Sustainability In Brazil Research Articles

Territorial Development – Managing for Sustainability in Brazil

In this study, emphasis will be given to the challenge of the organizational management process within a development model that considers the territorial possibilities and necessities as a basis for the process of sustainable, endogenous development. The territorial unit considered in the study is the municipality, highlighting the existing possibility in Brazil of implanting a model of participatory management on taking into account the large number of small municipalities existing in the Country. The problematic of large cities is also analyzed, recognizing, however, the greater difficulty of articulation among the representative players of society, based on the exogenous forces engaging within these regions. In order to study the management process, the contexts that support the concept of sustainable development and the form of organizing the economic activities will be defined. In the discussion of management properly stated, emphasis will be given to administrative decentralization and to articulation, to planning process and to dissemination of information.

Social sustainability in certification schemes for biofuel production: an explorative analysis against the background of land use constraints in Brazil

This article examines the scope of voluntary certification schemes, based on the sustainability criteria of the European Renewable Energy Directive for biofuel production in the context of social sustainability and land use issues in Brazil. Possibilities and limitations of such certification schemes are discussed against the background of the rapid-changing Brazilian agricultural sector. Brazil was chosen as a case study being both one of the first countries where ethanol certification projects are implemented and a potential certified ethanol-exporting country. To capture social effects concerning land use connected to an increased ethanol production, semi-structured expert interviews were conducted within an explorative approach in Sao Paulo in the years 2011 and 2012. The study addresses the following question: what is the scope of certification concerning social sustainability in the light of a rising demand on agricultural land? An increasing demand for biofuels and other agricultural goods, as cash crops, leads to a concentration process of agricultural production. Land price hikes in infrastructural well-connected agricultural areas and the uneven distribution of land in Brazil are leading to newly arising negative effects on social sustainability. We assume that certification schemes have a limited scope in the above mentioned environments. As the scale of certification schemes is based on production-chain-governance, indirect and macro effects concerning social sustainability in Brazil cannot be addressed by this instrument. Hence, there is a strong need for comprehensive public regulation on land use issues on a national and international level in order to flank land use concentration in dynamic agricultural sectors, such as the Brazilian one.

Regional sustainability contrasts in Brazil as indicated by the Compass of Sustainability – CompasSus

► We present a new method applied to a regional assessment of sustainability in Brazil. ► Our method considers both local and global perspectives as complementary. ► Agenda of sustainable development requires to cope with its conceptual ambiguity. ► Trade-offs between environment and development are addressed. The current need for assessing sustainable processes and states is a driving assumption for this article, having as objective to present preliminary results of a new assessment approach, the Compass of Sustainability (CompasSus), applied to administrative regions of Brazil. Its methodological approach is based on a combination of existing assessment methodologies, such as the Human Development Index and the Ecological Footprint. CompasSus is elaborated under the perspective of rather complementary operational concepts of sustainable development, namely weak and strong sustainability, which are often seen as competing ones. In spite of the advances on the perspective of sustainable development perceived in international agreements for conservation of nature, as well as in the implementation of national policies aiming at sustainability, there still exists an operational ambiguity of the concept of sustainability. Thus, its fuzzy theoretical consolidation for clear definition of objectives and lines of action still leads to different assumptions for diverse stakeholders and authors. Looking at the Brazilian case, conservation strategies are needed to protect the world's largest tropical rainforest against a predatory business – as-usual frontier expansion. As for addressing trade-offs between environmental conservation and regional development demands the CompasSus introduces a combined hemispheric assessment of sustainability. In 2006, the state in which the sustainability index had the best performance was DF (Distrito Federal). This, the seat of the capital city, presents an economy based on the public and the service sectors, both very little carbon and energy intensive. Furthermore, the high income per capita , and good social indicators associated with the small relevance of the agrarian sector grants it the best sustainability index, which is determined by performances in two components representing strong and weak sustainability. In the other extreme is São Paulo (SP) where a high population density and major impacts on waterways have implied a worse performance in weak sustainability index, whereas the high consumption of energy together with high carbon emissions have also determined a low performance in strong sustainability index.

Oil and sustainability in Brazil, an intergenerational matter

O objetivo deste estudo é analisar a atual discussão brasileira sobre o marco regulatório para as reservas petrolíferas da camada do pré-sal tomando como elemento de comparação a evolução histórica da regulamentação ambiental e energética no Brasil. Com base no princípio do desenvolvimento sustentável, o estudo procura demonstrar a compatibilidade do novo modelo com os objetivos e ações definidos nas políticas nacionais de energia e meio ambiente e na Constituição Federal. O trabalho defende o processo holístico e participativo na elaboração das políticas públicas nacionais, que contemple imperativamente a perspectiva intergeracional.

Indigenous Lands, Commons, Juridical Pluralism and Sustainability in Brazil: Lessons from the Indigenous Lands of Raposa Serra do Sol

Problematizar o status das Terras Indígenas (TIs) no Brasil enquanto commons permite abordar analiticamente relevância específica das TIs, e o papel geral do pluralismo jurídico, para a sustentabilidade. A relação entre commons e sustentabilidade é abordada com base nos trabalhos teóricos de Ostrom e dados empíricos. O desafio jurídico-político das sobreposições entre Unidades de Conservação e TIs é analisado com base no caso Raposa Serra do Sol e seu desfecho no STF. Conclui-se destacando a necessidade de se incorporar considerações de pluralismo jurídico nas políticas públicas de sustentabilidade numa conjuntura caracterizada por sinais contraditórios nos poderes político e judiciário.

Geoparks in Brazil—strategy of Geoconservation and Development

Within the framework of the potential of geopark development and the interest of the geological community in creating new areas for geoconservation in Brazil, the aim of this contribution is to show the importance of geoscience education as a strategy for both geoconservation and development, and for the success and maintenance of new geoparks. A historical and evolutionary approach to the theme reveals the current status of geoscience education in Brazil and offers a panorama of the challenges inherent in preparing for the creation of new geoconservation areas. Proposals that aim to promote geoconservation and sustainability in Brazil include projects that capitalize on geological heritage and its relationship with local communities, proposals that form partnerships between the government, universities, businesses, and non-governmental organizations for the development of education, and changes in the law specifically aimed at geoconservation. Improvement in the educational system, including Earth science education, is undoubtedly one of the best strategies to promote the preservation of our natural heritage, and a cultural change in education will certainly promote changes in other areas.

La construction normative du développement durable dans les contextes de sa “mise en politiques”.

Cet article s’intéresse aux processus par lesquels le développement durable, en tant qu’ensemble de normes prescriptives à portée globale, est l’objet d’une construction normative et d’une mise en forme institutionnelle dans le cadre de politiques rurales du Mexique et du Brésil. Nous abordons cette question sous l’angle des trajectoires de changement institutionnel que la “mise en politiques” du DD induit au niveau des cadres de régulation et d’interaction entre les différentes composantes du monde rural, et entre celles-ci et les pouvoirs publics. L’approche comparative met en évidence les régularités et les principales divergences qui caractérisent les processus d’institutionnalisation de la durabilité au Brésil et au Mexique ; elle permet de nous interroger sur la nature des changements institutionnels en cours.

Estimating a fiscal reaction function: the case of debt sustainability in Brazil

This article reviews recent trends in fiscal performance in Brazil, estimates fiscal reaction functions for the consolidated public sector and different levels of government, and tests for the sustainability of the public debt dynamics. The empirical analysis, based on monthly data for the period 1995–2004, suggests that all levels of government react strongly to changes in indebtedness by adjusting their primary budget surplus targets. In addition, the central government appears to follow a spend-and-tax policy: changes in revenue are affected strongly by expenditure. About two-thirds of changes in primary spending are offset by higher revenue over the longer term. Institutions are also found to matter for fiscal sustainability. The responsiveness of the sub-national fiscal stance to indebtedness, as well as that of central government revenue to changes in primary spending, appears to have become stronger after 1998, when ceilings on indebtedness were introduced.

Debt ceiling and fiscal sustainability in Brazil: A quantile autoregression approach

In this paper we investigate fiscal sustainability by using a quantile autoregression (QAR) model. We propose a novel methodology to separate periods of nonstationarity from stationary ones, allowing us to identify various trajectories of public debt that are compatible with fiscal sustainability. We use such trajectories to construct a debt ceiling, that is, the largest value of public debt that does not jeopardize long-run fiscal sustainability. We make an out-of-sample forecast of such a ceiling and show how it could be used by Policy makers interested in keeping the public debt on a sustainable path. We illustrate the applicability of our results using Brazilian data.

Assessing Debt Sustainability in Brazil

We study Ramsey model for an open economy applied to the case of Brazil. We find optimal tra jectories of consumption, investment, capital stock and net foreign liabilities and, with this, analyze debt sustainability in Brazil. A new approach to capturing optimal tra jectories is presented. The main tools are the Stable Manifold Theorem and the Lambda Lemma, normally used in the field of dynamical systems.

Proposal of Indicators to Assess Urban Sustainability in Brazil

The research related here focuses on municipal situations where problems of sustainability may be defined and tackled on the basis of bottom-up management procedures with the participation of organized society. The aim is to build management models that may be implemented with reasonable administrative effort and cost. Implementation pursues the target of approaching a sustainable situation in the municipality. Environmental parameters for an ideal municipality with undefined geographical location are presented. For each parameter, a set of indicators is developed that can measure the prospect of sustainability. The indicators are defined in terms of numbers or literal concepts according to the possibility of measurement. Examples of management models are presented, which are able to approach the situation defined as sustainable by the indicators. The basic management tool is the learning curve of targeted communities, which is experimentally developed and applied. The indicators are grouped according to their range of applicability.