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Tropical forests are recognized for their role in providing diverse ecosystem services (ESs), with carbon uptake the best recognized. The capacity of tropical forests to provide ESs is strongly linked to their enormous biodiversity.... more
Tropical forests are recognized for their role in providing diverse ecosystem services (ESs), with carbon uptake the best recognized. The capacity of tropical forests to provide ESs is strongly linked to their enormous biodiversity. However, causal relationships between biodiversity and ESs are poorly understood. This may be because biodiversity is often translated into species richness. Here, we argue that focusing on multiple attributes of biodiversity—structure, composition, and function—will make relationships between biodiversity and ESs clearer. In this review, we discuss the ecological processes behind ESs from tropical humid and subhumid forests of South America. Our main goal is to understand the links between the ESs and those three biodiversity attributes. While supporting and regulating services relate more closely to forest structure and function, provisioning services relate more closely to forest composition and function, and cultural services are more related to stru...
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From the 1970s on, the Amazon experienced its deepest transformation, becoming a commodity and energy provider for both domestic and international markets, through extraction of natural resources. Living conditions barely improved, and... more
From the 1970s on, the Amazon experienced its deepest transformation, becoming a commodity and energy provider for both domestic and international markets, through extraction of natural resources. Living conditions barely improved, and social conflict and violence became widespread, particularly affecting Indigenous peoples and local communities. Conservation efforts also became globalized and achieved significant results. Brazil’s 84% reduction in deforestation from 2005-2012, based on an integrated strategy with high political priority, provides an important case study that can support future policies across the basin. These gains were reversed in recent years, and unsustainable extractivist policies generally prevailed over conservation and the sustainable use of biodiversity in the whole Amazon basin (Chapter 18).
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Research Interests: Computer Science, Information Science, Globalization, Information Management, Anthropology of Science, and 15 moreActor Network Theory, Health Information Systems, Case Studies, Business Information Systems, Accounting Information Systems, Computer and Information Technology, Business Model, Deforestation, Information Management System, Amazon rainforest, Control Management, Computer Information Systems, Geographic Information System, Geographic Information Systems, and Information System
Research Interests: Geography, Computer Science, Regional Science, Political Science, Sustainable Development, and 12 moreInstitutional Theory, Information and Communication technology, Environmental Sustainability, Environmentalism, Institutional Logics, Brazilian Amazon, Deforestation, Rainforest, Amazon rainforest, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Geographic Information System, and Geographic Information Systems
Research Interests: Geography, Computer Science, Regional Science, Political Science, Sustainable Development, and 9 moreInstitutional Theory, Information and Communication technology, Environmental Sustainability, Environmentalism, Brazilian Amazon, Rainforest, Amazon rainforest, Geographic Information System, and Geographic Information Systems
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Este artigo examina como cientistas lidam com as tensões que emergem de seu lugar enquanto provedores de conhecimento objetivo e como cidadãos preocupados com a forma como suas pesquisas influenciam a política e a tomada de decisão no... more
Este artigo examina como cientistas lidam com as tensões que emergem de seu lugar enquanto provedores de conhecimento objetivo e como cidadãos preocupados com a forma como suas pesquisas influenciam a política e a tomada de decisão no Brasil. O artigo discute isso através de um relato etnográfico de práticas de cientistas que utilizam tecnologia de sensoriamento remoto, suas atividades de produção de conhecimento e as controvérsias sociopolíticas mais amplas que permeiam a detecção do desmatamento na floresta amazônica. Estratégias para mitigar a incerteza são aspectos centrais das práticas analisadas, trazendo controvérsias ‘externas’ para o ‘interior’ do laboratório, tornando essas fronteiras conceitualmente problemáticos. Em particular, a antecipação de interpretações alternativas da cobertura da floresta tropical é uma forma crucial pela qual os cientistas trazem o mundo para o laboratório, ajudando a esclarecer como os cientistas, geralmente vistos e analisados como ‘isolados’, estão, na prática, frequentemente em constante diálogo com as controvérsias políticas mais amplas relacionadas ao seu trabalho. Esses insights ajudam a questionar a ideia de que o monitoramento do desmatamento por meio de sensoriamento remoto é uma forma de pesquisa isolada, desenhando um quadro mais complexo do duplo papel dos cientistas como produtores de conhecimento e cidadãos preocupados
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Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Political Science, Negotiation, Social Studies Of Science, and 10 morePostcolonial Identities, science and technology studies (STS), Estudos Sociais da Ciencia e da Tecnologia, Historical Studies, UNFCCC, Climate change negotiations, Decolonial Studies, Social Studies of Science, Pós-Colonialidade E Descolonialidade, and Geopolitics of Global Climate Change
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Local voices and opinions are seen as important in formulating environmental policies, but in reality oral accounts, metaphors and symbols play only a marginal role, while scientific representations still dominate. This problem is deeply... more
Local voices and opinions are seen as important in formulating environmental policies, but in reality oral accounts, metaphors and symbols play only a marginal role, while scientific representations still dominate. This problem is deeply rooted in governance discourses that value satellite imagery and other scientific data above local views and experience. This paper focuses on policy-making in Brazil in relation to deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
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The Brazilian Cerrado is one of the most biodiverse savannas in the world, yet 46% of its original cover has been cleared to make way for crops and pastures. These extensive land‐use transitions (LUTs) are expected to influence regional... more
The Brazilian Cerrado is one of the most biodiverse savannas in the world, yet 46% of its original cover has been cleared to make way for crops and pastures. These extensive land‐use transitions (LUTs) are expected to influence regional climate by reducing evapotranspiration (ET), increasing land surface temperature (LST), and ultimately reducing precipitation. Here, we quantify the impacts of LUTs on ET and LST in the Cerrado by combining MODIS satellite data with annual land use and land cover maps from 2006 to 2019. We performed regression analyses to quantify the effects of six common LUTs on ET and LST across the entire gradient of Cerrado landscapes. Results indicate that clearing forests for cropland or pasture increased average LST by ~3.5°C and reduced mean annual ET by 44% and 39%, respectively. Transitions from woody savannas to cropland or pasture increased average LST by 1.9°C and reduced mean annual ET by 27% and 21%, respectively. Converting native grasslands to cropl...
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Research Interests: Environmental policy, Typology, Political Science, Environmental Ethics, Environmental Policy and Governance, and 13 morePseudoscience, Biological Sciences, science and technology studies (STS), Environmental Sciences, Biological Conservation, Environmental science and policy, Agnotology, Science Policy Interface, Deforestation, Climate change denial, Odds, Denialism, and Science and Technology Studies
The Brazilian government’s decision to open the Amazon biome to sugarcane expansion reignited EU concerns regarding the sustainability of Brazil’s sugar sector, hindering the ratification of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement. Meanwhile, in... more
The Brazilian government’s decision to open the Amazon biome to sugarcane expansion reignited EU concerns regarding the sustainability of Brazil’s sugar sector, hindering the ratification of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement. Meanwhile, in the EU, certain conventional biofuels face stricter controls, whilst uncertainty surrounding the commercialisation of more sustainable advanced-biofuels renders bioethanol as a short- to medium-term fix. This paper examines Brazil’s land-use changes and associated greenhouse gas emissions arising from an EU driven ethanol import policy and projections for other 13 biocommodities. Results suggest that Brazil’s sugarcane could satisfy growing ethanol demand and comply with EU environmental criteria, since almost all sugarcane expansion is expected to occur on long-established pasturelands in the South and Midwest. However, expansion of sugarcane is also driven by competition for viable lands with other relevant commodities, mainly soy and beef. As a r...
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Abstract There is a noted lack of information on the effectiveness of investments in forest fire management in Brazil. Here, we quantify the budget expenditures of one private and one public fire-management program. We then compare burned... more
Abstract There is a noted lack of information on the effectiveness of investments in forest fire management in Brazil. Here, we quantify the budget expenditures of one private and one public fire-management program. We then compare burned areas within conservation units (CUs) and private rural properties (PPs) with and without investments in fire management in the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado biomes. Investments in fire management in CUs total US$ 0.51 ha−1 yr−1 in the Amazon and US$ 5.32 ha−1 yr−1 in the Cerrado. Roughly, 94% of the public investment in fire management in CUs is only assigned to suppression activities, although seven CUs in Cerrado have undertaken innovative Integrated Fire Management (IFM) that includes prevention practices. Cerrado CUs with brigades for fire suppression have reduced burned area by 12%, on average, compared with CUs without brigades. Further, CUs that also included prevention practices as part of IFM reduced burned areas by an additional 6% from CUs with only fire suppression practices. Investments in both fire prevention and suppression on private lands amounted to US$ 15.89 ha−1 yr−1. We identify a reduction of 50%, on average, in burned areas after PPs joined the fire mitigation program of Alianca da Terra. In face of increasingly disruptive wildfires alongside finite financial resources, we call for the need of a mix of cost-effective private and public fire management programs with strong emphasis on prevention practices.
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The maintenance of hydrological conditions in rural watersheds depends on the behavior of rural landowners regarding land use and vegetation cover protection. We analyzed the willingness of farmers from the Rio Doce basin to adopt... more
The maintenance of hydrological conditions in rural watersheds depends on the behavior of rural landowners regarding land use and vegetation cover protection. We analyzed the willingness of farmers from the Rio Doce basin to adopt voluntary forest restoration strategies and to bring their lands into compliance with Federal Law 12.651/2012. We applied a questionnaire to 30 landowners in the municipality of Governador Valadares and the surrounding region. The results indicate that 86% of the farmers acknowledge maintaining vegetation cover as highly important, highlighting benefits such as reduced erosion (86%) and increased discharge in springs (73%). Technical assistance for productivity (29.6%), donation of materials (22.2%) and economic incentives (22.2%) were identified as factors that increase the motivation of farmers to implement such practices. Agroforestry Systems were the most preferred modality (50%). The long-term presence of rural assistance organizations and the trust b...
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More and more, wildfires are raging in large parts of the world due to a warmer climate, more frequent and severe droughts, and continued land-use changes. In Brazil, the weakening of public environmental policies has further aggravated... more
More and more, wildfires are raging in large parts of the world due to a warmer climate, more frequent and severe droughts, and continued land-use changes. In Brazil, the weakening of public environmental policies has further aggravated wildfires with widespread impacts across the country. Here, we investigated the determinants of the impact of fire in the Brazilian biomes using a dataset of burned areas between 2001 and 2019 to simulate its future impact under alternative policy and climate scenarios. We began by deriving a fire impact index using a principal component (PC) analysis comprising the variables: 1. fire intensity, 2. fire recurrence, 3. burned area size, 4. mean time interval between successive fires, and 5. predominance of fires in the dry season. We considered as High Impact Fires (HIF) those areas whose values of the first PC were above the 90th percentile. HIF occurred in the Amazon, Cerrado, and Pantanal, but not in the Atlantic Forest, Pampa, and Caatinga biomes....
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Research Interests: Philosophy and Humanities
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Software development across cultural and national borders is becoming increasingly common. Even though organisation can obtain substantial cost saving by outsourcing IT services to offshore location, this practice adds considerable... more
Software development across cultural and national borders is becoming increasingly common. Even though organisation can obtain substantial cost saving by outsourcing IT services to offshore location, this practice adds considerable difficulties to the task. The production of software implies a considerable knowledge transfer effort between individuals from different communities of practices, in other words, from different professional and educational backgrounds. Studies on knowledge management warn that knowledge transfer between communities of practice is particularly problematic. The fact that global software projects take place in different locations, separated by time and space, makes the knowledge transfer even more difficult, since the use of ICT alone is not sufficient for the effective transfer of knowledge. Knowledge is strongly related with the notion of culture, since knowledge assumes different meanings depending on the context. Therefore, knowledge transfer in global s...
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This study aims to understand how postcolonial identities were performed in the negotiations that led to the new climate agreement signed in Paris in December 2015. Based on interviews, the analysis of documents and participant... more
This study aims to understand how postcolonial identities were performed in the negotiations that led to the new climate agreement signed in Paris in December 2015. Based on interviews, the analysis of documents and participant observation of the negotiations it was possible to identify the legal, economic and scientific discourses mobilised by both global North and South countries. In all three discourses, it was possible to identify a systematic effort of the Northern parties to unmake the identity of Southern parties as ‘developing countries’ as a way to erase the ontological difference between emerging and established industrialised economies. At the same time, in the context of the
convention Southern parties reaffirmed their identities as
‘developing countries’ and demanded from the North a strong commitment to tackle climate change and the transfer of more financial resources to the South. In this process, it was also possible to identify an inversion of the position usually taken by mainstream and critical postcolonial scholars that see the deconstruction of categories such as ‘developing countries’ as key
for the emancipation of the global South. Finally, this invites postocolonial scholars to look more closely at how postcolonial identities are being instrumentalised, discursively and politically.
convention Southern parties reaffirmed their identities as
‘developing countries’ and demanded from the North a strong commitment to tackle climate change and the transfer of more financial resources to the South. In this process, it was also possible to identify an inversion of the position usually taken by mainstream and critical postcolonial scholars that see the deconstruction of categories such as ‘developing countries’ as key
for the emancipation of the global South. Finally, this invites postocolonial scholars to look more closely at how postcolonial identities are being instrumentalised, discursively and politically.