Brazilian Public Policies Research Articles

Rainwater harvesting and supplemental irrigation for cotton cultivation in Minas Gerais, Brazil

AbstractThe North of Minas Gerais, a large inland state in southeastern Brazil, is going through the worst drought of the last 80 years, only compared with the drought that occurred in the 1930s, when there was general devastation in the agricultural and livestock sector. Nevertheless, the cotton crop continues to stand out in the region as one of the few agricultural alternatives capable of generating income and employment due to its characteristic resistance to the effects of drought, which is not the case with other traditional crops. To this end, the Cooperativa dos Produtores Rurais de Catuti Ltda ‐ COOPERCAT (Cooperative of Rural Producers of Catuti) installed eight “Demonstration Units” (DUs) of cotton under supplemental irrigation through rainwater capture in the municipalities of Catuti, Mato Verde, Monte Azul, and Pai Pedro. This study aims to demonstrate that the adaptation of cotton production systems through the “Supplemental Irrigation” method in critical periods provides and guarantees family farmers sustainable cotton production and, on the other hand, to evaluate a production model suitable to the climatic reality of Northern Minas. Since the implementation of this technology, cotton fiber production has increased by 72% from 2015 to date in a 19% smaller area, and total cotton production increased by 58%. As of 2022, cotton producers continue to use this supplemental irrigation methodology, demonstrating that the technology is viable, impacts cotton production, and is effective as a resilience measure to climate change and drought. In addition, this technology proves to be in line with Brazilian public policies, adds value to cotton production, addresses food security, and acts as a model for irrigation initiatives in Minas Gerais and other areas of Brazil.

Payment for Environmental Services and the Financial Viability of Agroforestry Systems: An Integrated Analysis of Socio-Environmental Projects in the Descoberto Basin—Federal District

The policy of payments for environmental services is implemented in public policies in Brazil, and there are many efforts to increase projects that subsidize rural producers, combining payments with incentives for good agricultural practices that promote these services. Thinking about ways to add these values in projects to restore degraded areas is an opportunity to generate monetary benefits for producers and attractiveness for stakeholders, aiming to increase investments in projects of this nature and gain scale in the restoration of these areas. In this way, this study evaluated the financial viability of a project to implement 16.9 hectares of agroforestry systems in agrarian reform settlements located in the Descoberto HydrographicBasin near Brasília, Federal District, and the proposition of a scenario of payment for environmental services associated with adoption of this agricultural practice by producers. The results were promising for both investors and farmers, as demonstrated by the financial analysis criteria (NPV: USD 63,097.49, IRR: 71%, simple payback: 3 years). The PES scenario was even more attractive, proving to be an encouraging increase for the adoption of this practice by producers.

Corn ethanol production with thin stillage anaerobic digestion for bioenergy recovery: A technical and economic evaluation

The generation of bioenergy from thin stillage in a corn ethanol mill provides a new perspective for the use of by-products in a circular economy concept. Alternative technological routes for the corn ethanol by-products energy and nutrients recovery must be investigated to assess present and future decision-making toward economic and environmental indicators. The theoretical biogas production from an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor in a corn-ethanol mill and the potential thermal and electrical power generation along with the avoided greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were estimated for a large-scale industrial facility. This work aimed to assess the anaerobic digestion (AD) contribution to techno-economic indicators of a corn ethanol mill in three scenarios: 1) Standard corn-to-ethanol mill; 2) AD-CHP - thin stillage AD to produce biogas and its burning in a combined heat and power (CHP) system; 3) AD-BU - biogas purification to obtain and commercialize biomethane. The existent Brazilian market and fuels and biofuel policies place the system without AD in a slightly better position when analyzing financial indicators related to investment return. In contrast, the global energy and mass balances considering thin stillage AD showed that in the AD-CHP scenario, processing 1 ton of thin stillage would produce 10.37 m³ of biogas, which could generate 119.9 MJ of heat and 24.7 kWh of electricity in a CHP system, favoring a greener energy scenario. The energy recovered from biogas returns to the industry, supplying 7.15% of the heat required for steam production and 52.74% of the electricity requirement for industrial processing. As a renewable energy source, biogas would replace fossil sources for energy generation avoiding GHG emissions. Extrapolating the results of the present work to the Brazilian national scale, the biogas yield from the corn-to-ethanol industry would be 179.68 million m³ , the thermal energy generation from biogas could mitigate 125,574.42 ton CO2eq, and the electricity replacement could mitigate 58,193.02 ton CO2eq. Besides the mentioned energy generation and environmental benefits, the financial indicators for the examined scenarios showed that the Brazilian market and public policies related to biogas/biomethane are constraints to overcoming to larger adoption of AD by the corn-to-ethanol industry.

Heterogeneities of the impact of public health policies on HIV/AIDS indicators in Brazil according to sociodemographic factors: A real-life study.

The impact of specific policies on HIV care has been scarcely investigated. In this study we aimed to analyze the impact of the Treatment For All policy (TFA-2013) and the adoption of integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs-2017) as first-line therapy on clinical indicators of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Brazil. We assessed the public database of Brazil's Ministry of Health and extracted data from 2009 to 2019. We investigated the impact of TFA and INSTIs with a time-series analysis of four health indicators in PLHIV: antiretroviral treatment (ART) initiation with a CD4+ count >500/mm3 ; ART initiation <1 month after the first CD4+ measurement; viral load suppression (VLS); and treatment adherence. We explored trends over time by gender, age, macroregion of residency and municipal-level social vulnerability index. We included 753 316 PLHIV in 2019. Most were males (64.81%) in the 30-49 years age category (50.86%). We observed an overall improvement in all HIV clinical indicators, with notable impact of TFA on timely ART initiation and VLS, and mild impact of INSTIs on treatment adherence. Such improvements were heterogeneous, with remarkable gaps in gender, age and socioeconomic groups that have persisted over time. Indicators point to inferior outcomes among children, older adults, women and people living in socially vulnerable locations. Recent Brazilian public policies have had positive impacts on key HIV clinical indicators. However, our results highlight the need for specific policies to improve HIV care for children, older adults, women and socially vulnerable groups.

Flexible capitalism and its relations with neoliberal public educational policies

Brazilian public educational policies are linked to the mode of production of capitalism. This paper analyzes flexible capitalism and its relations with neoliberal public educational policies. In this context, we study the relationship between the approval of the High School Reform Law in 2017 and the advance of flexible capitalism in the country. It is research with a qualitative approach and that follows the assumptions of historical and dialectical materialism that allows the procedural analysis between theory and method from its contradictions and its historicity.

Freshwater and Federal Public Policies in Brazil, 2016-2023: dismantling and reconstructing

Water governance has been a subject of growing interest in the academic agenda since the 2000s: yet the Brazilian water governance system is still little analyzed. Water crises have multiplied in Brazil in the last two decades, magnified by climate change processes and governance shortcomings, calling for the attention of researchers and policymakers. This paper contributes to the existing literature on water governance by presenting a framework for analyzing water governance in Brazil, investigating recent changes in three Brazilian policies related to water governance, and exploring contributions from the international literature on policy dismantling as applicable to the Brazilian case. The approach adopted is qualitative and exploratory. From six relevant policy areas for water governance analysis - energy, environment (including climate change), water resource management, health, sanitation, and water security - we selected the policies on basic sanitation, water resource management, and conservation for focus. The results show that processes of policy dismantling occurred in the three policy areas analyzed during the period 2016-2022, associated with the backslide of democracy, and point out some challenges and reccomendations for their reconstruction.

Triple helix in the management of innovation in public policies: a study of two countries

This study deals with the Triple Helix development model’s efficient application in managing innovation in public policies in a Brazil-Portugal comparison. The Triple Helix model has its origin in England, to resume the economy in decline and unite the initiatives, until then unilateral, of universities-industries-government. Internationally recognized as a model of innovation and development, Triple Helix uses mechanisms that aim to mitigate the failures existing in universities, industries, and governments, transforming knowledge into practices aimed at the economy and improving the three elements’ interactions. In this sense, the work’s objective is to present how the process of operationalization of public policies aimed at innovation is developed, aligning government, Industry, and universities in a Brazil-Portugal comparison. For its development, bibliographic research and a comparative exploratory study about innovation management in Brazilian and Portuguese public policies were used. As a result, it is confirmed that, with the Triple Helix model in innovation management, public policies focused on science and technology is more effective. Even more, the greater the involvement between the three actors of the development model.

One Health Approach to Leptospirosis: Human-Dog Seroprevalence Associated to Socioeconomic and Environmental Risk Factors in Brazil over a 20-Year Period (2001-2020).

Despite being considered a neglected, re-emerging and the most widespread zoonotic disease worldwide, human-dog leptospirosis has not been subjected to One Health approach, and neither were its socioeconomic and environmental risk factors, as well as concomitant spatial analysis over time. Accordingly, notified human leptospirosis cases, incidence rate and urban hotspot areas, in addition to a systematic review of dog leptospirosis cases, were performed nationwide from 2001 to 2020 in Brazil. Data on Gross Domestic Product (GDP), flooding and study areas were also assessed and tabulated. Human-dog leptospirosis cases were simultaneously mapped with overlapping flooding areas, along with the main circulant serovars. Comparative outcome has shown that dogs may be exposed similarly to humans, becoming important sentinels and/or reservoirs for human leptospirosis in larger geographic areas. Moreover, the study herein can help in the decision and implementation of public policies in Brazil and may serve as a model for other tropical countries worldwide.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) as resilient socio-economic structures: the role of collaboration and public policies in Brazil and Spain

ABSTRACT This study examines the determinants of resilience in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and strategies for CSA expansion, including the role of public policies, providing a genuine international comparison of inputs from CSA coordinators in Brazil and Spain. The results indicate that CSA projects with an engaged small consumer core group that supports the producer have additional tools to build resilience. Synergies with other like-minded social, educational, or environmental projects offer significant expansion opportunities. Distrust of CSA actors in public policies limits their ability to support the CSA movement, but indirect policy adjustments could have a favorable effects on CSA expansion.

Health and sanitation: an evaluation of public policies for the prevention, control, and contingency of arboviruses in Brazil

Arboviruses, especially those transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, have become a serious public health problem in Brazil. In order to analyze how sanitation is addressed in the basic guidelines of public policies to control arboviruses in the country, content analysis was performed on eight governmental reference documents. As a result, it was possible to identify that aspects related to communication and social mobilization, vector control, and management are the themes most addressed in the documents analyzed. On the other hand, the components of basic sanitation, especially rainwater management and drainage, and sewage control, are not addressed in the instruments. Intersectorality is mentioned, however, there are no specific proposals to implement the plan and ensure its implementation. The Ministry of Health's National Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Dengue Epidemics is the most complete document on the subject. The conclusion drawn is that basic sanitation is not sufficiently addressed in the instruments for combatting arboviruses, which can contribute to the low effectiveness of public intervention and, consequently, this discrepancy needs to be focused on by public policies in Brazil.

RUPTURA: DISCUSSÕES EM TORNO DAS POLÍTICAS EDUCACIONAIS PÚBLICAS BRASILEIRAS PARA UM CURRÍCULO VIVO ANTIRRACISTA

The understanding of identity and the roles of subjects in society is necessary both for achieving subjective satisfaction, typical of being, and for the development of society in relational and productive dimensions. This article is an invitation to discussions and the development of other research and practices, aiming to understand the complexities of the curriculum, decoloniality and teaching. It resorts to the documents that make up Brazilian public educational policies (national and international) with regard to the constitution of the curriculum and teacher training, such as: National Common Curricular Base (BRASIL, 2018), the BNC- Training (BRASIL, 2019) and the Incheon International Declaration (UNESCO, 2016a). The documentary analysis is anchored in Stuart Hall (2016), Aníbal Quijano (2005), José Sacristán (2017), Maria Lúcia Damásio (2008), Eneida Shiroma (2011), Teresa Teruya and Delton Felipe (2018), among others. In addition, the series “Severance”, created by Dan Erickson, with the first season in 2022, aired on the Apple TV+ streaming service, represents a critique of the disconnection of interpersonal relationships from everyday life to the detriment of work in an organization, and demands of Capital. The analysis of the series made it possible to perceive the circumstances of the superficiality of the discourses of educational public policies, which reverberate in teacher training and in the curriculum. Such discourses do not really address the inclusion of minority groups in society, the reduction of distances caused by socioeconomic inequalities and the deconstruction of structural racism, but they present cultural erasures in compliance with a colonial curriculum.

ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN AN INTEGRAL TECHNICAL CITIZENSHIP SCHOOL (ECIT) FROM JOÃO PESSOA, NORTHEAST BRAZIL

This work sought to present how Environmental Education is presented in the didactic pedagogical activities of ECIT João Roberto Borges de Souza, according to the Resolution CNE/CP nº. 2/2012 that establishes National Curriculum Guidelines for Environmental Education. It is important to highlight that the insertion of the environmental issue in the curricula of basic education schools has been recommended by several factors that contributed to public policies in Brazil, among them the National Policy for the Environment (PNMA), the Law of Directives and Bases of National Education (LDBEN), the National Curricular Parameters (PCN), and also the National Policy for Environmental Education (PNEA). Through exploratory research of qualitative nature with descriptive and explanatory analysis, it was possible to observe from the document analysis that the school partially complies with the resolution. Based on the institutional documents analyzed, only two subjects presented contents that meet the National Policy for Environmental Education. As for the Political Pedagogical Project (PPP), the school makes no mention in this document of activities, projects, practices and actions with environmental issues. Therefore, it is necessary to build informal and formal educational processes, using dynamic and relevant tools and materials, with the ability to enable an Environmental Education process that enables changes in habits and customs compatible with the needs of communities, as recommended by the World Conferences on Environment.

30 years of children and adolescents’ rights: an analysis of the trajectory of public policy in Brazil

O Brasil é reconhecido por possuir um marco regulatório avançado em termos de defesa dos direitos da criança e do adolescente, porém os desafios cotidianos para colocá-lo em prática ainda são imensos. Diante disso, como compreender esse gap entre regulação e prática? Este artigo propõe responder essa questão ancorando-se numa perspectiva pragmatista de análise, com a utilização do método da cartografia das controvérsias para o exame dessa política pública. Trata-se de retraçar a trajetória do debate nas arenas públicas que a compõem historicamente, buscando analisá-lo a partir dos principais porta-vozes, argumentos, controvérsias e visões de mundo presentes no debate público. Os resultados evidenciam como a ação pública nesse campo se (re) configura, a partir de processos de disputa e de estabilização, nesses 30 anos, identificando seus avanços e limites. As conclusões do estudo contribuem para identificar os desafios dessa política pública e demonstram que esta ocorre na interconexão de níveis, de formas de regulação e de redes de atores, o que implica uma revisão dos métodos tradicionais adotados na análise de políticas públicas.

Frames of violence: a reading on the pressures for the inclusion of violence against women in Brazilian public policies

Resumo O objetivo deste artigo é identificar e analisar as frames mobilizadas pelos movimentos feministas para tratar da violência contra as mulheres, bem como discutir suas influências nas políticas públicas. O referencial teórico e metodológico é o das frames (Snow &amp; Benford, 1992). O corpus de pesquisa constitui-se de matérias publicadas nos jornais Folha de S. Paulo e O Globo, em períodos de tempo relacionados a três ações estatais de combate à violência contra a mulher: i) criação das delegacias da mulher, em 1985; ii) estabelecimento dos juizados especiais criminais, em 1995; e iii) aprovação da Lei 11.340 de 2006 (Lei Maria da Penha). Os resultados indicam que, ao longo dos períodos analisados, uma master frame, “violência contra a mulher”, ressoou na opinião pública e fez esta questão ser reconhecida como um problema pelo Estado, que estabeleceu medidas para seu enfrentamento.

The Barrier Effect and Pedestrian Mobility/Accessibility on Urban Highways: An Analysis Based on the Belo Horizonte/Minas Gerais/Brazil Ring Road

Historically, public policies in Brazil and many developing countries have prioritized individual motorized modes of transport. The urban space of Brazilian cities has been repeatedly remodeled, often to meet the demands of vehicle flow, to the detriment of spaces for pedestrian use. Part of the transport infrastructure, particularly the highways, are obstacles to the population’s mobility, constituting the barrier effect and expanding the physical separation of the communities that reside or transit between the adjacent neighborhoods. Based on the proposed mobility and accessibility indicators extracted from the Origin and Destination Survey databases, this article aims to analyze pedestrian mobility and access to cross the Celso Mello Azevedo Ring Road, located in Belo Horizonte/Brazil. The results indicate that, over the period analyzed, the flows of foot crossings were significantly reduced, even in areas where population growth was recorded. The evidence also shows the prevalence of crossings by motorized modes, whose mobility and access are characterized by a tangible inequality in spatial distribution, linked to the occupation pattern of the surroundings, one consequence of which is the expressive volume of accidents involving pedestrians on the highway.

Narrativa cuir, experiência estética e política na luta pela paz: notas sobre o curta-metragem Negrum3

The contemporary Brazilian context offers a growing artistic and cultural production, generated by LGBTQIA+ subjects, which disputes narratives and sensitivity, and suggests new ways of being in the social world. This article looks at how such artistic-cultural production can bring critiques and contributions on peacebuilding. The article questions how to think peacebuilding from queer perspectives: it confronts peacebuilding with dissident critiques, in order to think a possible idea of queer peace. This is proposed through the aesthetic experience, in articulations between affection and politics that mobilize relations of recognition and otherness, from a sensitive perception of the discourses of resistance and affirmation of existence. To conduct an analysis that values culture —and its aesthetic and sensitive character— as a relevant field for research in the social and political sciences, we discuss the short film Negrum3 by filmmaker Diego Paulino. This audiovisual object is analyzed through a brief historical incursion, which presents a picture of LGBTQIA+ public policies in Brazil and their possible bridges with an idea of peacebuilding, and a theoretical reflection that contrasts decolonial theories with figures from the European academia. Thus, we reflect on how a queer peace can be built in the dimension of aesthetic experience, which is also political, and allows us to imagine and enable new forms of life. Our conclusion is that queer peace is a challenging conception, which retains its challenges and is based on a critique of hegemonic and institutionalized apprehensions of peace. In this sense, the artistic-cultural production, with its aesthetic approaches, appears as an inventive path. The originality of the article consists in its articulation of queer theories and, above all, of aesthetic and political practices, to think about peacebuilding in Brazil’s social reality.

Determining aspects for the social construction of the older adult based on public policies in Brazil

Resumo Apesar do envelhecimento ser uma realidade global, há, na velhice, um cerceamento das experiências individuais com a sua subjetivação, na qual o aperfeiçoamento passa a ser uma exigência moral. Objetivamos compreender os aspectos determinantes para a construção social da pessoa idosa a partir das políticas públicas no Brasil. Realizamos uma análise documental por meio da técnica de análise de conteúdo proposta por Laurence Bardin, operacionalizada pelo software IRAMUTEQ. O corpus textual foi constituído por 13 documentos que orientam as políticas destinadas à proteção social da pessoa idosa, posteriores à Constituição Federal de 1988. Observamos que os mecanismos de poder implícitos nas políticas são subordinados aos imperativos capitalistas e à racionalidade biomédica prescritiva, voltada aos aspectos estritamente biológicos que desnaturalizam e homogeneízam o envelhecimento à luz de um ideal de juventude ininterrupta. Ancora-se na “reprivatização” da velhice, culpabilizando os idosos por suas condições de vida. Essa ideologia produtivista estabelece a moralização dos atributos físicos que definem e moldam as subjetividades de uma sociedade refratária à própria velhice. Destacamos a importância de repensar o envelhecimento com base nas problemáticas sociais, ressaltando aspectos singulares da trajetória de vida da pessoa idosa, alheia à ideologia do envelhecimento sem velhice.

Physical Activity as a Social Right Within the Leisure and Health Sectors in Brazil

Physical activity is recognized as an important means for promoting health and quality of life. However, the discussion regarding this practice as a human right needs to be expanded. The objective of this study was to analyze the perceptions of professionals from two scientific institutions in Brazil regarding leisure-time physical activity as a social right. The research was descriptive, documentary, cross-sectional, and exploratory in nature, with non-probabilistic sampling. A semi-structured questionnaire was adopted in Google Forms format, and content analysis was used for data analysis. The sample consisted of 80 participants. The main results highlight the recognition of leisure time and health as social rights, as well as the existence of barriers such as social inequalities in the realization of these rights. However, there is evidence of progress in public policies in Brazil that aim to democratize leisure-time physical activity as a social right.

Políticas públicas arquivísticas nas pesquisas dos programas de pós-graduação STRICTO SENSU EM Ciência da Informação do Brasil

This article aims to map the scientific production of stricto sensupostgraduate programs in Information Science in Brazil, in order to study archival public policies, the subject of an ongoing thesis. This is a quali-quantitative, exploratory and descriptive research carried out in two stages. In the first, 74 works were identified, throughsearches in the Catalog of Theses and Dissertations of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel(CAPES). In the second, using bibliographical research techniques, reflective readings were carried out to prepare a systematic literature review with the identified data. Of the 74 works, 46 were used in the research because they were produced in Information Science programs. From its analysis, it is concluded that there is agreement on the use of the terms archival policies and archival public policies as synonyms, as well as on the lack of archival public policies in Brazil, despite the legislation in the area. The works of José Maria Jardim are the most used references in discussions about archival policies and archival public policies, in the analyzed material.

Assistive technology and public policies in Brazil

Resumo A Tecnologia Assistiva é pouco disseminada no Brasil. Avanços têm ocorrido gradativamente por meio de conquistas na área jurídica e do fomento à pesquisa e desenvolvimento. A proposição de políticas nessa área pode contribuir para superar as desigualdades sociais de um significativo segmento da população que representa um mercado real e em expansão. No entanto, a baixa otimização desses recursos por seus usuários e a dificuldade em buscá-los no mercado e nos órgãos públicos são fatores preocupantes. Este estudo vem, portanto, abordar a repercussão da demanda por Tecnologia Assistiva nas políticas públicas brasileiras com o objetivo identificar a relação existente entre a otimização desses recursos e serviços e a formulação de políticas direcionadas no país. Por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica, com característica exploratória e abordagem qualitativa, foi realizado um levantamento da legislação brasileira e ações existentes na área da Tecnologia Assistiva, bem como a análise de políticas públicas brasileiras com base nos critérios da avaliação normativa, aplicando-se o método dedutivo e a técnica de análise de conteúdo de Bardin. Verificou-se na literatura científica que, apesar do avanço gradativo da legislação e das iniciativas de fomento a projetos nessa área, fatores de entrave ao acesso, utilização e aproveitamento dos produtos assistivos, como a escassez na oferta de tecnologias inovadoras, acarretam dificuldades para a formatação de políticas eficazes e a configuração adequada às ações de fomento na área de Tecnologia Assistiva – essenciais ao processo de inclusão social.