Sustentabilidade em Debate

Table of Contents / Sumário

2021-04-28T13:29:38-03:00

Table of Contents / Sumário

Learning from Chernobyl to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic

2021-04-26T15:38:36-03:00

Learning from Chernobyl to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic

When the earth stood still: air pollution during the Covid-19 quarantine – the case of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro

2021-03-02T19:37:56-03:00

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic due to the new coronavirus (COVID-19). Several countries responded to this threat by introducing quarantine measures to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 in the community. These measures have drastically reduced human activities, causing an impact on urban air pollution due to the associated reduction in automobile use and other polluting activities. We investigated this effect with measurements of Particulate Material (PM₁₀), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂) and Ozone (O₃), carried out by the environmental departments of the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, for two months in 2020. We compared them with data for the corresponding months in 2019, relating to the social isolation index, measured by the Mathematics and Statistic Institute of São Paulo (IME-USP). The results show a significant decrease in NO₂ and CO and an increase in O₃, and little change in Particulate Material.

Monitoring the sustainable development goals at a local level: information transparency on public health (SDG 3) in Brazilian municipalities

2021-02-23T16:27:22-03:00

In Brazil, the process of localizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) using public databases faces technical, institutional and political challenges. There are essentially no comprehensive current studies regarding the downscaling of the SDG indicators at the smallest territorial levels (e.g., the municipal level). In the context of unprecedented health emergencies, such as the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, this paper discusses the capacity of the Brazilian public information system to support the localization of SDG 3 (good health and well-being) indicators at the municipal level. This study evaluates the proposed indicators for SDG 3 and databases that underpin these indicators. The results and discussion cover central data and process deficiencies in the public health information systems that hinder SDG 3 localization efforts, the 2030 Agenda and its goal of universality.

Survey of the wheat and derivatives production chain regarding the 2030 Agenda and the SDG

2021-02-23T17:38:46-03:00

The adequacy of the 2030 Agenda and the SDG is a new instrument that companies should implement within their innovative processes to improve social, environmental, and economic issues internally and externally. Thus, this work aims to diagnose the wheat and derivatives segment and the adoption/implementation of the 2030 Agenda and SDG to business practices. To this end, a sample of 91 companies of the wheat agribusiness and processing industry was studied, using the survey-based exploratory-descriptive methodology. Data collected underwent qualitative and quantitative analysis, which demonstrated that although many of the SDGs are under assessment for possible new integration with those remaining and those under implementation, the number of objectives already included in business practices is still trivial (38.4%, that is, about 6 out of 17).

Cultural sustainability and community water management in coastal Ecuador: jagüeyes or albarradas and small dams or detention ponds

2021-01-21T10:42:01-03:00

The objective of this article is to highlight the sustainability capacity of pre-Columbian water management systems called jagüeyes or albarradas (detention ponds) compared with modern technologies like dams which are used today in coastal Ecuador. These are compared using interdisciplinary field research, which included ethnographic fieldwork with an observation of participative action projects and a literature review. In the case of tapes (arroyo or small river dams made by farmers or farm owners), the lack of participation and inclusion of social actors and their cultural knowledge about nature is evident. This regional study underlines how the albarradas system achieves long-term sustainability because it is an appropriate technology for the local communal ecosystem with which it is associated. This experience opens up the opportunity to explore the difference between what is currently promoted as sustainability and an alternative form of sustainability which introduces the sociocultural strand in public actions on environmental intervention.

Achieving efficient water management at the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil

2021-02-23T16:42:03-03:00

In 2015, the water crisis affecting the São Paulo Metropolitan Region reached its peak. The Federal Government published an Ordinance establishing good practices in the management and use of water and electricity. This work aims to verify if management actions performed at the Federal University of São Paulo were effective for water consumption reduction. We assessed measures such as awareness campaigns, water reuse, water pressure regulator installation, identification of leaks, irrigation and washing of floors reduction. It was analyzed secondary data of the monthly water consumption at campuses and Rectory, from 2014 to 2016. Statistical analyses were carried out comparing the water consumption between the pre and post-intervention periods, which occurred in February 2015. The results show that the intervention reduced per capita water consumption by 33% in 2015 and 35% in 2016, saving up more than 65,000 m³ of water. These management actions proved to be effective, and the academic population achieved a more efficient use of water and financial resources, becoming more sustainable.

Simulation of the use of porous pavement and infiltration trench in public spaces supporting mobility

2020-06-30T16:51:14-03:00

The use of sustainable techniques to the basic infrastructure of a city is a way of win back public spaces. This study evaluates the impacts of public spaces supporting mobility. We give focus to areas constructed with porous pavement and integrated with infiltration trenches and hydrological processes. The hydrological simulation was performed with a SWAT model. The hydrographic basin has 54.05 km² and the area of excess flows' control is 0.66 km². The peak flow damping was 1.84%, and the surface runoff represented 2.82% of the water depth over the simulated period. We observed a maximum reduction of 7.9% in the height of the water layer for isolated events. We found positive results in the dampening of the peak flow in the basin exhaust and water flow reduction at the superficial runoff.

Coordination processes of collective action in family livestock farming in Uruguay

2021-01-11T15:00:34-03:00

Family livestock farming in Uruguay has a diversity of organizational arrangements, surging from different needs, mutual interests, and feelings and values. Cooperation to obtain individual and collective benefits occurs in several formalization and coordination frameworks. Interviews with representatives from livestock family livestock groups on the Northern Littoral of the country were a basis to assess the processes of coordinating collective action in the region. The results show endogenous or exogenous processes, which reflect shared norms, learning-processes and rules of use, as a means to solve collective action problems.

Multidimensional impacts of a hydropower reservoir on indigenous communities: displacement, division and pilgrimage among the Tuxá people of the Bahia state, Brazil

2021-02-23T18:20:15-03:00

Due to the construction of the Itaparica dam in 1988, the Tuxá people were displaced and resettled. This generated internal conflicts and several socioenvironmental impacts. The resettlement of the Tuxá people, historically dedicated to agriculture and fishing, altered their ancestral identities and livelihoods. For those who still have access to fishing activities on the banks of the São Francisco River, fish availability has diminished given the water-pollution eutrophication from sewage and fertilizers discharge. The impacts of the dam on the Tuxá people are complex and include new identity-related elements. These are often disregarded when assessing the socioenvironmental trade-offs associated with the installation of hydroelectric plants in Brazil. We propose alternative perspectives (mainly bottom-up) to transform indigenous tacit knowledge regarding dams impacts on traditional communities into explicit, instrumental knowledge for policymaking. We also rethink the delicate balance between economic progress driven by renewable energy generation in Brazil and the negative impact this progress may have on the livelihoods of one of the country's most vulnerable communities from a socioenvironmental point of view. Methodologically, this work is the result of a mixed-methods analysis. We triangulate qualitative data (resulting from in-depth interviews and the reconstruction of life stories through focus groups conducted with the Tuxá people) with quantitative data extracted from a series of secondary sources, including government sources, among others.