The Carajás Project

• Aims

• To take Brazil out of debt

• To mine deposits of iron ore (18 billion tonnes)

• Plant plantations of trees

• Initial Results

• Deforestation - Soil - Vegetation - Relief - Climate

• Money made for Brazil

• Type of land use

• Open cast mining

• Building towns

• Building infrastructure (890 km of railroad)

Carajás Project

Facts about the Carajás Project

• 45 million tons of iron ore annually • 1.5 millions tons of manganese • 10,000 kilograms of gold • Eighteen billion tons of high-grade iron ore • Guaranteed production for another 400 years• Carajás is served by its own Airport• $23 million on environmental impact research

Effects the Carajas Project has had on People

• Amazon Indians• Brazilian forests are home to 220,000 Indians from

170 different tribes• The population of Indians has dropped from 9m to

220,000 since 1500• Reasons include: El Dorado myth• A Brazilian politician said “We are going to

create a policy of integrating the Indian population into the Brazilian society as quickly as possible. We think that the ideals of preserving the Indian population are beautiful ideas but very unrealistic.

Effects the Carajas Project has had on Local Environment

• Soil• Humus decomposes

faster than it forms• No litter to form

humus

• Relief• 185 tonnes per

hectare eroded by one storm

• Silt eroded into rivers can kill water life

• Vegetation• Extinction of species• Difficult for

regeneration in harsh conditions

• Climate• High temperatures. • Low rainfall

Effects the Carajas Project has had on Global Enviroment

• Ozone layer• Sprays and chemicals are

forming a hole in the Ozone layer. This hole allows UV light to enter the earth’s atmosphere

• Acid rain• Industrial waste from mining,

transport etc can result in acid rain getting into vegetation and water killing aquatic life.

• Extinction• Deforestation can lead to

species becoming extinct. 20% of all living species have disappeared due to deforestation between 1975 and 2000

•Green house effect•Carbon dioxide gas trapped in the atmosphere causes light and heat to be trapped in the earth’s atmosphere

Solutions to Global Warming

• Only radical long-term changes will solve the problem of global warming, caused by both the greenhouse effect and the hole in the Ozone. Countries need to come together and think about the effect they are having on the environment and implement a plan to rectify these problems together.