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Wholesale conversion of natural Amazonian ecosystems has been encouraged by Brazil's extreme antienvironmental government, and historical forest loss explains municipal-scale voting prevalence. Embracing a new administration would strengthen local-to-regional governance, suppress illegal land grabbing, deforestation, logging, and gold mining, thereby protecting the world's most species-rich forest domain and ensuring global sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water resources are essential for life on earth. It has already been proven that although it is a resource renewable, water is a limited natural resource. Countries like Brazil, Angola and the United States of America, despite being on different continents and having economic development indices very different, are privileged in this regard, and that is why they were chosen to be objects of this search. But the lack of preservation of this natural resource in all of them, combined with poor water distribution, triggered important warnings in these nations. Consequently, it was necessary to implement regulation for water protection and its correct distribution. From this delimitation, the object of this article is to investigate the main foundations and instruments existing in the Water Laws edited in the Brazil, Angola and the United States. With the use of the deductive method and from research bibliographical and legislative of each of the countries, it is concluded by the need of adequate use of the water resources from the principle of sustainability and the constitutional principles governing the environmental and urban policy, as it is a limited and fundamental resource for the survival of humanity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazil and China share important vantage points in environmental fora, actively coordinating their positions within Brazil, South Africa, India, and China (BASIC) and Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS). Both countries have incorporated sustainability concerns in their multilateral stances, but their bilateral strategic partnership lacks a clear environmental orientation. This study analyses the discrepancy between multilateral commitments and the realities of their bilateral interactions. The low degree of priority of, or outright non-attendance to, environmental concerns on the operational level of Sino–Brazilian diplomatic relations illustrates the detachment of official rhetoric from effective engagements. We explore these contradictions and their repercussions for the commodity-centric governance of the telecoupled Sino–Brazilian relations, focusing on the soy sector and on its environmental impacts within Brazil. We caution against the trend of exclusively paying attention to private regulatory initiatives, and highlight the importance of bringing states back into the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to discuss to what extent are WMPs practical tools for circular and sustainable waste management in universities, presenting, therefore, a case study of the usage of WMP in the Brazilian public universities and comparing this scenario with the international context. Design/methodology/approach: The WMPs were identified by online search and analyzed according to qualitative indicators (spatial-temporal distribution, year, extent and virtual availability), and through circularity and sustainability criteria, using a proposed checklist. Findings: Even being mandatory instruments, only 17% of the 103 public universities in Brazil had a WMP identified, and, among these plans, 55% were restricted to healthcare services waste, only 15% covered all university campuses. Although most of the available plans indicate measures for more sustainable waste management (e.g., recyclable waste collection on campus), they lack specific deadlines for presented goals on waste management, treating waste management at a more emergency pace than in well-structured long-term planning. Originality/value: Numerous studies have discussed waste management strategies for universities worldwide, but few have addressed the usage and structure of WMPs. A case study of the Brazilian situation in light of the international scenario is of great value in understanding the differences between universities in terms of waste management, and with strong potential to support the structuring of more solid environmental policies in universities, especially in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This paper is proposed to analyze, in a descriptive and prescriptive way, Public Policies that carry the concept of sustainable civil construction, and that are related to the issue of housing in Brazil. Methodology: The legal framework pertinent to this scenario is presented through content study, policy evaluation and information for policy formulation. Relevance: The paper discusses the existing gaps in the legal and fiscal scope of Brazilian public policies aimed at the sustainability in the civil construction sector. Results: The public policies analyzed to encourage sustainable construction lack a preventive focus, especially regarding the generation of waste and waste of natural resources. Contributions: Additional efforts, mainly political, are needed to increase the effectiveness of the application of environmental policies inherent to this theme, to guarantee the right to housing and environmental protection, both provided for in the Brazilian Federal Constitution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability perception can be understood as humans' awareness of the environment. This study assessed the sustainability perception of the Paraná III Basin residents in Brazil through item response theory (IRT). For this purpose, a scale to measure sustainability perception, in which the items and latent features of respondents in the same unit of measurement are positioned, was constructed. Fifty-two items (sustainability indicators) evaluated through structured questionnaires applied to 2519 respondents, residents of three cities in the study area, were created. The results indicated that 52.3% of respondents have no, very low or low perception of sustainability, and the study population was allocated between levels 90 and 100 of the perception scale. IRT was suitable for the data analysis because it enabled quality evaluation of the items, construction of a scale to quantify sustainability perception and identification of perception levels. The developed tool - the measurement scale for sustainability perception - can be used by those responsible for local environmental governance to develop projects aimed at social and environmental education with the goal of identifying alternatives to raise the perception levels of the local residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]