Brazil: It Ends the UNCTAD of the Discontent

For the Secretary of Environment and Development from the
state of Amazonas, in Brazil, is a tremendous absurd for the
whole world to say that the Brazilian forest should be preserved,
because of its value in natural terms. People have to remember
those who live in the forest, he said, in unacceptable poverty.

Eduardo Mamcasz

"Once more it was confirmed that the market is placed ahead of the citizen," affirmed the general coordinator of the Brazilian Network for the Integration of Peoples (Rebrip), Iara Pietricovsky, in a collective interview at the conclusion of Brazil's Civil Society Forum. She was analyzing the weeklong meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which ended June 18 in São Paulo.

Magalli Pazello, representing the non-governmental organizations (NGO's) linked to women, was another person disappointed with the final results of the UNCTAD XI meeting. She complained that women were viewed more as "object than subject."

"What happens is that the interests of capital are white and masculine and therefore never concede anything to women," Pazello denounced. She also regretted that the UNCTAD XI concentrated its discussions on security.

Paul Nehru Tennassee, from the World Labor Confederation, also criticized aspects of the final document issued by the UNCTAD XI. He lamented that, even though they were frequently alluded to in the speeches made by invited officials, "the goals for generating employment were not even mentioned in the document." For this reason, he recommended that the new UNCTAD Secretary-General, who will be named shortly, "recover the lost time and space."

The final document of the Civil Society Forum indicates certain "qualities" for the next UNCTAD Secretary-General. Among them, he (or she) should have "the highest moral and ethical standards" and be committed to "recovering the lost space, realigning priorities in light of the apparent awakening of the South-South keynote, supporting the brain gain by countries in the South, and determining goals for job creation in the world."

Women at Work

Earlier in the week, the United Nations (UN) had issued a report on the situation of women in the labor markets of developing countries. The document, entitled "Trade and Gender: Opportunities and Challenges for Developing Countries," was presented during a session of debates.

The study shows that female participation in the labor markets of South American countries rose from 26 percent to 45 percent in the last 25 years. In Brazil, this index went from 39 percent in 1993 to 41 percent in 2001 (a transformation similar to what occurred in Japan over the same time span).

The sectors in which the female presence is greatest in Brazil continue to be services and community and social work. Over half the labor force (59 percent) in these areas has been made up of women for the last eight years. This is not true of areas like construction, transportation, and telecommunications.

The report cites a babassu palm project in the Brazilian state of Maranhão as an example of the participation of women in the extractive industry. Countries in northern Africa and western Asia did not receive such high acclaim from the UN consultants. In these locales, only one in every three women is economically active.

Even in economically successful places, such as Hong Kong, South Korea, and Malaysia, men continue to dominate nearly 70 percent of the labor market, and they form an absolute majority in the most lucrative fields.

In all the countries analyzed by the United Nations, men still receive twice as much as women, who comprise the majority of the informal labor market. Around 60 percent of the planet's 550 million poorest workers are female.

"We shall analyze these problems and try to suggest ways to resolve them," affirmed Rubens Ricúpero, Secretary-General of the UNCTAD. "Indeed, we believe that a well-planned trade stimulus can help reduce the inequalities in income and gender," he said.

Tropical Forest

The world's use of wood extracted from the Amazon forest was another theme debated at the UNCTAD in a meeting sponsored by the International Tropic Timber Organization (ITTO).

The governor of the Brazilian state of Acre, Jorge Viana, one of the people invited to discuss their experiences with forest management and the commercial exploitation of tropical wood for export, assured that "the lumber trade in Brazil, which did US$ 6 million worth of business last year, will soon be the chief rival of the agricultural sector." The governor observed that sustainable management is important, but one should not forget the local community, which needs to be helped.

"There is a large and dangerous gap," Viana said, "between those who industrialize wood and the suppliers of raw material withdrawn from our forests, a gap which needs to be diminished, because local communities cannot endure receiving the current paltry sums."

The governor of Acre also stated, during the UNCTAD debate, that "the best way to conserve our Amazon forest is by making sustainable use of it, through certified products."

For his part, the Secretary of Environment and Development from the state of Amazonas, Virgílio Viana, who also participated in the debate on tropical wood for export, said that he considers it "a tremendous absurdity for the whole world to say that our forest has to be preserved, because it is very valuable in natural terms, without remembering the people who live there, frequently in conditions of unacceptable poverty."

The Secretary from Amazonas presented a proposal to reduce tariffs and taxes on certified forest products, so that they can attain competitive prices on the international market. The governor of Acre, in support of this proposal, recalled that certification of forest products already exists but "is still insufficient."

Virgílio Viana said that great care must be taken "to avoid what is happening in São Paulo, with the elimination of the Atlantic Rain Forest." He declared that "tourism that degrades is of no interest to Amazônia" and, also, that it is necessary to have the wealth obtained by tourism companies shared with the local population.

First and Third Worlds

When it comes to international agricultural trade, it is unfair to apply the same rules to developed countries, where agribusinesses receive government subsidies, and developing countries which lack adequate production conditions. This was another argument presented at the Civil Society Forum held parallel to the 11th meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Glayson Soares, representing the Forum for the Organization of Ethical and Solidary Trade (Faces), explained that "unfair trade is that in which equal rules are used for unequal parties. When we have customs barriers and an international effort by the wealthier countries to block the entry of primary goods—the chief source of income for developing countries—and, at the same time, more finished products, the situation is unjust."

Soares took part in the sessions on Fair Trade. "Fair trade is not the only alternative, but it has already demonstrated its impact on local economies. It is possible to have an appropriate value paid to producers, environmental sustainability, and a fair relationship between consumers and producers," he claims.

His organization, Faces, has worked with producers who, one way or another, have already adopted the idea of fair trade, he explains. "In rural areas, relations should be more egalitarian. There is still an income differential between men and women—and we espouse rural ethics, men and women earning the same and having the same power to decide. It is clear that this doesn't happen overnight, but this is our goal: a global endeavor with local impact."

"We have serious criticisms with respect to the procedures of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which has not advanced in terms of benefiting the poor countries. The UNCTAD is an alternative for recasting world trade in favor of development, and governments should strengthen it. In addition, we should have national policies for the development of local economies," Soares affirmed.

Eduardo Mamcasz works for Agência Brasil (AB), the official press agency of the Brazilian government. Comments are welcome at lia@radiobras.gov.br.

Translated from the Portuguese by David Silberstein.