Photo: Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

By  Thomas L. Friedman

Belem, Brazil  - “One million dollars?” The question was asked with eyes wide and a voice of incredulity. The person asking was Antonio Waldez Góes da Silva, the governor of the Amazonian state of Amapá, which has the biggest national park in the world. I had just shared with Gov. Waldez Góes a recent news article in The Hill, the Congressional newspaper, which said the total cost of stationing one U.S. soldier in Afghanistan for one year is $1 million. What if we kept just one soldier back from Afghanistan and gave you the money, I asked the governor? What would it buy you? Gov. Waldez Góes mulled that over: “If you kept three soldiers back, that would be enough for me to keep the State University of Amapá running for one year, so 1,400 students could take different courses on sustainable development for the Amazon.” O.K., I know. It is a bit misleading to take a war budget and assume that if it weren’t spent on combat, it would all go to schools or parks. And we do have real enemies. Some wars have to be fought, no matter the cost. But such comparisons are still a useful reminder that our debate about Afghanistan is not taking place in a vacuum. We will have to make trade-offs, and there are other hugely important projects today crying out for funding, as my colleague Nick Kristof has pointed out regarding health care. Well, if America is going to assume the primary burden of fixing Central Asia, maybe, say, China, could help pick up the tab for saving what is left of the Amazon and the world’s other great tropical forests. Could President Obama raise that idea in Beijing? An intergovernmental working group for saving the rainforests estimates that for about $30 billion we could reduce deforestation in places like Brazil, Indonesia and the Congo by 25 percent by 2015. After that, financing from global carbon markets, plus these countries’ own resources, could save much of the rest. China now has $2.2 trillion in reserves. How about it, Beijing? Why don’t you step up and provide some public goods for the world for once — not because you get a direct benefit, but just because it would make the world a better place for everyone? Sure, America should still lead such efforts. But China’s days as a global free-rider should be over. China should pay its fair share — and more — since it will benefit every bit as much as the U.S., Europe and Japan. Indeed, the U.N. Foundation estimates that because living tropical forests are such huge storehouses of carbon — which gets released when we chop the trees down — if we just stop deforestation, we get a big chunk of the carbon-emissions reductions the world needs between now and 2020. “And forest-rich developing countries, like Brazil, are now ready to do their part because they depend on the water that the rainforests provide for energy and agriculture, and because they see a new model for growth based on their natural capital,” said Glenn Prickett, a senior vice president with Conservation International and my traveling companion here. “Brazil has developed the science, political will and basic rules and institutions for preserving its rainforests. What Brazil and other rainforest nations like Indonesia lack, though, are the funds to take this new economic model to scale.” I was struck by how many of the building blocks for “natural capitalism” that Gov. Waldez Góes — whose state sits at the mouth of the Amazon — is putting in place, so that he can have an economy based on preserving the rainforest rather than stripping it. He’s building on the three P’s — creating protected forest areas, improving productivity on lands that have already been cleared so farmers there will not need more, and establishing property rights for Amazonian lands, which are a legal mess, inviting Wild West land grabs and scaring off investors in sustainable agriculture. Gov. Waldez Góes has already protected 75 percent of his state as rainforest and has enacted the laws and created a technical college to provide for sustainable logging and eco-tourism and for developing medicinal and cosmetic products from rainforest plants. But he needs funds to implement and monitor at scale and prove that “natural capitalism” can deliver more than the extractive version. “I am the son of a rubber tapper,” he explains. “I was born and raised in the jungle, so even before becoming a politician I had a strong connection to nature.” The world is facing this relentless “development path that brings pollution and degradation and deforestation,” he added. He and other Brazilians want to prove you can do better by bringing “conservation and development together.” Tropical forests represent some 5 percent of the earth’s surface but harbor 50 percent of all living species. Conservation International has a motto: “What is lost there is felt here.” If we lose what is left of the Amazon, we’ll all feel the climate effects, changing rainfall and loss of biodiversity that enriches our world. Brazil seems ready to do its part. Are we? What about you, China?

A recent research revealed what the foreign travellers most appreciate in Brazil. The top four included several facts related with the nature, but the interesting point in fact is the first position. People, was stated by most of the travellers and therefore stands at the number one position.

1. 

   Beach life

   People – Having people at the top of the list is an honour for any country. This means that the hospitality and the joy of brazilians is clearly visible for tourists visiting the country. In general the life has an easy-going rhythm and brazilians interact gladly with the foreigners. Here you will not stay at closed resort, but get mixed with the people and enjoy the same things as the brazilians do. I wonder if there is any other place on the earth where the joy of life is as visible as it is in Brazil. There may be many people with less conditions, but most of the will never lose their faith or the joy of life. If you come from a country with high level of self service you will also find it marvellous to be fully served at the stores,  bars and restaurants, and still you will not face disturbingly persisting sellers on the streets or at the beach.

2. 

   Country side

   The beauty of the nature – I would say that the second postition should be the beauty and the variety of the nature. As a huge country Brazil has an incredible variety of eco-systems depending on the part of the country. The beauty of the nature consists of numerous beaches, tropical vegetation, dunes, canyons, rainforest, waterfall, mountains, lagoons, lakes and rivers. There are extremely dry areas in Brazil and on the other hand a large part of the country is covered by rainforest. For sure the nature of this country offers something for each and every traveller, the question is do you really know all that Brazil has to offer?

3. 

   Endless beaches

   Beaches and the sea - Brazil has long coast with large number of beautiful beaches, some of the ideal for surfing, others for diving or snorkeling and almost all of them perfect for sunbathing and swimming. It’s not long time ago that I read an interesting review related to tourism in Brazil. The author said that Brazil may not have the most beautiful beaches of the world, compared to Southern Pacific of Maldives for example,  but Brazil certainly has the funniest beaches of the world. After having travelled widely around the world, I have to agree with the author of this article, Brazil definitely has the funniest beaches of the world and the best point is that many of them are among the most attracting ones as well. In Brazil beaches are like living-rooms, going to the beach is part of the culture and the daily life of brazilians. Here beaches are public and legally an access to any of them cannot be denied. This is why the coast of Brazil is not filled with resorts with private beaches, where only the clients can have an accesss. To be sincere, I think that is something Brazil should be proud of and this is why there is no other beach life like in Brazil. Being in the beach with the brazilians, you will quickly realize why people are in the top one position of the research. The joy of life is visible everywhere and there is always a beach bar to serve you whenever you are thirsty or hungry.

4. 

   Tropical vegetation

   Tropical climate - Thanks to the geographical position of Brazil, almost the whole country has tropical climate. This means that sunshine is basically guaranteed at any time of the year, at least in some part of the country. That’s why there are two basic things you should pay attention to before booking your trip to Brazil. First of all, if you have decided to travel during a specific time check out the climatical conditions in different parts of Brazil and choose your destination based on that. On the other hand, if you always wanted to visit certain area check out when is the best season to travel there, or at least when visiting those places is not recommendable and schedule your trip according to that. Right after that you are ready to enjoy the tropical climate and the sun shine of Brazil!

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O estádio dessa semana é o Estádio Zerão, localizado na cidade de Macapá, capital do estado do Amapá, Brasil. Chamado oficialmente de Estádio Estadual Milton de Souza Corrêa, o Zerão foi inaugurado em 17 de outubro de 1990, numa partida em que o Independente venceu o Trem por 1 a 0, dois clubes locais. O gol foi marcado pelo jogador Mirandinha. Na época da inauguração o estádio se chamava Ayrton Senna, porém, após a morte de Milton de Souza Corrêa, ex-presidente da Federação Amapaense de Futebol, o estádio recebeu o nome atual. O estádio ainda pertence à Federação Amapaense.

O estádio tem o apelido de Zerão por estar localizado exatamente a 0 grau de latitude, de acordo com o datum SAD-69 (a confirmar). O estádio foi construído de maneira que a linha do Equador passe exatamente pelo meio do gramado, fazendo com que cada time jogue um tempo de jogo em um hemisfério (norte ou sul).

Os jogos de maior importância realizados no estádio Zerão são aqueles realizados pelos times amapaenses na Copa do Brasil. O último realizado por esta competição no estádio, entretanto, foi a vitória do Paysandu (PA) sobre o São José por 1 a 0, em fevereiro de 2007. Atualmente, o estádio encontra-se em situação de abandono. Inclusive pelo campeonato amapaense desde 2006 os jogos são realizados no outro estádio de Macapá, o Glicério Marques.

Estive no estádio em dezembro de 2007 e aparentemente ele estava em obras. Foi a informação dada por alguns funcionários que trabalhavam no local. Aquele que parecia ser o mestre de obras inclusive relatou com orgulho a realização de jogos da Copa do Brasil no estádio. Também disse que a reforma era destinada para receber alguma das seleções que fossem jogar em Belém os jogos da Copa do Mundo de 2014. O gramado estava sendo trocado inclusive.

Esclarecimentos sobre a paralização das obras: Futebol do Norte, JusBrasil

A Embrapa Amapá, unidade da Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa), realiza no dia 10 novembro, no auditório da instituição de pesquisa, em Macapá o curso “Como alimentar peixes e evitar doenças na piscicultura”.

O curso é gratuito, ofertado exclusivamente a piscicultores e técnicos que atuam nesta atividade, por meio de uma parceria entre a Embrapa Amapá, o CNPq e a Rede AquaBrasil, coordenada pela Embrapa Pantanal (Mato Grosso do Sul). Foram oferecidas 50 vagas.

De acordo com o coordenador do evento, pesquisador Marcos Tavares Dias, a programação constará de palestras e debates, pela manhã e à tarde, sobre diversos temas relacionados à sanidade de peixes cultivados, especialmente algumas espécies mais comuns em pisciculturas do estado do Amapá.

Para falar sobre a legalização da piscicultura, com orientações de como e onde obter a licença ambiental, foi convidado o Engenheiro de Pesca Geraldo Roberto Pinto, Coordenador do Núcleo de Recursos Pesqueiros do Ibama do Amapá. Em seguida, a pesquisadora da Embrapa Amapá, Eliane Tie Oba Yoshioka, abordará o tema alimentação e nutrição de tambaqui, tambacu e tambatinga, com destaque paras os tipos de rações, biometria, estocagem e problemas nutriconais.

Durante a tarde, Marcos Tavares Dias abordará as formas de cuidados e tratamentos de doenças de peixes cultivados. A oferta deste curso faz parte das atividades do projeto “Aspectos Sanitários e Parasitológicos de Peixes Cultivados em Pisciculturas de Macapá, Estado do Amapá: Diagnóstico e Intervenções”, que recebe recursos financeiros do CNPq, Ministério da Agricultura, Rede AquaBrasil (da Embrapa Pantanal, no Mato Grosso do Sul) e Ministério da Pesca e Aquicultura.

Por meio deste projeto, em três anos a Embrapa Amapá espera prover o mercado e demais setores da atividade com informações técnico-científicas capazes de estabelecer critérios para programas de sanidade para peixes cultivados no Amapá. Outra linha de trabalho é a formação de recursos humanos para atuar no setor produtivo do Estado. “Estamos oferecendo cursos e seminários, pois a capacitação de pessoal é importante para o monitoramento constante das condições sanitárias dos cultivos e para o conhecimento das dificuldades enfrentadas pelos piscicultores”, disse Marcos Tavares, doutor em Aquicultura.

Fonte = Embrapa

Depois das fortes emoções do Prêmio Podcast, vamos continuar com a nossa promoção.

Já recebemos unidades de sugestões no nosso bolão mas, como todos sabemos, o Fluminense ainda não caiu. Pois bem, você ainda tem chance de concorrer, mas não por muito tempo!

Bem, para quem não sabe do que se trata, explico rapidinho. Primeiro, preciso mostrar o prêmio: A Camisa de treino do glorioso Trem Desportivo do Amapá – que já chegou a “ganhar um hino” na nossa última promoção.

Para concorrer, basta fazer duas coisinhas:

1º) Bancar o Pai Rabanada e tentar adivinhar em que rodada o Fluminense vai cair matematicamente para a Segundona 2010. Se você for otimista demais, a gente até deixa você dizer que ele NÃO vai cair.

2º) Depois disso, você precisa bolar uma frase de “incentivo” [ironic mode ON] ao Fluminense na sua provável viagem a Série B. Do tipo “O sofrimento não pode parar”.

EDIT: O resultado já foi divulgado! Como ninguém apostou que o Flu não seria rebaixado, escolhemos dentre todos a melhor frase de incentivo. Confira quem ganhou ouvindo o Podcast BnCi 90!