THE GREENING OF THE ECOPOLITICS OF THE WORLD-SYSTEM - AMAZONIA AND CHANGES IN THE ECOPOLITICS OF BRAZIL

Changes in the ecopolitics of the Brazilian government in the 1980s an d 1990s were a result of a ''greening'' of the ecopolitics of the worl d-system. These world-systemic changes were a byproduct of increased a wareness about the condition of the global environment, brought about by the discovery of the ozone layer hole and the possibility of a gree nhouse effect. Environmentalists pressured for changes in the lending policies of major international lending institutions, especially those of the World Bank. While initially resisting the new loan restriction s, in the 1990s Brazil realized the reality of its economic dependency on the capitalist world-economy; it needed loans to stabilize its eco nomy and to implement new development projects. The greening of the ec opolitics of the world-system also added to the political leverage of Brazilian grassroots movements. They were able to forge alliances with international environmentalist organizations and receive substantial media coverage. The Brazilian government, in turn, was forced to pay a ttention to grassroots environmentalists in order to avoid sanctions f rom international lending institutions. This paper concludes that with out world-systemic changes, Brazilian ecopolitics would have remained slow in changing, additionally non-governmental organizations (NGOs) a nd the media will play a key role in changing global ecopolitics in th e future because without their pressure, governments are reluctant to change and implement environmental policies.