Task point 1: - map
Task point 2: - a description of the project.
The Grand Carajás project, which was devised in 1980, is the development of the eastern sector of the Amazon region and covers 900,000 km2 of Brazil, which is 1/10 of Brazil. There has been an increase in settlement, cattle breeding, aluminium works and other industries as a result of government incentives which have led to large areas of the rainforest being destroyed for roads, houses, cattle ranching etc.The Grand Carajás project is mainly the exploitation of iron ore mining which has a total of 18,000 reserves in million tones, Bauxite mining which has a total of 4,000 reserves in million tones, Copper mining which has a total of 1,000 reserves in million tone and other mineral deposits.
The iron ore mine is 200metres deep and there are still 200 metres of iron ore left. The 18 billion tones of iron ore will last for 400 years and is 66% pure, which is very rich and higher quality than our iron ore. Because it is such good quality places al over the world will buy it from Brazil.
The project created 7000 jobs and the people who are employed there have free health care, houses at low rent, free trips home, fresh food flown in, and entertainment to attract people to the job.
Task point 3: - Graph 1 showing the debts
Task point 3: - Graph 1 showing the debts
Task point 4: - An explanation of why Brazil wanted to develop this area
Brazil wanted to develop this area because the calculated profits from Carajás will not only pay back the projects own loans but also help settle other foreign debts. It would also decrease the amount of unemployment in Brazil as it has created 7000 jobs out of 159.5 million people who lived there in 1997. The project also encouraged the growth of new industries such as pig iron production that brings in even more money and jobs for Brazil.The single iron ore mine produces 8% of the World trade in iron ore and has 18 billion tones of iron ore which will last for 400 years. The iron ore itself is one of the best quality of iron ore in the world as it is 66% pure so doesn’t need to be purified a lot. Because the iron ore is such good quality places from all over the world like Japan, Korea and Germany are buying the iron ore for there steel industries. These are other reasons why Brazil wants to develop the mine.
Task point 5: - Viewpoints of the various group involved
Task point 6: - An explanation of how the ecosystem has been damaged
Not only does the iron ore mining destroys the ecosystem with open cast mines but it also destroys the ecosystem with the railways and roads built through the forest to transport the iron ore to the port at Sao Luis. However, even though it is a relatively small area where the actual mine is but the mine itself is a large mine where there will not be a decent part of the mine which will be suitable to grow plants on, like there would be if the mine was tunnelled so the ecosystem where the mine is would be completely destroyed.
To smelt the iron in pig iron production you need to cut down trees, which means there will be more CO2 and less O2 in the air because the trees won’t be able to photosynthesise. Trees are burnt to make charcoal producing even more CO2. The charcoal is burned to smelt the iron making CO2 yet again. To make things worse the trees are not even regrown yet alone planting an extra tree every time one tree is cut down to balance out the amount of CO2 made by the burning of the fuels. This means the land may be subject to flooding because there are no roots left to absorb the water so the land becomes saturated. If it continues to rain the water has nowhere to go.
Mercury is used to separate the gold, in gold mining, but as it is a liquid it runs into the stream. This kills all life in the stream, and if any of the killed plants or animals is eaten then they will also die. The mercury, which isn’t washed into the stream, will get burned of which will cause the mercury to mix in the air poisoning all living things in that area.
To feed all the people who are involved in the project they Ranch cattle for the beef of the cows. The problem with this apart from the killing of the animals is that it destroys very large areas of the ecosystem because they need to clear an area big enough to keep the cattle which involves the cutting and burning of trees which like the pig iron production will cause an increase in CO2 but unlike pig iron production you cannot regrow the trees from an area which has had cattle ranching on it.
The Tucururi Dam has caused damage to the ecosystem because it has caused flooding which has covered all the greenery (defoliating), which now pollutes the water.
The multiplier effect also destroys the ecosystem in that the more businesses coming into the area the more of the ecosystem is destroyed to make enough room for the businesses and for the people who work there.
Task point 7: - A development programme for the area
Iron ore mining – tunnel mine, increase size of forest to compensate the roads and railPig iron production – plant two trees for every tree cut down,
Ranching – stop ranching use …… instead
Gold mining – don’t use mercury