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The recognition of ecosystem services for the welfare of society has been widely disseminated within the scientific community, as well as the interest of the population regarding its relevance has increased significantly. This paper presents as an object of investigation the Payment for Environmental Services (PES), which is regarded as an instrument of environmental management capable of generating economic value from the protection and maintenance of ecosystems through economic incentives to environmental services “providers”. Considering that PES materializes through contracts, this paper has analysed its theoretical assumptions as well as the institutional elements that form a PES market and its use as a tool for environmental public policy. Thus, two projects under the Water Producer Program of the National Water Agency (ANA) were investigated, through the following dimensions of analysis: the institutional arrangements; a remuneration methodology; opportunity cost; monitoring; and efficiency of the projects. The results demonstrate that although PES is viewed as a genuine market tool, in practice the schemes are agent-driven, which implicates in a redesign of its conceptual framework of issues that may be linked to private property to a broader perspective that comes from the environmental service. It has also been identified that cost-effectiveness measurements associated with the program in comparison to other environmental policies are poorly explored in the field of ecosystem service studies, which may cause doubts on the power of such an instrument in behaviour induction and environmental conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, the establishment of Protected Areas (UC's), part of Brazilian environmental policy, has constituted a face of the conflictive relationship between traditional peasant and indigenous communities and urban-industrial society UC's were implanted, especially from the 1950s, on territories historically occupied by traditional and original populations and became another factor in transforming the territoriality of these communities, which already suffered from the advance of the agricultural frontier and the modernizing project of the period. The struggle for territory, associated with a part of the environmental movement, led to the conquest of some rights, including access to land, through protected areas of sustainable use. However, environmental policy has been used to solve territorial issues and has therefore been a mediator of the territorialities of peasant communities. In this article we discuss how the establishment of protected areas tends to replace land policies, analyzing the contradictions that arise from the mediation of access to the traditional territory for environmental conservation, and we argue that this trend has been constituting at the same time a strategy for maintenance of the Brazilian agrarian structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A balanced environment is a right of all, and both society and public authorities must safeguard it. Considering the responsibilities of the Public Administration, this study aims to understand how environmental protection policies can also contribute to increase municipal revenue. The relevance lies in the search to demonstrate that environmental actions conducted by municipalities can improve the quality of life of its citizens and increase tax revenue via the Ecological ICMS; thus, investing in other areas such as infrastructure, public safety, health and education. The Ecological ICMS is one of the criteria for distributing the ICMS share that states must transfer to the municipalities. Regarding the methodology adopted, this is a descriptive study with a qualitative approach. In addition to consulting the literature, analyzing laws, documents, and official websites, interviews were conducted to achieve the results. This is a case study of the municipality of Niterói, RJ. The results obtained prove that environmental policies can also be financially advantageous, especially for municipalities that do not receive a large amount when considering the other ICMS distribution criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The BR 101 is a very important road for the country and have suffered duplication works to decrease the number of traffic jams and accidents along its length. The stretch between km 190.3 to km 144.2 pierces a Conservation Unit (UC) and an Environmental Protection Area (APA), areas where biodiversity must be preserved, and its legal support by Law 6938/8, National Environmental Policy. Eleven environmental impacts were identified caused by this project and evaluated through a matrix of interaction. The impacts were negative and reveal a worrying situation because of permanent damage to the ecosystem adjacent, which can affect the populations of fauna and flora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concern about the effectiveness of environmental protection is growing up in face of the growing awareness of society regarding the environment that surrounds them and the need for effective maintenance life on Earth. For that arise various instruments to be followed for installation of activities that may be degrading the environment, fitting into this article as a way to introduce a new regulatory instrument that is not yet regulated by a specific law in Brazil. The article has the purpose of analyzing the possible application of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in the Brazilian legal system. Aiming to EXAMINE the significance of the SEA and its need for inclusion in the Brazilian legal system, and specific goals CONCEPTUALIZE the Institute of Environmental Impact Assessment; DEMONSTRATE the concepts and requirements of the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) and IDENTIFY the concept, requirements and applicability of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). At the methodology was used the inductive method ate the research phase; at the data processing the Cartesian method and at the research report the inductive base. Were also triggered the techniques of referent, category, operational concepts, literature research and book report. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The business sector is promoting a change in its management model, since the early 90s, when it took a positive attitude toward the environment. Thus, environmental issues have become part of the strategic planning of organizations due to stricter regulations and to society's demands for greater environmental responsibility. Therefore, this study aims to identify and analyze environmental practices adopted by companies of this sector in Goiás and to seek answers to questions related to the factors that can contribute to the creation of competitive advantages within these organizations. Organizations involved in that study are labeled A, B, C and D. This research has used the fundamentals of qualitative and exploratory approach and it can be characterized as a field research. In the growing and processing of sugar cane, certainly negative impacts to the environment are still present. However, adoption of actions mentioned here, as the search for the conservation of soil and vegetation, replacing the burned by harvesters, the rational use of chemicals, the recycling of waste in the production process (such as power generation through bagasse sugarcane), among others, point out benefits to business sector and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preservation of the environment is one of the main social concerns of the XXI century. This includes finding alternatives that can provide future generations with an environment that permits the continuity of human life. The present qualitative study involved discussions about collective awareness of issues including environmental sustainability and the need to develop new ways to create targeted policies. Adolescents participating in the "Saber Cuidar" project were encouraged to understand the meaning and importance of environmental education, and the creation of a system of peer group environmental education was encouraged. This study was undertaken in a State school, southeast of the city of São Paulo, with the participation of twelve students aged between 11 and 12 years. Data were collected using interviews and participant observation. Four themes emerged from the analysis: ecological awareness, social transformation, difficulties with the implementation of the proposal, and achievement of the proposed environmental education. The main results showed the importance of environmental awareness during the educational process, and of encouraging the perception of students concerning the environment in which they live. The work revealed a need to build new types of interaction able to raise perception of educational and social problems, which might then favor constructive action to stimulate necessary social mobilization. The students who participated in this study were encouraged to pass their acquired knowledge to their peers, and to teach others about environmental issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities are sources of innovation: they may develop discoveries into marketable innovation while promoting policies that could potentially create a receptive environment for entrepreneurship. Technology transfer may occur to either the public or the private sector. In this way, universities must be involved in activities focused on transferring expertise and technology to user communities, industry, and businesses. A technology transfer office may be understood as a high performance team that guides research to business reality using different strategies. In order to suggest ways to improve communications and co-operation with industry and business community, this paper develops a reference model in which essential steps are presented to drive technology transfer offices to continuous improvement while focusing on strategic ICT planning. The model also considers the importance of training as a preparation for change as well as the creation of a knowledge base composed of case studies describing the transitions considered in each cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research intents at reviewing the environmental movement within an unfinished modernity, studying the peculiarities of the phenomenon and the incorporation of everyday life in the diffusion of environmental issues. The proposal is to discuss the history of environmentalism in this socio-historical context, to then understand the relevance and possibilities in the communicative processes and then to proceed with specific examples that can illustrate the relationship of the environmental movement with everyday life in a society in which the postmodern condition highlights a still unfinished modernity, which deserves an attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study, holding as background the conflicts that involve the environment, analyzes the fraternity principle, from the perspective of the theory proposed by Baggio, concluding that the official pattern of environmental litigations composition that exist in Brazil --solidified by the obsolete monopoly of Judiciary-- consolidated on a Law's positivism and on a competitive point of view of the society, does not contemplates the fraternity as a legal value. In other hands, the paper starts to focus the mediation, making clear that this alternative way of contest's solution not only disposes with justness to the environmental conflicted issue but --remarkably by its communicative characteristic acting and shared true-- deeply excited by the fraternity idea. The subject has been researched in the specialized literature, making sure about the precarious systematization of the mediation as management way of environmental conflicts, as well as a lack on the approach of the fraternity as juridical category of potential incidence at the environmental field. In the end, the analysis concludes that the eco mediation may appease the insertion of the fraternity component on arguing related to environmental estates, generally ruled by the radicalization and a vision of world's representationalism, contributing perhaps to the co-operation construction of a new paradigmatical systemic epistemology for conflicts solutions, that insures the emphasized roll to fraternal as imperative of conduct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

O Parque Estadual da Cantareira (PEC) é uma Unidade de Conservação de Proteção Integral criada através do decreto n° 41.626/63, atualmente gerenciado pela Fundação Florestal órgão vinculado a Secretaria de Estado do Meio Ambiente. Possui 7.916,52 hectares e abrange parte dos municípios de São Paulo, Mairiporã, Caieiras e Guarulhos é um dos últimos remanescentes de Mata Atlântica, rico em mananciais e que abriga diversas espécies de fauna e flora ameaçadas de extinção. Por estar inserido em uma das maiores metrópoles urbanas do mundo sofre com as pressões provenientes de uma sociedade em expansão como: a ocupação urbana desordenada, despejos irregulares de lixo, caça predatória, incêndios e invasões de moradores do entorno para as mais diversas finalidades, que colocam em risco a integridade da Unidade prejudicando assim nosso objetivo maior que é o de conservar os recursos naturais oferecidos pelo PEC para as atuais e futuras gerações. A fim de minimizar a degradação o PEC elaborou o Projeto Cuca, uma estratégia de Conservação que vem agindo na comunidade de seu entorno através de parcerias com as associações de bairro e diversos atores da comunidade desenvolvendo atividades de sensibilização e mobilização ambiental e assim a conseqüente conservação desta área. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Judiciary also has the basic duty of protecting the environment. Starting from this premise and using the inductive method, the article discusses the legitimacy of judicial intervention in the implementation of the fundamental ecological duties that are constitutionally assigned to Public Administration. The article is justified due to the lack of specific studies relating the judicial control of public policies with environmental issues, the increasing judicialization of environmental disputes and the strong controversy this issue still raises. It concludes that the Judiciary should be an institutional partner in the task of implementing environmental policies and that its active intervention is legitimate in case of omission by government agencies or officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to analyze the options and opportunities available to environmental governance, starting from a definition of the global environmental crisis. The article provides a detailed analysis of the three clusters under which the international relations theory has investigated the collective management of this environmental crisis as well as the effectiveness of current institutional answers. Finally, the article reexamines matters pertaining to trade and environment and to environmental security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technological development has allowed man to reshape the environment, opening new risks socio-political-ecology, which requires changes in legal interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]