During the 1980's, the Brazilian government acted as if the forests were an impediment to progress, an asset to be used to pay back the debt incurred during the 20 years of military dictatorship. Encouraged by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank, the Brazilian Government provided large incentives to coax multinational timber and mining firms to exploit the Amazon. These gigantic projects were designed to yield short-term profits and pay of the foreign debt regardless of environmental and social consequences. The economic plan was launched with purely extractive goals, and the forests and precious metals were perceived as resources to be exploited at top speed until they were gone. Many of the loans for these gigantic projects worsened Brazil's foreign debt, which plagued the economy for more than a decade.

The 1990's saw a dramatic surge in international and domestic interest in Brazil's ecological progress and environmental attitudes. This was demonstrated by the choice of Brazil as the venue for ECO-92, a mega environmental and ecological bash organized by the United Nations to trash out appropriate priorities for the environment and economic development.

Some Brazilian sources, such as Fundação SOS Mata Atlantica, believe that the remnants of the rain forest in the costal area will be finished in 15 years, along with more than 300 species of wildlife that are already on the brink of extinction. The Pantanal is threatened by pollution and poaching. The Northeast region, already experiencing extreme poverty and social breakdown, is literally losing ground to desertification; and beaches throughout Brazil (particularly those near industrial areas) are threatened by indiscriminate dumping of major pollutants or malfunctioning sanitation systems. Further problems involve the burning of huge tracts of land in parks and reserves; widespread and the concomitant reduction or extinction of hundreds of plant and wildlife species - an irretrievable genetic loss.