of this government.
In December 2019, Professor Ricardo Galvão was chosen by Nature Research Journal as one of the ten people who mattered in Science in 2019, for his action in defense of Amazonia.
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The Amazonian region’s economic potential grows together with its importance in balancing the world’s ecological stability. Its economic production rose to US$70 billion in 2012, the result of more than 600 industrial enterprises, predominantly in electro-electronics, computer science and technology, motorcycles and bicycles, pharmaceutical products and cosmetics, and mining exporting to more than 80 countries. The economic values of the environmental services rendered to the world by the Amazonian ecosystems are estimated at about US$3 trillion per year.
New relations between science, religion, regional development, Amazonia, and sustainability present complex problems to mankind. Currently, Brazilian Amazonia is undergoing an economic and political cycle tending toward irreversible ecological destruction (Freitas and Silva Freitas, 2018a,b). Its physical and cultural heritage needs to be protected. Based on this assumption, it is necessary to disseminate its importance and to develop it in sustainable form.
The Brazilian government’s incompetence to implement a modern industrial policy contextualized to Amazonia’s cultural and ecological potential is an obstacle to its economic development. This question can be formulated as follows: How to implement a sustainable industrial policy in Amazonia exploring its natural resources?
Amazonia’s future has sustainable development seated in its multinaturalism and the technology as reference. Education, science, social and economic equity, religion, and world processes are key elements in this challenge. However, since January 2019 Amazonia has been devastated by more than 75 thousand fires, which represents 84% more than last year (Le Monde, 2019b). Its destruction must be stopped. As Stephen Walt (2019) puts it: “Who will Save the Amazon (and How)?”
The political positions of the presidents of Brazil, the United States of America, and China on the environmental protection of our planet are worrying. Their environmental policies put many uncertainties for mankind. The Catholic Church has always been very active in Amazonia since the arrival of the first Europeans in this region. Anticipating the national state’s disastrous political actions in the region, Pope Francis led the Organization of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to reflect on Amazonia’s main problems. In October 2019, in Rome, this religious institution defined its new guidelines and operational actions in this region of such importance to the world. From an ecumenical perspective, the globalization of Amazonia is another great challenge for institutions committed to building world peace and ensuring the planet’s environmental protection.
The UN and UNESCO, responsible for world security and defense of the physical and cultural heritage of the world’s populations, should also be able to ←15 | 16→foresee and prepare for the disastrous and frightening political scheme unfolding in Amazonia. These institutions should urgently convene specific Assemblies to discuss protective mechanisms for the region. Religion, institutions for world security, and culture need to be aligned in the defense of Amazonia. Mankind’s future is at stake.
The relationship between the globalization of environmental issues, Amazonia, and worldwide uncertainties will be analyzed in the next chapter.
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