{"id":31434,"date":"2016-08-06T13:54:16","date_gmt":"2016-08-06T16:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=31434"},"modified":"2017-09-27T10:15:43","modified_gmt":"2017-09-27T13:15:43","slug":"rios-other-bay-demands-remediation-amidst-olympics-focus-on-guanabara-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=31434","title":{"rendered":"Rio’s ‘Other Bay’ Demands Environmental Remediation Amidst Olympics Focus on Guanabara Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Last Sunday, July\u00a031 residents of Rio de Janeiro’s\u00a0West Zone<\/a> neighborhood Sepetiba<\/a> joined together in a\u00a0symbolic \u201chug\u201d of the Sepetiba Bay to mobilize stewardship for the bay\u2019s environment and community.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 40 residents and allies in attendance gathered at the historic Sepetiba bandstand. Diverse groups including\u00a0C.O.R.E.S.<\/a> (Commission for the Revitalization of Sepetiba), the Boto Cinza\u00a0Institute<\/a>\u00a0for protecting dolphins, the\u00a0Sepetiba Ecomuseum<\/a>, Sepetiba People\u2019s Network<\/a>, Ba\u00eda Viva<\/a> and the\u00a0Central Baptist Church of Sepetiba\u00a0joined forces over\u00a0their shared concern for the bay. Representatives from each group gave speeches and the event culminated in the \u201chug\u201d as participants\u00a0held hands in a circle around the bandstand and sang the national anthem.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Residents<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe hug\u2019s objective is to unite movements, institutions, residents and fishermen to hug Sepetiba and hold the government accountable for their unkept promises,\u201d explained Thiago Cruz, of the Sepetiba People\u2019s Network.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in the moment of the Olympics<\/a> and an upcoming election. Right now, all eyes are looking towards Rio de Janeiro. Because of the Olympics, it was promised that the Guanabara Bay<\/a> would\u00a0be cleaned up. If it wasn\u2019t possible to do anything there even after it was promised, imagine how it will be in a forgotten neighborhood that no one can even locate on a map<\/a> unless we\u00a0speak out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Activist<\/a><\/p>\n

Residents held banners stating \u201cINEA<\/a>\u00a0[the State Environmental Institute],\u00a0keep your promise: Where is the sand replenishment on Sepetiba Beach?\u201d and \u201cTKCSA<\/a>, not licensed to operate but licensed to pollute!\u201d They also expressed that they would like to see\u00a0the fulfillment of\u00a0Mayor Eduardo Paes\u2019 promise<\/a> to build 450 kilometers of bike paths by 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

Known during the 1970s\u00a0and 80s\u00a0as the <\/span>Copacabana of Rio\u2019s West Zone<\/span><\/a>, the Sepetiba beach was populated primarily by fishermen and summer homes. Residents watched as the construction of the port of Itagua\u00ed in 1982 transformed Sepetiba\u2019s beaches into a swamp unsafe for swimming.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sepetiba<\/a><\/p>\n

The Docas Port Authority oversaw the construction of the port. To deepen a canal they dug up 20 cubic meters of material and threw it irresponsibly back into the bay. The material has continually washed onto Sepetiba\u2019s shores ever since, covering them in mud. Along with pollution from the zinc company\u00a0Ing\u00e1 Mercantil<\/a>\u00a0(closed in 1998) and the highly controversial<\/a>\u00a0steel processing plant TKCSA, the port devastated the artisanal fishing and tourism industries in Sepetiba.<\/p>\n

The Federal Court ruled that the Docas company should pay remediations<\/a>, but Sepetiba\u00a0residents stated that the funds have been invested outside of their region. \u201cUntil today Docas hasn\u2019t paid all of the indemnities and hasn\u2019t taken all of the mitigating measures they were supposed to. That is what we are protesting now,\u201d says C.O.R.E.S. member Sergio Pinto.<\/p>\n

He continues: \u201cSince we can\u2019t undo the past, we want to see upgrades for our shore, like a bike path, sidewalk, kiosks, bathrooms. Everything that you see in the South Zone<\/a> in Copacabana and Ipanema we deserve here as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Today<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas Last Sunday, July\u00a031 residents of Rio de Janeiro’s\u00a0West Zone neighborhood Sepetiba joined together in a\u00a0symbolic \u201chug\u201d of the Sepetiba Bay to mobilize stewardship for the bay\u2019s environment and community. The 40 […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":31442,"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":[1290,1333,452,336,1329],"tags":[1050,474,267,728,5,530,18,270,1402,106,2544,471,2101,21],"writer":[2121],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-civilsociety","8":"category-event-reports","9":"category-rio20","10":"category-violations","11":"category-by-international-observers","12":"tag-beach","13":"tag-environment","14":"tag-fishing-colony","15":"tag-inea","16":"tag-olympics","17":"tag-pollution","18":"tag-protest","19":"tag-resistance","20":"tag-legacy","21":"tag-sepetiba","22":"tag-sepetiba-bay","23":"tag-sustainability","24":"tag-tkcsa","25":"tag-west-zone","26":"writer-sophia-zaia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31434","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\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31434"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=31434"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=31434"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=31434"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=31434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}