scholarly journals Covid-19 pandemic and harmful policies push Brazil into an environmental crisis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando M. Resende ◽  
Leila Meyer ◽  
Raísa Romênia S. Vieira ◽  
Hani R. El Bizri ◽  
André Aroeira Pacheco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Environmental Policies ◽  
International Agreements ◽  
Environmental Crisis ◽  
Brazilian Government ◽  
Indigenous Lands ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Environmental Agencies ◽  
Federal Administration

Strong evidence indicates that the Brazilian government is taking advantage of the confusion caused by the Covid-19 pandemic to speed-up a wide-ranging environmental setback. We present a timeline of policies and acts taken by the current federal administration against the environment during the pandemic and discuss their consequences. The unprecedented amount of measures affecting environmental policies is especially intended to weaken deforestation control and transparency of environmental agencies, and allow the expansion of harmful activities (e.g. mining and agribusiness) into Protected Areas and Indigenous Lands. The ongoing environmental dismantling in Brazil breaches several international agreements and, if not reverted, will jeopardize nature’s contributions to national and global societies and risk worldwide climate and biodiversity. We highlight strategies that could be taken by economic, scientific, and political sectors to cease the environmental dismantling in Brazil. The suggestions presented here could also be used in other countries facing similar challenges.

scholarly journals Through what mechanisms do protected areas affect environmental and social outcomes?

2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1681) ◽  
pp. 20140267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J. Ferraro ◽  
Merlin M. Hanauer
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Social Outcomes ◽  
Causal Effects ◽  
The Past ◽  
Made In

To develop effective protected area policies, scholars and practitioners must better understand the mechanisms through which protected areas affect social and environmental outcomes. With strong evidence about mechanisms, the key elements of success can be strengthened, and the key elements of failure can be eliminated or repaired. Unfortunately, empirical evidence about these mechanisms is limited, and little guidance for quantifying them exists. This essay assesses what mechanisms have been hypothesized, what empirical evidence exists for their relative contributions and what advances have been made in the past decade for estimating mechanism causal effects from non-experimental data. The essay concludes with a proposed agenda for building an evidence base about protected area mechanisms.

Incorporate Environmental Protection into the Olympic Games

2015 ◽  
pp. 289-308
Author(s):  
Liyan Jin ◽  
James J. Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Olympic Games ◽  
Water Environment ◽  
Beijing Olympics ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
The Government ◽  
Energy Transportation ◽  
Environmental Agencies ◽  
The Olympic Games

The objective of this chapter is to illustrate how Beijing has addressed its environmental issues to fulfill its “Green Olympics” promise. A general overview is first provided on how environmental protection has become an important part of the Olympic Games. Then, the chapter presents the extensive environmental efforts associated with hosting the Beijing Olympic Games, mainly focusing on such areas as air quality, energy, transportation, water environment, green coverage, solid waste, and environmental education. Finally, the chapter touches on the environmental impact of the Beijing Olympics from local residents' perspectives, illustrating that the Beijing Olympics provided a unique opportunity for the city to speed up its urban environmental reform. With a mandatory environmental policy and collective efforts involving the government, environmental agencies, and community groups, hosting a mega sport event can create a positive environmental legacy to the host city and its country.

scholarly journals The natural and social history of the indigenous lands and protected areas corridor of the Xingu River basin

2013 ◽  
Vol 368 (1619) ◽  
pp. 20120164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Schwartzman ◽  
André Villas Boas ◽  
Katia Yukari Ono ◽  
Marisa Gesteira Fonseca ◽  
Juan Doblas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Social History ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Indigenous Groups ◽  
Indigenous Lands ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
Road Paving

The 280 000 km² Xingu indigenous lands and protected areas (ILPAs) corridor, inhabited by 24 indigenous peoples and about 215 riverine (ribeirinho) families, lies across active agriculture frontiers in some of the historically highest-deforestation regions of the Amazon. Much of the Xingu is anthropogenic landscape, densely inhabited and managed by indigenous populations over the past millennium. Indigenous and riverine peoples' historical management and use of these landscapes have enabled their long-term occupation and ultimately their protection. The corridor vividly demonstrates how ILPAs halt deforestation and why they may account for a large part of the 70 per cent reduction in Amazon deforestation below the 1996–2005 average since 2005. However, ongoing and planned dams, road paving, logging and mining, together with increasing demand for agricultural commodities, continued degradation of upper headwaters outside ILPA borders and climate change impacts may render these gains ephemeral. Local peoples will need new, bottom-up, forms of governance to gain recognition for the high social and biological diversity of these territories in development policy and planning, and finance commensurate with the value of their ecosystem services. Indigenous groups' reports of changing fire and rainfall regimes may themselves evidence climate change impacts, a new and serious threat.

scholarly journals The protected areas system in Brazil as a baseline condition for wetlands management and fish conservancy: the example of the Pantanal National Park

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla N. M. Polaz ◽  
Fabio C. Ferreira ◽  
Miguel Petrere Júnior
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
National Park ◽  
Reference Site ◽  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Wetland Management ◽  
Direct Application ◽  
Fishing Gear ◽  
Brazilian Government ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Wetlands Management

ABSTRACT Considering the need for the Brazilian government to develop tools for environmental monitoring for biodiversity conservancy purposes in the national protected areas system, this paper focuses on determining reference site metrics (or baselines) for adapting the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) based on the fish assemblages in the Pantanal National Park (PNP). The habitats in the PNP were grouped into four categories: main rivers, corixos (channels connecting the floodplain), permanent bays, and temporary bays. Fish samplings were performed at 12 points during the dry season (Oct-Nov 2010 and 2011). 146 fish species were identified from the total 18,954 individuals collected with standardized fishing gear. There was no association between the structure of the fish assemblage and categories, suggesting a theory on homogeneity of habitats. The final IBIPNP consists of nine metrics, most of them were framed in excellent class, some in fair, and none in poor. There was no significant difference in IBIPNP scores between the two sampled years. This approach provides a direct application for wetland management purposes.

Investigation of Deforestation of Environmental Protection Areas of Madeira River Permanent Preservation Areas in Rondônia Amazon, Brazil

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 66-76
Author(s):  
Marcelo Rodrigues dos Anjos ◽  
Marla Schulz
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Soil Degradation ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Environmental Services ◽  
Indigenous Lands ◽  
Madeira River ◽  
Illegal Activities ◽  
Areas Of Interest

The deforestation of the Amazon protected areas involves a series of deleterious environmental factors, such as social conflicts, loss of biodiversity, soil degradation, deterioration of watersheds, and environmental services offered, that still are not considered in studies of environmental impacts and when studied, are not valued economically or end up being undersized, resulting in loss of economic opportunities associated to the sustainable use of natural resources in areas of interest for conservation. This study had as objective to point out illegal activities in and around the area of special environmental protection (APA) of the Madeira River in Rondonia in accordance with the provisions of the Terms of Reference, No. 001/CAO-AMB/MP/2006, with action and support of interagency bodies BPM / PM, SEDAM, SIPAM, INCRA, IBAMA, EMBRAGEO in order to understand the dynamics of deforestation in protected areas and indigenous lands of the state.

scholarly journals Discourses of Decentralization: Local Participation and Sámi Space for Agency in Norwegian Protected Area Management

2021 ◽  
pp. 61-93
Author(s):  
Elsa Reimerson
Keyword(s):  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Protected Area Management ◽  
Local Participation ◽  
Indigenous Lands ◽  
Asymmetrical Power ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Area Management

This chapter analyzes the 2010 reform of Norwegian protected area management, which provided new arenas for influence for the Indigenous Sámi over protected areas on their lands, to explore how discourses of decentralization and participation in nature conservation shape the space for agency of Indigenous peoples. The results show that the discourses governing the reform articulate the relationship between Sámi rights and protected areas in relation to several different concepts, problem representations, and proposed solution, each with potentially different consequences for Sámi participation and influence. The construction of the concept of “participation” in the discourse of protected area management makes it possible to integrate into a system modelled after traditional, centralized organizational structures that prioritize conservation objectives over Sámi rights without fundamentally challenging relationships of power, divisions of responsibilities, or objectives for management. The paper concludes that the Norwegian discourse provides arenas for Sámi influence and participation that could serve as an example for protected area governance and management on Indigenous lands elsewhere, but that the failure to radically reconsider the principal assumptions of protected area discourses risks upholding or reinforcing asymmetrical power relations and colonial stereotypes.

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