Paradoxes of Ratification: The Nagoya Protocol and Brazilian State Transformations

This article explores the paradoxical behaviour of Brazil in relation to its national and international approaches to the regulations of access to genetic resources and benefits sharing with indigenous and other traditional communities. Brazil was one of the leaders in the international negotiations that led to the UN Nagoya Protocol but only ratified it 11 years later, after remarkable transformations of its internal biodiversity laws. We suggest that the seemingly contradictory behaviour has been shaped by the country’s internal political and ideological changes. This transformation goes hand in hand with substantial changes in state–society relations, particularly with regard to the balance of coalitions’ power between indigenous groups and industrial and agrarian elites. The article builds on the literature on state transformations and relies on the Advocacy Coalition Framework to show the importance of considering the impact of national-level politics on the fate of international agreements.

Participatory Mapping and SWOT in the context of the Water-Food-Energy Nexus for attaining SDGs in Eastern Amazonia

The nexus concept is applied to many global contexts to generate understanding of the relations among the water, food and energy sectors and to guide investigations that seek to improve living conditions of marginalized communities. This work analyses the nexus by means of qualitative and participative methodologies at a community scale with the objective of understanding how residents of traditional communities perceive the interconnections among water, food, and energy. SWOT and participatory mapping methodologies were utilized complementarily to map the water, food, and energy contexts of Ponta do Urumajó community, located in Pará state, Brazil. Participatory mapping and SWOT create quali-quantitative data, enabling the participation of individuals in the production of participatory maps of their territories and the material and symbolic appropriation of spaces, constituting a political and social strategy for empowerment and autonomy. These methods provided the basis for learning and reflecting on the social, environmental, territorial, and political reality in terms of the water, food, and energy nexus, making it possible to use the data for achieving the SDGs, creating future public policies or more rational community management adjusted to the local reality.

Traditional Communities and Mental Maps: Dialogues between Local Knowledge and Cartography from the Socioenvironmental Atlas of Lençóis Maranhenses, Brazil

The Lençóis Maranhenses region, located in the state of Maranhão in northeastern Brazil, constitutes an area that includes a national park and presents extreme physical, geographic and climatic contrasts in addition to economic diversity and emerging tourism. Scattered throughout this portion of the Brazilian territory are local inhabitants whose traditional lifestyles are characterized by agricultural, extractive, fishing and animal husbandry activities. These local residents use guidance systems and mental maps developed through their long history, interaction with nature, and knowledge of the environment in which they live and work. Based on sketches prepared by residents and by Health Agents serving the communities, and with the support of cartographic-based materials produced by the team of the Socioenvironmental Atlas of Lençóis Maranhenses (ASALM, Portuguese abbreviation for Socioenvironmental Atlas of Lençóis Maranhenses), we present a set of digital and interactive cartographic materials that reproduce the movements, uses and practices of the families of these communities as well as the environmental dynamics of this vast region. Such cartography can serve as an instrument of planning, understanding and action, both to safeguard the rights of the local residents and for the handling and management of natural resources. Based on the dialogue between local knowledge and cartography, we present the methods, processes and results of our research project.

African Transition Rituals Celebrating Gender and Human Sexuality: Implications for African Christian Theology

Transition rituals are prominent practices among African traditional communities. Among the Gusii community of western Kenya the ritual is performed for both boys and girls. The boys are taken through circumcision while girls go through clitoridectomy. The ritual for girls is widely criticized and opposed by among others the Christian Church. The ritual for girls is resisted on several grounds, but it still persists. The question which many have asked is, why this persistence? This paper raises a number of arguments among them being that; in Africa, gender and human sexuality are celebrated through painful rituals. Men and women are made rather than born. In this discussion, I argue that opposition to clitoridectomy is ill informed, because it is the element of the pain that accompanies the ritual that is the reason why the ritual persists. The paper draws equivalents between the Gusii traditional transition ritual with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, namely that from a theological perspective, the rituals should be perceived constructively as preparatory for Christian evangelization as they point to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is suggested that the Church should view the rituals constructively instead of opposing them. This situation, among other factors, has over the years rendered ineffective the Church’s efforts at evangelization not only in Gusii community but also in other African communities where this ritual is upheld

Empowering her guardians to nurture our Ocean’s future

Coastal Indigenous and Traditional communities are starting to see changes to their lives from climate change, whether this is from species range changes or displacement from land changes. For many of these communities, the ability to adequately adapt to these changes is limited by the governance structures they are required to live within, which differ from their customary practices and culture. In November 2019, a group of Indigenous and Traditional Peoples, attended the Future Seas 2030 workshop and discussed the consequences of climate change, the biggest barriers for their communities, and barriers for using traditional knowledge in order to contribute towards a more sustainable future that in the end will benefit all of earth’s people. The aim of this workshop was to highlight and give a voice to the various backgrounds and real-life situations impacting on some of the world’s Indigenous and Traditional communities whose connection with the oceans and coasts have been disrupted. This paper presents these issues of oppression, colonisation, language and agency, making it difficult for these groups to contribute to the current management of oceans and coasts, and asks scientists and practitioners in this space to be allies and enable the needed shift to earth’s guardians taking a leading role in nurturing her for our future.

Interpretive Methodologies, Quantitative Methods, and Comparative Environmental Politics

This chapter argues for a broader and more creative understanding of the relationship between methods and epistemology in the study of comparative environmental politics. Quantitative methods tend to be associated with comparative inferential questions while interpretive questions tend to be associated with qualitative methods. This chapter argues against these associations. The chapter begins by fleshing out the argument against assumed methodological associations. It identifies the use of quantitative methods in interpretive research as the biggest lacuna in the methodological playing field of comparative environmental politics. It then presents two examples of how to use quantitative methods effectively in interpretive research, without embedding those methods in an epistemological positivism with which they are generally associated. The first of these cases, based on dissertation research by Saskia van Wees, looks at the different patterns of environmental performance and environmental foreign policy in India and China in the period 2002–2012. The second case looks at efforts by Indigenous and traditional communities in Brazil’s Amazon Basin to oppose the construction of dams that would impact their communities.

O saber de comunidades tradicionais acerca do uso e preservação de sementes crioulas

Sementes crioulas são multiplicadas artesanalmente por comunidades tradicionais do campo e conservam, além de seu passado genético, o conhecimento agregado ao longo de gerações pela seleção e cuidado de seus guardiões. Guardiões e guardiãs de sementes, em todo o Brasil, cultivam sementes crioulas de modo coletivo. Tendo como pressuposto a perspectiva teórica e epistemológica de reconhecimento e identificação dessas experiências, este artigo tem como objetivo apresentar e discutir os conhecimentos envolvidos no uso e preservação de sementes crioulas por agricultores familiares, atuantes também como guardiões de sementes em suas comunidades tradicionais do campo de origem, localizadas no norte mineiro. A pesquisa, de natureza qualitativa, decorre de uma iniciação científica. Foram entrevistados três guardiões, por meio de um questionário semiestruturado conduzido por um pesquisador insider do campo. Como resultados, é possível observar uma variedade de cultivos realizados a partir das sementes crioulas, associada a saberes voltados à soberania alimentar e à biodiversidade. A guarda, preservação e partilha de sementes correspondem às marcas das suas identidades e estão também relacionadas às suas tradições. Há uma grande preocupação com a perda das sementes crioulas nas comunidades investigadas. A pesquisa permitiu compreender a lógica de resistência dessas populações a partir dos modos de preservação de suas sementes como a troca, a guarda e a doação, motivando a união e solidariedade nas comunidades. Mostra, ainda, a potencialidade de se reconhecer e valorizar as sementes crioulas como objeto legítimo e válido para as aulas de Ciências e para a Educação do Campo coerente com a vida e trabalho de quem vive na/da terra.Palavras-chave: Sementes Crioulas. Comunidade Tradicional. Educação do Campo.The knowledge of traditional communities about the use and preservation of creole seedsABSTRACT Creole seeds are multiplied by handmade mode for traditional rural communities and preserve, in addition to their genetic past, the knowledge aggregated over generations by the selection and care of their guardians. Guardians and guardians of seeds, throughout Brazil, cultivate Creole seeds collectively. Assuming the theoretical and epistemological perspective of recognition and identification of these experiences, this article aims to present and discuss the knowledge involved in the use and preservation of Creole seeds by family farmers, who also act as seed custodians in their traditional communities in the field of origin, located in the north of Minas Gerais. The research, of a qualitative nature, stems from a scientific initiation. Three guardians were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire and conducted by an insider researcher from the field. As a result, it is possible to observe a variety of crops grown from Creole seeds, associated with knowledge focused on food sovereignty and biodiversity. The custody, preservation and sharing of seeds correspond to the marks of their identities and are also related to their traditions. There is great concern about the loss of Creole seeds in the communities investigated. The research allowed to understand the logic of resistance of these populations from the ways of preserving their seeds such as exchange, custody and donation, motivating the union and solidarity in the communities. It also shows the potential of recognizing and valuing Creole seeds as a legitimate and valid object for Science classes and for Rural Education consistent with the life and work of those who live on / from the land.Keywords: Creole Seeds. Traditional Community. Rural Education.El conocimiento de las comunidades tradicionales sobre el uso y la conservación de semillas criouleRESUMENLas semillas criollas son hechas a mano por las comunidades rurales tradicionales y preservan, además de su pasado genético, el conocimiento agregado durante generaciones por la selección y el cuidado de sus guardianes. Guardianes y guardianes de semillas, en todo Brasil, cultivan semillas criollas colectivamente. Asumiendo la perspectiva teórica y epistemológica de reconocimiento e identificación de estas experiencias, este artículo tiene como objetivo presentar y discutir los conocimientos involucrados en el uso y la preservación de las semillas criollas por parte de los agricultores familiares, quienes también actúan como guardianes de las semillas en sus comunidades tradicionales en el campo de origen, ubicado en el norte de Minas Gerais. La investigación, de carácter cualitativo, surge de una iniciación científica. Se entrevistó a tres guardianes utilizando un cuestionario semiestructurado y realizado por un investigador interno del campo. Como resultado, es posible observar una variedad de cultivos de semillas criollas, asociados con el conocimiento centrado en la soberanía alimentaria y la biodiversidad. La custodia, la preservación y el intercambio de semillas corresponden a las marcas de sus identidades y también están relacionadas con sus tradiciones. Existe una gran preocupación por la pérdida de semillas criollas en las comunidades investigadas. La investigación nos permitió comprender la lógica de resistencia de estas poblaciones a partir de las formas de preservar sus semillas, como el intercambio, la custodia y la donación, motivando la unión y la solidaridad en las comunidades. También muestra el potencial de reconocer y valorar las semillas criollas como un objeto legítimo y válido para las clases de ciencias y para la educación rural en consonancia con la vida y el trabajo de quienes viven en / desde la tierra.Palabras clave: Semillas Criollas. Comunidad Tradicional. Educación Rural.