cannabisnews.com: Brazil Unleashes Amazon Watchdog 





Brazil Unleashes Amazon Watchdog 
Posted by CN Staff on July 26, 2002 at 07:51:50 PT
By Carmen Gentile
Source: United Press International
Brazil on Thursday unveiled a $1.4 billion surveillance system to monitor the Amazon rainforest's lush flora and diverse fauna -- and to keep an electronic eye out for narcotics traffickers and guerilla groups from bordering countries that use the jungle for covert operations.Blanketing an area the size of Western Europe, the Amazon Surveillance System, Sistema de Vigilância da Amazônia or SIVAM, monitors approximately two square miles using surveillance stations, radar, satellites and airplanes to serve as Brazil's eyes and ears in the remote jungle of South America's largest country.
Designed for both civilian and military use, the SIVAM project is a joint endeavor by several Brazilian government agencies including branches of the military, the Ministry of Justice and environmental agencies. "I have the honor to declare that SIVAM's Air Surveillance Center is active," said President Fernando Henrique Cardoso Thursday during a ceremony in Manaus -- the capital of Brazil's largest state, Amazonia -- that commemorated the system's official inception.Cardoso told onlookers that SIVAM would serve to strengthen Brazil's presence in the dense thicket of forest that in places serves as a haven for drug traffickers, poachers and guerilla groups that stray across the border in Brazilian territory."Today SIVAM is a reality that threatens not only the narcotics traffickers, but many others, and it will continue to do so," said Air Force Brig. Marcos Antonio de Oliveira.While Cardoso officials Thursday heralded the project for its sophisticated monitoring capabilities, SIVAM has come under fire since the project was first awarded to U.S. defense specialists Raytheon in 1994. Critics of the choice suspected that it signaled the United States would have access to the data the surveillance system provided.Suspicions arose over U.S. intentions when the White House pushed hard for Raytheon to win the contract over companies from other nations, Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper reported this week.Cardoso on Wednesday defended the choice of Raytheon, saying the selection process was "clean" and the allegations of irregularities "were nothing more than intrigue and infamy."The inception of SIVAM, however, comes at a time of increased violence along the 1,000 mile shared border between Brazil and Colombia, where the militant Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, have been known to exchanged fire with Brazilian troops that patrol the area.In May, one Brazilian soldier was shot and another went missing following two separate altercations with unknown assailants near the Colombian border during the country's war games in Amazonia.Brazil's Minister of Defense Geraldo Quintao said then that the country's vigilance in the region was "especially important now, as we are facing problems such as smuggling, drug trafficking and the guerrillas in Colombia," referring to the FARC.Reliable information tracking the whereabouts of Colombia's largest and most influential guerilla group would certainly not be unwelcome to the U.S. State Department, which deems FARC as a terrorist organization.Meanwhile, some environmentalists are concerned that the SIVAM projects importance as a military intelligence tool for countering guerilla insurgences might overshadow its worth when it comes to tracking poachers scouring the forest for rare animals and wood and detecting other variances that threaten the ecology of the rainforest."This will provide an incredible volume of data about the Amazon," said Paulo Adario, Greenpeace's Amazon campaign coordinator in Manaus. "But SIVAM is just a tool. As a tool it depends on how you use it, by itself it doesn't do anything," he said, adding that he hoped the Brazilian government showed the "political will to use the system to stop agents of deforestation." From the Science & Technology DeskSource: United Press InternationalAuthor: Carmen GentilePublished: July 25, 2002Copyright 2002 United Press InternationalWebsite: http://www.upi.com/ Contact: http://www.upi.com/about/contact.cfmRelated Articles & Web Site:SIVAMhttp://www.sivam.gov.br/A Giant Eye on The Amazonhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13194.shtmlHerbicides from Colombia Threaten Ecuadoreans http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13183.shtmlLarge Amounts of Amazon Rainforest Being Lost http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11877.shtml 
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Post Comment