Ever since Sept. 11, sophisticated surveillance systems have been the talk of the town, and fans have proposed installing them in all sorts of places — airports, subway systems, sports stadiums. But rainforests? Yep. Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso flew to the jungle city of Manaus yesterday to inaugurate the Amazon Surveillance System, a $1.4 billion network of radar stations and high-tech equipment. The system, built by U.S. defense contractor Raytheon, will track everything from aircraft to climate conditions to soil composition. Its primary mission: to protect the Amazon from illegal miners, loggers, and drug runners, while unlocking the jungle’s economic potential. Environmentalists question whether those goals can go hand in hand, and say the main focus of the surveillance system is national security, not environmental protection.
