns, anxieties, and insecurities: "The ecological movement was the cause that united all the complaints.

In 1975, ADFG held the first national ecological meeting, bringing together more than five hundred people, and where a pioneering project for recycling household waste was presented, ten years before any similar government initiative in Brazil.

The participation of university students, the press, unions, neighborhood associations, alternative rural communities, and the landless grew in this decade, which increasingly influenced the actions of the state and municipal governments.

[23] From the mid-1980s on, alternative agriculture NGOs started to structure themselves to search for new ways of cultivation, and initiatives linked to the Lutheran Church and government agencies also appeared in several regions, and in the following decade environmental associations multiplied throughout the state.

A 1995 study developed by Claudia Schmitt indicated the existence of 50 entities registered in the National Fund for the Environment, but, according to the researcher, this number should be much higher, because many small associations did not formalize their registration They were largely sustained by members' contributions, often faced a chronic lack of resources, and did not present a significant degree of professionalism.

As pointed out by Professor André Silveira, director of the Institute of Hydric Research at UFRGS, thepProgram was especially positive in that it tried to address the causes of pollution in an integrated way, in a sustainable model, but he regrets that the second stage was canceled due to lack of state resources for the necessary counterpart.

[35] In this regard, there are programs for the selective collection and recycling of garbage, giving a differentiated destination to each type of material and reusing it, with growing signs of approval and popular adhesion in Porto Alegre and many other cities.

Since 2007, Osório has had the largest wind farm in Latin America,[37] and other regions, such as Palmares do Sul, Viamão, Jaguarão, Piratini, and Santana do Livramento, are developing tests and studies for the implementation of similar plants, considering the state's high potential in this sector, with 15% of the estimated total for Brazil.

In the words of Miguel Altieri, "the discussion on sustainable development gained rapid momentum in response to the decline in the quality of rural life as well as the degradation of the natural resource base associated with modern agriculture.

[58] Ecological tourism, understood as a form of education, but also of sustained management of natural areas, of cultural dissemination, and generation of foreign exchange and jobs, has a significant public adherence, with activities developed throughout the state, often counting on official support.

"[99] The Mirim lagoon, the second largest water body in the state, is a priority area for conservation of invertebrates, mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles, but suffers from economic exploitation, and is also receiving exotic species that interfere with the balance of the ecosystem.

[99] An agreement was signed for the creation of a waterway there, considered a priority for the governments of Brazil and Uruguay, which share its surface, as a strategic connection of Mercosur,[100][101] and although sustainable development is sought,[102] an environmental impact study of the project revealed bleak prospects.

The problems are aggravated by silting, poorly sized impoundments, drainage, embankments, and disorderly occupation of the banks, leading, in the analysis of the National Water Agency, to a critical environmental situation.

"[125] In 2012, Porto Alegre obtained the worst result in a survey on water quality among sixteen of the largest Brazilian capitals, showing a high concentration of caffeine, a substance that indicates contamination by more than five hundred other chemical compounds potentially dangerous to human health, and which have no regulatory legislation.

[126] Air quality has been of concern in the capital and metropolitan region, in Caxias do Sul and in Rio Grande, caused by industry and the high number of circulating vehicles, although recently the state has carried out a diagnosis of the situation with a view to better management.

There is a particular risk that episodes of torrential rains will become more intense and frequent, increasing the problem of periodic flooding that afflicts several regions of Rio Grande do Sul, and is likely to adversely affect productive systems.

The lack of clear and consistent lines of action was reflected in the appointment of eight environment secretaries between 2002 and 2009 and the reduction of Rio Grande do Sul's role as a national reference in the area of environmental policies.

[144] The Permanent Assembly of Entities in Defense of the Environment of Rio Grande do Sul (Apedema/RS) joined Fepam's protests, forwarding to the governor a document condemning "the current situation of political and institutional crisis of the State Government's environmental administration".

Thus, we see that investments continue to be made in an outdated energy matrix with high socio-environmental impact (mineral coal, hydroelectric plants); in an agricultural model that exports commodities (soy, rice, pulp, tobacco, etc.

"In 2013, the crisis was aggravated when the Federal Police dismantled a large network of corruption that operated in the state, involving politicians, businessmen, technicians, and public officials, and that, through bribery, facilitated the environmental licensing of enterprises disregarding requirements provided by law, favoring especially real estate companies in Porto Alegre and the northern coast of Rio Grande do Sul, as well as mining projects.

[147][148][149] José Ivo Sartori, governor sworn in in 2015, has signaled that the environment is an important aspect of his government's policy but stated that it is necessary to reconcile nature with economic growth, defending agribusiness, one of the biggest villains in the view of environmentalists but one of the main bases of the Rio Grande do Sul economy.

[150] In 2016, Bill 145 was passed, which changed the management of the State Environmental Fund and introduced changes in the conceptualization of native forest and forestry areas, generating protests and a lawsuit by several associations, pointing out unconstitutionality and accusing the government of hurting several competencies and procedures "consolidated for many years in the State environmental agencies," ignoring the restrictions of the Forestry Zoning and undermining the policy of recovery of degraded areas, potentially causing "irreparable damage to the environment.

During the public hearing that debated the issue, Deputy Altemir Tortelli criticized the project:[109] "Perhaps the majority of the population is not aware of what is at stake, of the gravity of the pre-announcements that have been made by the Sartori government.

[156] Representative Altemir Tortelli, of the group that disagrees with the extinction, said: "We cannot accept that the Piratini Palace (state government) simply put an end to an institution that is fundamental for scientific research and the preservation of biodiversity in Rio Grande do Sul.

[157] Also in 2018, the governor issued a decree that weakened the legislation on pesticides, contested by the Permanent Assembly of Entities in Defense of the Environment of Rio Grande do Sul for removing the legal basis that existed to reject approval of products that do not have registration in the country where their active ingredient was synthesized.

[161] Although the current period presents difficulties deficiencies in many aspects regarding environmental protection, the government has carried out actions and implemented projects.The former governor, Tarso Genro, by word and deed, expressed his interest in the issue several times.