LETTER FROM RIO DE JANEIRO
“Do you hear that noise? Like falling rain? » Wearing a multi-pocket vest, Mario Moscatelli, a 59-year-old biologist, points to a puddle in the middle of a labyrinth of buttressed mangrove roots. “ These are crabs that filter water with their bronchi! » Hearing the footsteps of visitors approaching, dozens of small reddish shells suddenly emerge from the water before disappearing again into holes dug in the mud.
For the scientist, this scene relates to “ miracle » : When he started restoring these 130 hectares of mangrove in Jardim Gramacho, a neighborhood in the northwest of Rio de Janeiro, in 1997, no one thought the trees would grow. For thirty-four years (between 1978 and 2012), this site which borders Guanabara Bay hosted the largest open-air landfill in Latin America: some 9,000 tonnes of waste from across the city were dumped there daily.
The 60 meter high mountain of garbage was smothering local flora and polluting Guanabara Bay. On June 3, 2012, ten days before the United Nations summit on sustainable development was held in Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, the city’s mayor – he has been back in business since 2021 – finally decided to put an end to This “ environmental crime ». The landfill was thus permanently closed.
Since then, nature has come back to life. “The trees are growing at full speed! », rejoices Mr. Moscatelli, looking up at the tops of the mangrove which rises to 9 meters high. The bushy foliage and unruly roots of mangrove trees provide new habitat for many species. In addition to the crabs, imprints on the mud bear witness to the passage of herons. Taking advantage of the low tide, small brown birds called “maçarico” make a stop on the bank of the swamp before taking off again towards other countries.
Broken promises
The battle for the restoration of the place is not yet won. This is evidenced by a cloud of gray smoke rising barely a hundred meters from the site of the old landfill. “ This are deposits that burn garbage », worries Mr. Moscatelli. Following the closure of the “lixao” (the “big trash can”) of Jardim Gramacho, numerous illegal recycling centers have appeared in the slum surrounding it.
The approximately 20,000 catadores (“waste recyclers”) who had previously made a living from collecting and sorting landfill waste have sunk into poverty. In 2012, the town hall promised them 14,000 reais (around 2,560 euros) in compensation and access to training for professional retraining. But only those with formal employment – or 1,700 people – benefited. For lack of an alternative, many of them have resumed their activities illicitly under the command of drug trafficking gangs who control the favela (“slum”), whose dusty alleyways reek of waste and burned plastic.
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