The Environment

In the nineteen-eighties deforestation in the Amazon was an environmental problem in Brazil that attracted large amounts of international attention, however, sixty-six per cent of Brazils land is still covered by forests. Another environmental problem in Brazil is desertification which only got inernational attention since the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development which was held in Rio de Janeiro in nineteen-ninety two.
Soil erosion, siltation, sedimentation of streams and rivers and polution with pesticedes are serious problems in areas where agriculture is more intense and developed.
Environmental degradation was worsened in Brazil by the economic crisis in the nineteen-eighties because it led to overexploitation of naturtal resources, weakened environmental protection and stimulated settlement in fragile lands in rural and urban areas.
Policies in Brazil regarding the environment are usualy advanced, however, implimentation and enforcement of their environmental laws are no where near ideal. Since the nineteen-thirties, laws regarding water, wildlife and the forests have been in effect.