{"id":25337,"date":"2015-11-16T08:00:10","date_gmt":"2015-11-16T11:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=25337"},"modified":"2015-11-28T11:14:35","modified_gmt":"2015-11-28T14:14:35","slug":"communities-debate-pollution-in-the-guanabara-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=25337","title":{"rendered":"Communities Debate Pollution in the Guanabara Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"\"<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

On Tuesday November 10, over 50 community members and activists gathered to discuss the heavily debated\u00a0issue of\u00a0increasing pollution in the Guanabara Bay<\/a>, but also to discuss the problems that affect<\/a> the population living around it. As part of the dialogue series from Viva Favela<\/a> and Swissnex, the event<\/a> had a panel of\u00a0four representatives of different areas to discuss the lack of specific public policies for the Bay, especially as the effects negatively impact the daily life of its surrounding residents. The Guanabara Bay is located directly east of the city of\u00a0Rio de Janeiro, forming one of the three sides of Rio’s peninsula. With an area of over 415 km2 it is the second largest bay in the country. Today over 10 million people live in the surrounding areas of the Bay in over 15 different municipalities.<\/p>\n

\"Guanabara<\/a>
Guanabara Bay provides the eastern border of\u00a0the municipality of Rio de Janeiro (outlined in red)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The conditions of the Guanabara Bay only\u00a0became widely known<\/a>\u00a0over the past months following an Associated Press (AP) investigation into\u00a0Rio’s preparations for the 2016 Olympic Games<\/a>. With just 1.7% of Rio de Janeiro’s waste\u00a0recycled\u00a0through official channels<\/a> and over 70% of untreated sewage floating directly into the Guanabara Bay,\u00a0waste<\/a> and water<\/a>\u00a0are growing concerns.<\/p>\n

\"Garbage<\/a>
Garbage accumulates in the Guanabara Bay. Photo by Fernando Maia\/UOL Mais<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tuesday’s discussion was mediated by activist and environmentalist S\u00e9rgio Ricardo who began the debate by asking three main questions: \u201cIs there a universal identity for all those who live around the Guanabara Bay? How is it possible that in 2015 there are still no public policies and solutions in place to save the Bay? And what can we do to stop\u00a0the unlimited release\u00a0of pollution from surrounding industries dumping their waste into the Bay?\u201d<\/p>\n

Edilene Estevam from the FAPP-BG<\/a> (Forum of those Affected by the Oil and Petrochemical Industry) argued that everyone who lives in the region affected by the\u00a0Guanabara Bay should have a say in decisions affecting it. The forum is formed by representatives of social movements<\/a>, fishing communities, residents, and labor unions.<\/p>\n

FAPP-BG\u00a0argued\u00a0that those who live close to oil and gas refineries\u00a0are extremely vulnerable to all kinds of detriments and side effects. They\u00a0are at risk of floods, lack a regular supply of clean water, and cannot enjoy activities such as fishing and swimming. Bruno Amaral from the Guanabara Bay Fishermen’s Association stated\u00a0that up until the 1970s the state of Rio de Janeiro was the second biggest producer of fish in the nation. The communities surrounding the Guanabara Bay have suffered recurring problems for years. The group’s immediate priorities are\u00a0sanitation<\/a>, pollution<\/a>, economy<\/a> and health<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Janete<\/a>
Janete Guilherme explains her work with the Women of Salgueiro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Grassroots projects are working\u00a0to improve democratic participation<\/a> in resolving the environmental injustices affecting Guanabara Bay. The third panelist, Janete Guilherme, works with the Women of Salgueiro<\/a>,\u00a0in S\u00e3o Gon\u00e7alo municipality, teaching women how to make clothes and dresses out of discarded\u00a0materials. She says the program has helped change how participants view garbage. Many now save shampoo bottles and other items normally thrown out and\u00a0adaptively reuse them. They\u00a0produce a range of products including\u00a0dresses and decorative\u00a0flowers. The Women of Salgueiro group\u00a0grows awareness about issues of waste\u00a0and pollution of the Bay while also supporting victims of domestic violence.<\/p>\n

The final panelist was Ricardo Souza from the socio-environmental group Carcar\u00e1<\/a> in Caju<\/a>. He touched on how cultural spaces such as the restored Bath House of Dom Jo\u00e3o VI<\/a>\u00a0can play an integral role in providing space for building community awareness around the Bay. In the 1990s this Bath House hosted cultural event workshops that promoted community organization<\/a>. Souza said: \u201cOnce the community becomes aware of the issue of pollution, it is easier for them to empathize, change their mentality and do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bath House has since fallen into disrepair and is now closed to the public. The lack of attention given to this valuable and historic space in a community that has played an important role<\/a> in the history of Rio reflects a general pattern of government abandonment<\/a> in communities like Caju around the Guanabara Bay.<\/p>\n

Although the exposure provided by\u00a0international attention<\/a>\u00a0to the\u00a0Guanabara Bay is recent, the groups present at the event, from all around the Bay, demonstrate that organizing around social and environmental justice in the area is nothing new. Guanabara Bay communities are committed to seeing a change in the quality of life of the region’s inhabitants and are actively taking steps to improve it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas On Tuesday November 10, over 50 community members and activists gathered to discuss the heavily debated\u00a0issue of\u00a0increasing pollution in the Guanabara Bay, but also to discuss the problems that affect the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":25342,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1668,1736,1290,1333,329,452,1329],"tags":[801,756,456,474,385,182,1197,531,107,5,1292,152,530,535,120,373,130,1140,370],"writer":[1819,1878],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-25337","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-participationwatch","8":"category-1736","9":"category-civilsociety","10":"category-event-reports","11":"category-solutions","12":"category-rio20","13":"category-by-international-observers","14":"tag-caju","15":"tag-community-organizing","16":"tag-domestic-violence","17":"tag-environment","18":"tag-environmental-education","19":"tag-government-neglect","20":"tag-greater-rio","21":"tag-guanabara-bay","22":"tag-health","23":"tag-olympics","24":"tag-organizing","25":"tag-participation","26":"tag-pollution","27":"tag-sanitation","28":"tag-sao-goncalo","29":"tag-sewerage","30":"tag-social-movements","31":"tag-waste-management","32":"tag-water","33":"writer-lovinia-reynolds","34":"writer-marcela-benavides"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25337"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=25337"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=25337"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=25337"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=25337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}