Jari Project

Nutrient Cycling in Industrial Plantations of Fast- Growing Exotics the Jari Project... 

In spite of the lessons from Jari, other large scale plantation development plans continue in the Brazilian Amazon. If developed, the Grande Carajas Program would consume large areas of tropical forest in the eastern Amazon in order to obtain charcoal for the smelting of pig-iron from the Carajas mines. The area of Eucalyptus plantation to produce the required amount of charcoal would be over 700,000 ha-more than 10 times the area of E. deglupta already cultivated in the Jari Project (Feamside 1989). 

Russell, C. E. 1987. Plantation forestry. Case study No. 9 The Jari project, Para, Brazil. In Amazonian Rain Forests. Ecosystem Disturbance and Recovery. Ecological Studies 60, ed. C. F. Jordan (Sprlnger-Verlag, New York), pp. 76-89. 

Anonymous, (1983). The New Jari Project in Brazil Is It Technically Viable , The Newjari Risks and Prospects of a Major Amazonian Development, Olsen s Agribusiness Report 4 (8), 1,4, February. 

Located along the Jari River (a tributary 300 km from the mouth of the Amazon), the 1.6 million ha Jari estate was originally purchased by the American multimillionaire Daniel Ludwig in 1967. In the first fifteen years of the project, more than 100,000 ha of forest were cleared and planted with exotic... 

Jordan and Russell 1989). Sioli (1973) believed that the reluctance of administrators to mention poor soils as the reason for failure of Amazonian projects. Jari was their faith in the myth of the Amazon as a source of unbridled productivity. 

In 1983, Jari reported a 2.1 million operating profit (International Society for Tropical Forests 1985). This represents a rate of return of 0.2% on the original investment of 1 billion. Even for the Brazilian consortium who paid 280 million for Jari, the rate of return is only about 0.8% on their investment. Because annual sales at Jari are greater than annual expenses such as salaries and maintenance, the project should continue to operate in the near future. However, eventually the major capital item, the pulp mill, will become obsolete. Willingness of investors to recapitalize will depend on Jari s history of Investment return. 

Japan Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Demonstration Project, http //www.jari.or.jp/jhfc/e/index.html (last accessed 9 February 2011). 

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