Here is arranged Olympics next summer – Aftenposten

– The environmental problems in Rio is a result of elite conscious policy choices, says Brazil-know.

There is today 500 days left for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro starts. The opening ceremony for the Rio Olympics is August 5th next year.

It is history’s first Olympics in South American soil, an experience incredibly many are interested to see. Overall 7.5 million tickets being March 31 put up for sale on the organizer’s website, with prices of between 105 and 3085 dollars, type NTB.

However, the impending toys endured much criticism already. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) described last host country preparations the “worst ever” and called the situation critical. The local organizer committee has gained more control, and last month insisted IOC President Thomas Bach that he was “very happy” after a three-day inspection.

– Corruption and mismanagement

Despite the IOC’s “approval”, struggling Rio toys with extensive environmental problems. In Guanabara Bay, where sailing and windsurfing will take place during the Games, it flows fetid garbage and sewage. It is the result of a deliberate policy, says human geographer and Brazil know Torkjell Leira.

– Brazil is a rich country which unfortunately has been misruled for 500 years. The reason that Brazil and Rio has so major environmental problems, is entirely deliberate choice by the authorities, mainly the right wing and the political elite, says Leira.

He has studied and worked in and with Brazil for many years and is author of the book «Brazil – The giant awakens.” Leira tells about a country that has long lacked most of the basic infrastructure.

– There are huge backlog of physical infrastructure in Brazil. The Portuguese colonizers wished the country should be a retarded commodity producer, and after the country became free in 1822, the country was ruled by local elites or the military, he said.

– It is no coincidence that Brazil is one of the countries in the world with the greatest difference between rich and poor, says Brazilian expert.

PT, the party of the leftist and popular ex-president Lula, came to power 12 years ago. Leira says that we have seen a tremendous development in the last 12 years, where poverty is more than halved.

Yet the corruption prevalent in Brazilian society, and frustration among “normal” people are great. During trial championships in football in 2013 people flocked to the streets in protest and no later than 15 March of this year was two million people in the streets in one of the biggest political demonstrations in the history of Brazil.

– You have refrained do something about the problems so long and now people outraged over corruption scandals that rolled up, where among other things the largest private construction companies and the large state-owned oil company Petrobras is involved, says Leira.

Floating garbage

The promise to cut the flow of pollution by 80 percent was part of the city’s Olympic application, and should also be a lasting legacy after the Games. Authorities in Rio de Janeiro state now recognizes that it will struggle to fulfill the promise.

– Remove 80 percent of the pollution? It’s not going to happen, said the state’s fresh environmentally responsible André Corrêa in January, according to The Guardian.

According to the British newspaper shall sailors have described sailing arena as a “sewer” where they must navigate past floating couches, animal carcasses and plastic bags rubbish. More should have been ill after falling in the bay.

Seiler Associations have expressed concerns about the water quality and that all trash can harm the athletes health, but Corrêa argues that pollution will not affect the sporting.

– The no risk that the sailors are going to have problems with disease and such things. I’m not worried about water quality. I’m much more worried about the floating trash, he said.

Corrêa says that so-called “eco-barriers” which to filter spam before it flows out into the bay, not working at all.

Rio de Janeiro has struggled with pollution for decades, and although the decline in manufacturing close metropolis has reduced the levels of heavy metals, looks much the idyllic Guanabara Bay like an open sewer with consistently stench of garbage, the newspaper said.

– The application process for the Olympics had a focus on environment, one should get høyhastighetstog- and buses, metro systems in Rio, and you promised to clean up Guanabara Bay, says Torkel Leira.

Thousands of dead fish

Most of the sewage in the Rio area flows untreated into the bay and into the city’s spectacular beaches. Authorities say that there must billion sums in place to be able to obtain all the big city proper treatment plants. Thus it is very unclear when and how quickly this can happen.

– One gets completed it you really want. It has the priority to do. There are plenty of money in Brazil, but unfortunately it is a fact that over half of the population is not connected to a sewage network, says Leira.

Governor of the state of Rio, Luiz Fernando Pezao, said last month that 49 percent of sewage in the area now being treated, but in late February came a new unfortunate episode for Olympic organizers.

Inspectors who conducted routine tests of the water in the bay discovered thousands of dead herring fish that floated around, just over a mil from the start area to the Olympic sailing.

Environmental Activists have reported sewage and garbage problems entirely from Rio was awarded the Olympic Games in 2009, but little has been done.

– It is regrettable that we do not used toys to make Guanabara Bay completely clean shall city mayor Eduardo Paes said.

Controversial golf course

Golf returns to the Olympics in Rio next year, after an absence of 112 years. But the location of the Olympic golf course in an ecological reserve has also created anger. Marapendi reserve is home to several endangered animal and plant species. One also uses large amounts of water to keep the grass green in an area that is struggling with the supply of fresh water.

Environmental Activists fear the consequences for flora and fauna, but it will also questioned the government’s relationship with the city property developers.

The biologist Sonia Peixoto believes that the decision was taken without that one had followed the necessary procedures.

– There was no technical investigations, no rallies, no democratic process, she says, according to The Guardian .

Activists have formed an “Occupy Golf” movement and emphasize that they are not against sport itself.

– We are simply not agree the decision to build the golf course, says Carlos França , journalist and environmentalist.

França says that protesters are abused by passers attacked with homemade explosives and harassed by police. Some activists argue that the decision-course construction favors property developers with close ties to Mayor Paes.

– You must see the golf course in a broader perspective. Eiendomsbaroner have always had great political influence in Rio. Developers have seen in these areas for years, and the Olympics has given them the chance, says Fernando Walcacer, professor of environmental law in Rio de Janeiro.

Belief in party

Brazil expert Torkjell Leira believe, despite all the controversies, on a sports party in Rio de Janeiro next summer.

– My prediction is that the Olympics, like the football World Cup, a festival without equal, he said.

Leira believes that the country’s positive development now has stagnated for some good years and envisions corruption scandals afterwards.

– Before the soccer World Cup was one long after the construction and commissioning of facilities. But one always gets done at the last minute, and I think it will be building around the clock in the months before the Olympics, he said.

He calls it a “budgetary emergency” to get a goal the opening ceremony on August 5 next year.

– There are unfortunately a source of embezzlement, he said.

– After seven “fat” years in Brazil, one is enough now back at seven “lean” notes Torkjell Leira.

Published: 24 March. 2015 8:32 p.m.