get a long-awaited aerial monitoring system to help protect the
Brazilian rainforest system against illegal exploitation. The
Brazilian Amazon covers 5.2 million square kilometres, and makes up
more than 60% of Brazil's land area. It contains about a third of the
world's remaining tropical rainforest, and about 30% of the world's
biodiversity.
In the next few months, the $1.3-bn Amazon surveillance system (Sivam)
will be up and running, monitoring meteorological data and aerial
activity over an area the size of Europe.
Twenty radar systems will be set up, which will give the Brazilian
Amazon complete coverage. The project, which is more than 95% ready,
includes three surveillance aircraft, four satellite reception
stations, 14 lightning detectors, 83 weather stations, 200 floating
data-collection points and a network of 914 points linked by computer
and fax. The integrated system will employ about 1,000 experts.
The new system will be able to catalogue and map Amazonian land better
than before, and be able to detect forest fires and deforestation with
more accuracy than the current methods. It will also be able to locate
illegal airstrips with relative ease and see if people are invading
land belonging to indigenous tribes.
The aim of harnessing the rainforest's resources has been a
long-standing dream of successive Brazilian governments. In the late
1960s, the huge Trans-Amazon Highway was built, which only served to
quicken deforestation, but Sivam will not be used for destructive
purposes, according to experts. Also, while Brazil has borrowed the
money to build Sivam, it hopes that it will end up saving the country
money by cutting down on smuggling, forest fires and illegal mining.
