INTRODUCTION Considering its possession of 21% of global fresh water reserves, of a territory which happens to contain the world’s largest single body of groundwater, the Guarani Aquifer, and its possession of 30% of Earth’s tropical forests, Brazil undoubtedly is endowed with the status of an ‘environmental power’. Nevertheless, its elites in power and their constant historical zeal for maintaining social apartheid prevent this nation from assuming the projection that it really deserves in international relations. The gigantic oil reserves found in the pre-salt layer, estimated in 50 billion barrels, secure for this ‘petropower’ in formation a privileged position among the members of the new quadriga of power, which is comprised of Brasil, Russia, India and China. Given that Norway is the only large oil exporter to achieve social, political and economic development, this article outlines the challenges that Brazil will face in the BRIC context.
BRAZIL: ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY POWER In a context of transformations of world economies, a democracy that heralds the banner of sovereignty to avoid its obligations against deforestation will hardly be able to add value to the products that it
exports, and reach the level of scientific development presented by Russian, Indian and Chinese partners. Brazil is the only member of the BRIC group that renounced nuclear weapons, but this is not the reason why it has lagged behind the others in terms of technological innovation. The low salaries of researchers and the negligence with which science is treated led to the training of legions of lawyers, but very few physicists, chemists and mathematicians. In the wardrobe of nations, partners dress Brazil up with the garments of an agroenergy power, after a striptease that left it without its natural attire, which originally displayed its environmental power. Mediocre investments in public goods, the terrible quality of what is offered to the low-income consumer, deforestation, and laws that make this country what it is, hinder Brazil’s presence among the BRICs as a true environmental superpower. Indians detonated their first atomic bomb in 1974, ten years later than the Chinese. Brazil, on the other hand, has a GDP per capita superior to either India or China. In May 2008, when for the first time the four leaders met during a summit held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, the new quadriga of great global opportunities represented 23% of global GDP and 70% of the planet’s dry surface. After suffering from “Third-Worldism”, while currently in a new ambiance, more hopes are forged than alternatives in this informal
Argemiro Procópio
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