Introduction
Brazil is one of the countries located in Southern America and is one of the emerging economies in the world given its economic performance. Having been colonized by the Portuguese, the country gained its independence in 1822 and maintained its monarchial form of governance until 1888 when the slave trade was abolished.
The country has experienced enough of populist and military rule that was accompanied by high coffee production and export. In 1985, the military gave up power to civilians with the citizens electing leaders. The industrial and service sectors’ growth prompted me to choose this country for study since the country is a developing economy that showed excellent performance concerning its growth.
Physical Geography
Geographically, Brazil is located in Eastern South America with one of its boundaries bordering the Atlantic Ocean. The other neighbors of Brazil include Argentina Bolivia and Columbia and the rest of other countries in the region except Chile and Ecuador (World Fact book, 2013). The country has a total area of 8,514,877 square kilometers; 8,459,417 sq km is covered by land, and the rest is under water.
Of the land area, 6.93% is arable with crops being grown permanently on 0.89% of the land and 45,000sq km being irrigated (Salati, 2007). As noted by Finer et al. (2008), the country is characterized by the flat lowlands situated in the Northern parts of the country.
The other parts are characterized by the plains, hills, mountains and the low coastal line at the Atlantic Ocean. The highest point in the country is the Pico da Neblina, which is 2,994 km above the sea level. Brazil has various natural resources that have continuously helped the economy perform better, and they include the iron ore, Uranium, gold and bauxite among many more (Patriota, 2009).
Social-Economic and Political Situation
Brazil has a total population of 199,321,413 people that are a composition of many groups such as the Mulatto, the Whites, and the Black among others (Japanese and Arabs). The main languages spoken in the country include the Portuguese, which is the national language among others such as German, English, and Japanese.
Majority of the citizens in Brazil are Roman Catholics, which is 73.6% of the population and the rest are protestant, and spiritualists (World Fact book, 2013). Brazil has undergone rapid demographic transition over time especially since the slow growth of the country’s population and the increased aging in the 1960s.
Majority of the citizens in Brazil are engaged in various economic activities mainly agricultural, mining, the manufacturing and service sectors in the countries. With an estimated GDP of about $2.362 trillion in 2012, the country registered a real GDP growth of 1.3% in the same year.
The country’s GDP is comprised of the Agricultural sector, industry and service sectors whose contribution to the economy is 5.4%, 27.4% and 67.2% respectively (Mueller, 1995). The level of unemployment was 6.2% in 2012, and the population below the poverty line was 21.4% in the same period.
The economy of Brazil is open to the world, and the country exports petroleum products, iron, soy beans, and coffee among others in exchange for import products that include machinery, electrical and transport materials and chemicals from the rest of the world (IAEA, 2013).
Main Environmental Issues
Fearnside and Barbosa (1996) note that Brazil encounters various natural disasters that include the droughts that are experienced in the northern parts of the country, the floods and occasional frost that is frequent in the southern parts of the country. These environmental disasters are accompanied by environmental issues.
Among the common environmental issues is deforestation that is experienced in the Amazon basin and is characterized by destruction of natural habitat while endangering the lives plants and animals. Illegal trade in wild animal products such as elephant tusks is another environmental issue affecting Brazil. The activity affects the country’s wildlife while endangering their lives.
Laurance and Fearnside (2002) argue that water pollution is common in some places such as Sao Paulo and Rio De Janeiro among others. The environmental issues in Brazil are caused by various factors including improper mining activities that bring about land degradation and pollution of water (Tollefson, 2009).
Environmental Policies
Brazil has many policies that are implemented to overcome the challenges that the country faces from environmental issues. First, the Federal government of Brazil has initiated many programs such as the Pluriannual programs. They include Brasil em Acao that lasted from 1996 to 1999, the Avanca Brasil that succeeded the former program between 2000 and 2003 and “the Plan for the Acceleration of Growth” that was established in 2008 and lasted until 2011.
These programs established by the government are necessary for reducing environmental impacts on the country while enabling the country to attain sustainable development (Gunderson & Holling, 2002). The policy plans have been influenced by the federal government in conjunction with other multinational organizations such as the World Bank and the InterAmerican Development Bank among other organizations (Diniz, 2001).
Since the program was not very effective, the Protected Areas in Amazonia was established with the aim of increasing national reserves. In addition to these programs, the government in Brazil focused on protecting forests in the country through forestry management programs.
These were accompanied by the establishment of mining and energy programs that were established to help increase the generation of energy without environmental destruction. This came in 2001 when the country experienced large shortages in energy (EU, 2007). Last, the Brazilian government has been involved in deforestation control programs that help reduce oil spills from mining activities and climate negotiations.
Conclusion
This paper focused on the profile of Brazil with specific focus being environmental issues affecting the country and measures to overcome the challenges. It is clear from the discussion that Brazil is an emerging economy that has a large level of domestic consumption and economic activities going on at the industry level, although agriculture still plays an important in the provision of exports. The country is faced with major environmental degradation issues such as deforestation, water pollution, and floods.
References
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