India and Brazil - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 177

Sugar plantations began early in the colonial period, based on slave labor.
Although mineral wealth was less than in the Spanish colonies of Mexico
and Peru, some gold was discovered, followed by other minerals. World
demand for coffee generated a boom in the middle of the 19th century.
Plantations centered in the vicinity of São Paulo. The market collapsed due
to overexpansion. Soon thereafter European and North American demand
for rubber increased sharply with the invention of vulcanization. The
source was a tree found scattered about the Amazon Basin. The Indians
had known of it for years. Workers tapped the tree, that is, scratched the
bark and waited a few hours for the latex to ooze out, then collected it into
balls, which they transported to a river, hence to Manaus or Belem. The
business was lucrative, attracting migration from the east coast. Manaus
became one of the richest cities in the world with an opera house and pri-
vate villas. Demand climbed even higher when the bicycle craze broke out
about 1890, followed by automobiles a decade later. But the boom ended
when British, French, and Dutch smuggled out seeds to establish planta-
tions in their colonies in Malaya, Vietnam, and the East Indies. Unlike the
situation in Brazil, the rubber tree had no natural enemies in southeast
Asia, so huge plantations were safe.
A military coup in 1930 ended the Old Republic. The populist Getulio
Vargas took power and remained in office for 15 years, sometimes as a
dictator but sometimes as an elected president. He served as an elected
president from 1951 to 1954. Others were elected before and after him in
the democratic period 1945 to 1964, known as the New Republic. In 1964
the military took power again, but this time there was no pretense of
populism. The army governed directly. After initial success, problems
multiplied. The economy fell apart and guerilla warfare broke out. In 1985
the military gave up and voluntarily turned the country back to civilians.
Even during the period of military control, the government responded
to the worldwide Environmental Decade. In 1974 it established the
Special Secretariat of the Environment (SEMA). In 1981 Brazil passed the
National Environmental Protection Act, modeled on the US law. Under its
provisions, in 1985 it established the Federal Council for Environmental
Quality (CONAMA), composed of national agencies, state agencies, and
representatives of nongovernmental organizations. In the early 1980s,
state governments in São Paulo and Parana initiated cleanup of heavy
industries responsible for air and water pollution. 7
Government: Brazil is a federal republic with a presidential system mod-
eled on the United States. The president is elected by all the people for a