It is
evident that everything is transformed by the action of man. Thus, it is
impossible to have an inhabited world without suffering diverse changes. These
changes mainly involve an accelerated process of transformation, which emerged
during the Industrial Revolution and advances in technology.
Cities, today, are increasingly crowded together. This population growth
is allied with the lack of a housing policy and not accompanied by planning. In
unprepared cities, for example, it generates a great "swelling" of
people. And all this is the result of precarious construction and intense urban
poverty and land occupation, in areas, naturally, of risks to human habitation,
which is aggravated, above all, by the constant withdrawal of forest.
The withdrawal of forest or forest threatens the presence of the
population in precarious infrastructure (shantytown and slums) with risks of landslides and emergencies of
diseases and epidemics caused by lack of hygiene and sanitary services; is the
scenario of most underdeveloped countries, in urban areas, including Cota 200.
The neighborhood Cota 200, in Cubatão, presents the following problem:
irregular occupations in an area of environmental preservation, the Atlantic
Forest. These irregular occupations make people, on rainy days, lose their
homes and even their lives with heavy flooding and landslides. Thus, the
government had a license to remove people who were occupying area of risk and
environmental preservation.
However, discussing this issue only on the side of "social
deprivation" would disconnect reality, as well as ignoring irreversible
damage to the environment and society.
For decades, this problem has not been properly addressed. Although Cota
200 is receiving support from all the local development centers of the Serra do
Mar Recovery Program, problems related to quality of life and pollution of
ecosystems still exist and persist.
What is the use of applying a revitalization project, with water reuse,
materials recycling, appearance improvement, sewage plumbing and renewable
energy application, if our government, with its license, removes people from
the area of risk and destroys their houses, without promising, then, none in
return? We believe, yes, in the struggle for preservation, but not on top of an
absolute extinction of history.
Don´t you see that most of them were people who had a past and lived in
the neighborhood 30/40 years ago? From there, they have nowhere to go. Just
imagine you living in Cota since the construction of Anchieta and one day the
government arrives and tells you the following sentence: "You will have to
vacate your house." You, there, who are reading, would agree and simply
leave, leaving everything that I built behind?
We, the group, do not! It is our history, our home, we have the right,
ué ... So it was because of opinions like ours that we held meetings.
Everything was done with a lot of caution, conscience and patience, so that the
residents understood how important it was / they were to leave there; an area
of environmental preservation.
This, in fact, is a very complicated matter, since to remove the people
from their present permanence should be an intention to preserve the Atlantic
Forest and to protect the lives of the people who are there. However, this kind
of protection goes far beyond what we imagine. These people are in need of real
protection. A kind of protection with which, instead, of removing her from the
neighborhood and leaving them in much worse situations, living on the street
with absolutely nothing, we must give shelter, home and protection.
In general, on this growth of disorderly urbanization that is not easily
equated by the State, it demonstrates an urgent need to raise awareness of
society as a whole, and especially of the public agencies responsible for
managing and supervising the use of public money. After all, there is no way to
know what the real damages and environmental impacts caused to the environment
will be, and what is worse, there is no policy of social planning or action in
evidence, seeking to make this risk of negative impact less tense.
Correcting mistakes made in the past by not planning is a difficult and
long-term task, but it must be the first goal of the state, regardless of which
party is in power. To this end, there is a need to integrate the economic and
social dimensions in the creation of new strategies, and, as a main, better
planning of cities; the quest for the best quality of life of all citizens can
never be overlooked.
