{"id":17283,"date":"2014-08-22T12:55:48","date_gmt":"2014-08-22T15:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=17283"},"modified":"2023-08-23T12:21:21","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T15:21:21","slug":"the-social-environmental-costs-of-rios-olympic-golf-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=17283","title":{"rendered":"The Social & Environmental Costs of Rio’s Olympic Golf Course"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"\"<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

President of the Organizing Committee for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Carlos Nuzman recently\u00a0remarked<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0\u201cRio 2016 is intensifying its relationship with society.” He continued,\u00a0“The Games will leave a huge legacy for both Rio and Brazil… No other host city will have had such a big transformation from the Games as Rio.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The social impacts of the 2016 Olympics<\/a> are indeed intensifying;\u00a0whether that is a boon to Rio’s residents, however, is, to put it nicely, highly disputed.<\/p>\n

The Olympic golf course<\/a> is the perfect microcosm through which to identify much of what is wrong with the approach to Olympic infrastructure development in Rio. It is emblematic of the ways in which Rio’s preparations for the 2016 Games\u00a0are\u00a0deeply problematic.<\/p>\n

The site chosen for the golf\u00a0course sits on 1 million square meters of protected\u00a0Atlantic Forest<\/a> on the edge of the Marapendi lagoon in Barra da Tijuca<\/a>. A\u00a0mix of fragile mangroves, marshes, and sandbanks, the area contains about\u00a0300 identified species. A whole host of different animals will be threatened by new development in Marapendi, from herons to capybaras to endangered<\/a> species such as the yellow-necked alligator, the beach lizard, and the crested guan.<\/p>\n

In order to gain access to the golf course land parcel, Rio’s City Council passed\u00a0Complementary Law 125<\/a>\u00a0in late December 2012, during an emergency session just before their holiday recess.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The passage of Complementary Law 125 raises grave legal concerns. In order to free up this land for the course, legislative norms and democratic, participatory processes were either undermined or directly violated.<\/p>\n

The City government bypassed an array\u00a0of laws, from the federal\u00a0Atlantic Forest Law<\/a> and\u00a0Forest Code<\/a> to municipal laws that designate most of the land\u00a0as an\u00a0Area of Environmental Protection (APA), subject to strict sustainable land-use guidelines<\/a>. The remaining portion of the parcel was part of the public Marapendi Municipal Reserve, an area under \u201cpermanent protection,\u201d theoretically off-limits<\/a> to any and all development.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"After<\/a>Given these protections, the law passed in December 2012 is extreme in its provisions. First, it authorizes the construction of the golf course\u00a0within\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0borders<\/a>\u00a0of the Marapendi Reserve, using the justification\u00a0that building a golf course qualifies as sustainable use of the land. Additionally, it redraws the borders of the Marapendi Municipal Reserve in order to completely cut out the section that fell within the intended golf course site. The law effectively nullifies the area\u2019s \u201cpermanent protection\u201d status, handing this piece of public land over to a private developer, RJZ Cyrela.<\/p>\n

The crowning provision of Complementary Law 125 gives developer Cyrela full rights to build 23 new 22-story luxury condominiums on-site in exchange for shouldering the R$60 million contract for the golf course. Besides clearly failing to meet the sustainable-use guidelines\u2013which charge any construction within the APA\u2019s bounds with \u201cprotecting the biological diversity and ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources\u201d\u2013this\u00a0also runs counter to\u00a0previous zoning regulations<\/a>, which had capped construction to individual residences and select 6-story buildings.<\/p>\n

Cyrela now has construction\u00a0rights in what amounts to some of Rio’s most highly valued\u00a0real estate. Apartments in one of these\u00a0new high-rises are\u00a0on the market<\/a>\u00a0for up to\u00a0R$16 million ($7 million USD) each.<\/p>\n

Federal and state elections are coming up in October, and contractors and developers have long played an important role in financing political campaigns<\/a>\u00a0in Rio.\u00a0Cyrela\u00a0happens to be the\u00a0city\u2019s largest real estate developer.<\/p>\n

There were no environmental impact studies either, nor was an environmental management program formulated–both required before licensing can be approved.\u00a0There were no public hearings to\u00a0Complementary Law 125, also\u00a0in violation of the\u00a0law.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Current development in Barra da Tijuca\u00a0owes much to\u00a0Lucio Costa<\/a>‘s\u00a0ideas about what a ‘modern utopia’ should look like: sleek high-rise\u00a0apartments, shopping malls, and\u00a0wide high-speed\u00a0avenues. Real-estate agency RVM\u00a0boasts<\/a>\u00a0that Barra is “emerging as the playground of Rio\u2019s trendy and affluent.”<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2010,\u00a0according<\/a>\u00a0to the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Barra da Tijuca\u00a0held only 2.1% of total households in\u00a0Greater\u00a0Rio but 8.1% of aggregate household income. By comparison, the four largest favelas held 2.5% of total households but only 1% of aggregate household income.<\/p>\n

The concentrated development of the Barra region has drawn criticism from specialists. “The World Cup and the Olympics gave the City government the excuse to totally diminish every\u00a0aspect of responsible urban planning in Rio de Janeiro,” argues\u00a0Professor Fernando Walcacer, former City Prosecutor for Urbanism and the Environment. “We’re going to pay dearly for this.”<\/p>\n

Marcello Mello, a biodiversity gestation specialist, declares\u00a0that \u201cpolitical authorities and business interests in Rio de Janeiro have been uniting to cash in on development in the city\u2019s last green spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others are more optimistic. In a recent\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0NBC’s OlympicTalk site, Nick Zaccardi writes: “The next two years, and the last five years, are not a burden but an opportunity for the city to\u00a0prove its mettle as a bellwether for expanding the Olympics to new areas.”<\/p>\n

This kind of\u00a0‘mega-event as metric\u00a0of\u00a0progress’ conception is na\u00efve at best and\u00a0harmful at worst. It legitimizes an\u00a0attitude\u00a0of ends justifying the means\u00a0when\u00a0it comes to government preparations for\u00a0mega-events such as the Olympics<\/a> or the World Cup<\/a>, eliding the damage caused by feckless policy.<\/p>\n

According to Andr\u00e9a Redondo, an architect and former president of the City Secretary of the Preservation of Cultural Patrimony, \u201cThe [government\u2019s] discourse is very seductive, but the project is just a real estate tool at its core.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gentrification<\/a> and the rising cost of living continue to push lower-income residents\u00a0out to the urban periphery. In one\u00a0of the\u00a0largest removals<\/a> since 2009, 876 of the\u00a01,500 families in the Vila Uni\u00e3o de Curicica<\/a>\u00a0favela nearby in Curicica, West Zone, are\u00a0slated for removal<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0make way for\u00a0Olympic\u00a0infrastructure projects. And families living for generations nearby in harmony with the urban forest of Pedra Branca are\u00a0fighting eviction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Cyrela’s Riserva Golfe\u00a0website<\/a> boasts about the\u00a0amenities in the golf course condominiums:\u00a0up to five parking spaces per apartment. One building includes a 1,308 square meter\u00a0penthouse, serviced by six elevators, two bedrooms for maids, and a master bedroom intended for a governess.<\/p>\n

These apartment high-rises are billed as \u201cRio de Janeiro\u2019s most exclusive address.\u201d Cyrela\u2019s website promises, \u201cHere, you and nature live together in perfect harmony.\u201d<\/p>\n

Houses\u00a0in favelas generally occupy\u00a0less than 80\u00a0square meters.<\/p>\n

This project codifies the government\u2019s prioritization of private business interests over those of Rio\u2019s citizens and reinforces the driving factors of social and economic inequality.\u00a0It sends a strong message that a lucrative real estate deal is worth more than the health of the city\u2019s democratic process, hard-won environmental regulations, and the rights of the people to legislative participation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The social and political implications of this project extend far beyond concerns about construction delays and environmental consequences, though the latter is especially concerning. While the golf course project is certainly not the first instance of regressive, environmentally damaging\u00a0development decisions in Rio, it represents a particularly harmful combination of violations.<\/p>\n

Sociedade do Bem<\/a>, an NGO focused on advocating for the “common good,” is currently litigating a public civil lawsuit against the City government. The case is stalled, and according to their\u00a0lawyer Jean Carlos Novaes, their\u00a0chances of stopping the golf course project are “very remote.”<\/p>\n

Instead of his\u00a0intended\u00a0promise of progress, Rio 2016\u00a0President Nuzman’s talk of transformation\u00a0reads much\u00a0like a\u00a0warning.\u00a0Indeed, a continuation\u00a0of top-down development decisions, peppered wit<\/span>h legal irregularities, licensing violations, and a total absence of public participation, exemplified by the Olympic golf course case, will only consolidate\u00a0Rio’s reputation as a city governed by and for the wealthy<\/a>,\u00a0at the expense of everyone else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas President of the Organizing Committee for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Carlos Nuzman recently\u00a0remarked\u00a0that\u00a0\u201cRio 2016 is intensifying its relationship with society.” He continued,\u00a0“The Games will leave a huge legacy for both […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":17403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1736,1288,335,1282,452,328,336,1329],"tags":[9,225,1382,474,1395,203,1383,354,327,288,1259,5,301,10,980,592,21,365],"writer":[1318],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17283","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-1736","8":"category-highlight","9":"category-policies","10":"category-research-analysis","11":"category-rio20","12":"category-understanding-rio","13":"category-violations","14":"category-by-international-observers","15":"tag-9","16":"tag-barra-da-tijuca","17":"tag-development","18":"tag-environment","19":"tag-environmental-protection-area-apa","20":"tag-inequality","21":"tag-land-use","22":"tag-law","23":"tag-legacy-myth","24":"tag-mata-atlantica","25":"tag-mega-events","26":"tag-olympics","27":"tag-public-policy","28":"tag-real-estate-speculation","29":"tag-social-legacy","30":"tag-vila-uniao-de-curicica","31":"tag-west-zone","32":"tag-zero-participation","33":"writer-elena-hodges"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17283"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=17283"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=17283"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=17283"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=17283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}