RESUMO
The general context of conservation in the tropics--in the Amazon basin and elsewhere--is stagnant or declining funding and rapidly growing threat levels. For conservation programs this makes strategic deployment of limited conservation resources all the more important. International conservation organizations active in the tropics increasingly define themselves as science driven and expend considerable resources on science-based activities such as ecoregional analysis, field research, and monitoring of ecological variables. l argue that an overemphasis on science has generated a series of unintended but serious problems for conservation in the tropics. Spending on monitoring and ecoregional analysis has effectively starved protection and threat analysis of resources. A decoupling of biology from serious cost-benefit analysis has led to the privileging of small-scale and local analyses, rather than the systemic analyses essential for the strategic allocation of scarce conservation resources. Successful conservation in the tropics depends on the crossing of biogeography with sophisticated threat analysis to identify priority geographies for protection. This should be combined with much more systematic engagement with the principal drivers of tropical deforestation, especially agribusiness. Caution and a sense of proportion are required when balancing the financial demands of science and those of protection. I suggest that conservation organizations should cooperate far more in assembling and analyzing information on conservation spending and on threat levels and biogeography at the continental, national, and regional levels. Site selection should follow rather than precede this kind of strategic analysis, and sites should be considered elements of a network rather than stand-alone projects. More attention should be paid to market-driven conservation through techniques such as certification and responsible supply-chain management.
Assuntos
Conservação dos Recursos Naturais/economia , Agências Internacionais/economia , Pesquisa/economia , Clima Tropical , Brasil , EcossistemaRESUMO
The objective of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate mercury exposure and health status among Munduruku Indians from the community of Sai Cinza, State of Pará, Brazil. The population studied included 330 indians, who submitted to a questionnaire, clinical exams, and collection of hair, blood, urine, and feces. Mercury was measured in hair and fish. Although no person was found to have overt mercury intoxication, the mean levels of mercury in hair were elevated (14.45 micrograms/g for children from 7 to 12 years old, 15.70 micrograms/g for women between 14 and 44 years old, and 14.1 micrograms/g for the remaining population). Mercury levels in fish were below levels recommended by the World Health Organization, but rates of fish consumption were high. These results place this indigenous populations as a group under risk of mercury toxicity from the gold production.
Assuntos
Exposição Ambiental/efeitos adversos , Intoxicação por Mercúrio/epidemiologia , Mercúrio/efeitos adversos , Poluentes Químicos da Água/efeitos adversos , Adolescente , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Animais , Brasil/epidemiologia , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Estudos Transversais , Etnicidade , Feminino , Peixes/metabolismo , Cabelo/química , Humanos , Lactente , Masculino , Intoxicação por Mercúrio/etiologia , Intoxicação por Mercúrio/metabolismo , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , MineraçãoRESUMO
Apresenta os resultados de pesquisa desenvolvida na Comunidade Ribeirinha de Brasília Legal, Município de Aveiro, Estado do Pará, Brasil. A metodologia utilizada incluiu coleta de dados sobre aspectos epidemiológicos; avaliação clínica e determinação de níveis de mercúrio em amostras de peixes e tecido capilar humano. As determinações de mercúrio foram feitas por espectrofotometria de absorção atômica sem chama. A população estudada foi de 246 pessoas, com idade entre 1 e 74 anos. Os teores de mercúrio no cabelo alcançaram 49,99 mg/g e a análise de regressão linear mostrou associação (p<0.05) entre estes teores de mercúrio com a frequência de consumo semanal de peixes
Assuntos
Humanos , Masculino , Feminino , Adulto , Criança , Exposição Ambiental , Impactos da Poluição na Saúde , Intoxicação por Mercúrio/epidemiologia , Inquéritos Epidemiológicos , Fatores Etários , Escolaridade , Peixes , Cabelo , Entrevistas como Assunto , Mercúrio/efeitos adversos , Inquéritos e Questionários , Fatores Sexuais , Planejamento Social , Espectrofotometria/estatística & dados numéricosRESUMO
During the past 20 years significant amounts of HG have been released in the Amazonian environment due to goldmining activities. Several Brazilian and foreign research groups have been studying the region, always facing difficulties regarding preservation and transfer of the collected samples from the field to the analytical laboratories. Aiming to solve these problems two high quality Hg analytical laboratories were established in the region. One is located at Fundação Esperança (FE, Santarém, PA), a medical assitance foundation and the other at the Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR), Porto Velho, RO. Their main equipament is: Atomic absorption spectrophotometers for Hg analysis (Klow Injection Mercury System-FIAS 400 with automatic samples-AS90-Perkin Elmer) and a microwave oven digestion system (MDS-2000-CEM). Technicians and researchers were trained in several aspects like environmental and human sampling, digestion methods and Hg analysis for biotic and abiotic materials. This training as well as the installation of the mentioned laboratories were the responsibility of the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Intercalibration exercices were performed between several laboratories: Environmental Medicine of Odense University (Denmark), Centre de Toxicologie du Québec, Canada and Occupational Health Sciences (Health-Canada). In the last 18 months the FE laboratory joined the Hg urine analysis intercalibration program of the Laboratory of the Centre of Toxicology in Québec, Canada, reaching accurate results. To date both Amazonian laboratories are able to analyze several different materials: Sediment, soil, fish, urine, hair and blood. The FE laboratory is becoming more specialized in human samples such as urine, blood and hair, wile UNIR laboratory deals with environmental samples such as fish, sediment and soil.