Telecenters for Sustainable Development in the Brazilian AmazonAmazônia and the Challenge of Sustainable Development Amazônia has nearly one third of the entire area of the world's tropical rain forests and is essential for the climate and biological diversity of the planet Earth. More than half of the known species are found there. Slash and burn agriculture in the rain forest releasing carbon dioxide into the Earth's atmosphere; river pollution with mercury from gold mining; the spreading of malaria; indiscriminate deforestation; inappropriate land use; and the conflicts between homesteaders and Indians are some of the critical problems in this region. Amazônia is still Brazil’s most isolated region. To reach some riverside communities takes more than 20 days by boat from major cities like Manaus. Outside the capital cities, most of the region’s population still depends on agriculture, fishing, and extractive activities (tending native rubber trees, collecting Brazil nuts, placer mining, etc.) for subsistence. Primitive slash and burn agriculture and subsequent cattle ranching are responsible for increasing deforestation. In much of the rainforest such activities are not sustainable, and in fact cause irreparable damage to the environment. Sustainable development, including high-tech exploitation of the rain forest’s vast biodiversity, depends on investing in the education and training of the population, including indigenous peoples. Modern distance education and e-government techniques today offer an economically feasible way to invest in Amazônia’s human resources and facilitate the development of environmentally sustainable development. Satellite-based digital television and two-way satellite-based broadband internet connections can provide connectivity to a network of telecenters equipped and staffed to facilitate distance education and training, tele-medicine, and a wide variety of e-government services. The most isolated communities can have access to the world’s knowledge base, and become integrated into the Brazilian and global economies. Key Institutions for Human Resource Development in Amazônia Rede Amazônica (http://portalamazonia.globo.com/rede-am/) is a TV network operating in five states of Brazilian Amazônia – Amazonas, Rondônia, Roraima, Amapá, and Acre – each with its own state version, distributed as a digital satellite signal and retransmitted by 202 standard terrestrial repeater stations. Rede Amazônica also has an open (non-encrypted) digital satellite channel, Amazon Sat (http://portalamazonia.globo.com/amazonsat/). The distribution of Amazon Sat’s programs is via a digital satellite signal which can be picked up by a simple C-Band dish. Rede Amazônica is the concessionaire in Amazonas, Rondônia, Roraima, Amapá and Acre for the fourth largest private television network in the world, Rede Globo. The Rede Amazônica Foundation (FRA) (http://portalamazonia.globo.com/fundacaoredeam/) is a philanthropic organization established by Rede Amazônica having a variety of objectives, among them being “developing activities in the area of distance education, environment, biodiversity, natural resources and tourism.” To achieve these and other objectives the statutes of the FRA provide for maintaining centers for professional training and research. FRA is currently seeking to develop a distance education network, beginning with pilot educational programs on Amazon Sat, but then going on to a special educational channel complemented by interactive Internet-based training technologies. Rede Amazônica and its associated organizations (which include a solar power company) are perhaps the single most important factor in integrating the population of Amazônia into Brazil. These organizations have at their disposal state-of-the art digital transmission technologies and arrangements for providing broadband Internet service by satellite, though the latter is in the early stages of development. The Rede Amazônica organizations are also politically influential. Rede Amazônica maintains a studio in Brasília and has good contacts with politicians, businessmen, labor leaders, and NGOs at the national as well as regional level The Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM) (www.ufam.edu.br/) has its main campus in Manaus, the capital of Brazil’s largest state, Amazonas. UFAM but also has a number of local campuses around the state, which it seeks to link by satellite-based broadband Internet links (CampusNet Amazonas) but it also is involved in developing a network of all the public universities in Brazilian Amazônia (CampusNet Amazônia), using the same technologies. UFAM has a representative on the Managing Committee of UniRede (www.unirede.br), the Virtual Public Univeristy of Brazil – a consortium 70 of Brazilian public institutions of higher education interested in promoting distance education. UFAM has programs in Biology, Environmental Studies, Education, Health, Nursing, and Social Sciences – key areas for human resource development and environmentally sustainable development. The Pró-Rector for Institutional Planning and Development of UFAM also sits on the Board of Directors of the FRA. The same technological platforms can be used for both technical training of the existing labor force (FRA’s principal objective) and for degree granting and extension programs of UFAM. The State of Amazonas is one of the least developed of Brazil’s 26 states in the area of e-government, and does not yet have its own portal, though various agencies of the state government have their own sites. But its young and dynamic Governor, Eduardo Braga, seeks to change that during his administration, which began January 1, 2003. Governor Braga also said recently in an address at UFAM on March 17, 2003 that that university is indispensable for building a more just society with greater opportunities for work, while stressing the link between the preservation of the environment and the promotion of economic and social development. System for the Vigilance of the Amazon (SIVAM www.sivam.gov.br) was conceived in 1990 and announced to the world leaders at the Rio '92 Conference. It will be the infrastructure for the System for the Protection of the Amazon, SIPAM. SIVAM will be composed of a large quantity of sensors and remote user stations connected to regional coordination centers by a vast and encompassing telecommunications network. SIVAM’s first phase became operational in July, 2002. SIVAM's objective is the implementation of a surveillance and analysis infrastructure to provide the Brazilian Government with the necessary information for the protection and sustainable development of the Amazon region. SIVAM will make extensive use of satellites for imaging and communications, and has established agreements with UFAM for some joint activities. The Federal Government of Brazil (www.brasil.gov.br/) has Ministries (including Education, Health, and Social Security), special training institutions such as the National School for Public Administration (ENAP) and the Financial Administration School (ESAF), and public enterprises such as the Bank of Brazil already conducting or interested in conducting distance education to train their own and associated state and municipal workers in Amazônia. Partnerships for Distance Education and E-Government in Amazônia All the institutions mentioned above can potentially work together to bring down the costs of meeting their specific objectives, which are mutually reinforcing. The key idea is to develop a common technological platform, making use of satellite-based digital television and broadband Internet connections and a network of multi-purpose telecenters to deliver e-learning, telemedicine, and other e-government services as well as private sector and NGO-provided services to the population of Brazilian Amazônia. What is involved is an ambitious set of public-private-NGO partnerships. The technology necessary to meet the objectives of all the organizations described above exists today, and this technology will get better and cheaper over the coming years. The challenge is not really technological, but political and organizational. Because there are substantial returns to scale in satellite hub systems, in building and maintaining a network of telecenters, and in the development of content, a larger more complex system results in cheaper unit costs for any given service than a smaller one. But organizing the effective collaboration of diverse public, private, and NGO entities is a challenge. The Director of FRA and the Pró Rector for Institutional Planning and Development of UFAM are taking the initiative in pulling together such a partnership, with the support of the Telemática e Desenvolvimento Ltda.(www.tedbr.com), a Brazilian company based in Rio de Janeiro, which is providing strategic consulting services and assistance in financial resource mobilization. Sponsored Telecenters One innovative source of finance for telecenters is to obtain sponsorship by Brazilian and international, companies, foundations, and individuals seeking to contribute to sustainable development of Amazônia. Sponsors would finance the construction and possibly maintenance of individual telecenters participating in the system. The need for such assistance is likely to be highest in the smaller and more remote settlements of Amazônia. A rough estimate of the capital cost of an individual telecenter with 15 networked computers, a broadband VSAT link to the Internet, two large television sets, and a separate antenna for digital TV reception ranges from US$25,000 to US$30,000, depending on whether an existing structure can be used, or an extension must be added to an existing structure. AmazonTelecenters.doc Draft 3 April 2003 -- © Telemática e Desenvolvimento Ltda. [ATID] [infoDev]
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