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Unintended Consequences of ‘Development’ in the Amazon: Commercial Aquaculture and Malaria in Mâncio Lima, Brazil

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Environment and Development

Abstract

This chapter aims to show how ‘development’ policies, promoted and/or endorsed by different spheres of Brazilian government (federal, state and municipal) have contributed to the occurrence of malaria in parts of the Amazon. A detailed case study is provided, analysing the city of Mâncio Lima, in the Acre state. In this locality, a state policy in the early 2000s encouraged fish farming through opening fish ponds. The initiative, however, eventually led to massive production of breeding sites for the mosquito Anopheles darlingi, which transmits malaria in the Brazilian Amazon. As a consequence, malaria transmission has exploded in the municipality, which currently has the largest number of cases per inhabitant in Brazil. This investigation uses literature review and secondary data, as well as fieldwork records from September 2019. A set of proposed interventions are presented to address the malaria problem in the locality. Finally, we conduct an analysis of the case in the context of recent development/post-development theories. We argue that any intervention in the area must consider social participation, environmental preservation and defence against the main local health risks, especially malaria.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In this chapter we use the word ‘development’ in quotes to emphasise that this concept is a product of a specific historical context, most often understood as narrowly associated with economic growth.

  2. 2.

    The Manaus Free Trade Zone (MFTZ) is still in force. It establishes an area in Manaus city for free trade in imports and exports, with special tax incentives. Its purpose was to create an industrial, commercial and agricultural centre in the Amazon to boost development in the region (Brasil 1967). Aloise and Macke (2017) analyse the MFTZ as a study case of an eco-innovation policy in Brazil.

  3. 3.

    State intervention in Amazon has been carried out using various instruments, as mentioned by Trindade Júnior (2015: 101), “The strong presence of the State composed the strategy of the regionalisation model based in the polarised regions, either by creating infrastructure; or by setting up planning and funding bodies; or additionally by tax / credit incentives / subsidies to big rural property and capital flows”. In addition, it is important to note that “[t]he governmental role is varied with regard to both regional and social-class interests” (Godfrey and Browder 1996: 444).

  4. 4.

    The most recent Acre State Water Resources Plan, which also presents information about fish ponds as an economic activity, does not mention either malaria or Anopheles management (SEMA 2012).

  5. 5.

    The environmental effects of this occupation continue to be seen today. Forest fires increased substantially in 2019, as has been widely reported by international media (NY Times 2019). Investigations linked the fires to large-scale agricultural producers and their takeover of public land that had previously been covered by forest (El País 2019; Guardian 2019).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Parasitology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil

    Igor Cavallini Johansen & Marcelo Urbano Ferreira

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  1. Igor Cavallini Johansen
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  2. Marcelo Urbano Ferreira
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Correspondence to Igor Cavallini Johansen .

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  1. School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Antonio Augusto Rossotto Ioris

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Johansen, I.C., Ferreira, M.U. (2021). Unintended Consequences of ‘Development’ in the Amazon: Commercial Aquaculture and Malaria in Mâncio Lima, Brazil. In: Ioris, A.A.R. (eds) Environment and Development . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55416-3_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55416-3_14

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