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This paper analyzed, for the Brazilian case, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The concept of negative externality and market failure was used to understand the need for environmental policies capable of favoring the sustainable development of countries. The results show the importance of scale for the registration of projects. The energy sector, for example, has more small-scale projects that were created to simplify procedures and lower costs. It was concluded, in general, that the CDM has become an international historical landmark, as it is an innovative tool in contributing to the mitigation of climate change. However, despite its importance being recognized globally, it was observed that the mechanism has weakened over time and there are uncertainties regarding the validity of the Kyoto Protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazil is experiencing a severe environmental crisis, which culminates with the dismantling of the National Environmental Policy. The recent changes carried out since 2019 by the Brazilian government have been widely reflected negatively in the national and international scientific communities, bringing to light the importance of Brazilian biomes for the sustainable development. This article aimed to investigate and reflect on the encounters and disagreements of Law no. 6,938, of August 31, 1981, discussing the current National Environmental Policy. For this, exploratory research with a qualitative approach was carried out, based on a literature review. Data analysis was performed using the complex-systemic approach method. The results indicate that there was a denaturation of the National Environmental Policy, thus making the law ineffective for the preservation of Brazil's environmental heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can institutions foster greater environmental awareness in a developmental state? Can a policymaking process driven by “autonomous” bureaucrats include civil society and does this affect policy outcomes? With these questions in mind, I explore the politics behind hydroelectric dam construction in environmentally and culturally sensitive locations in Brazil. Using mixed methods to compare two distinct developmental periods, I find developmental policy makers are becoming more sensitive to the environmental and social costs of large dams instead of solely prioritizing economic objectives. Constitutional protections, indigenous rights, a licensing process with mandated public audiences, and an active public prosecutor are compelling the democratic developmental state to better engage civil society and the environment. Ultimately, the Brazilian state is building a more inclusive developmental model and my research demonstrates how democratic political institutions and environmental protections changed the policy-making process and created a preference for less damaging but less efficient run-of-the-river dams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neoliberal ideology has made an impact on environmental education (EE) policies and practices in Brazil. The EE in Family Agriculture Program, of national scope and administered by the Ministry of the Environment, seeks to promote sustainable development in rural areas, specifically through strategies focused on adult education and non-formal education aimed at small producers (family agriculture). This program reveals profound ideological contradictions between the critical and transformative rhetoric of public policy and the actual program structures and practices administered by the state in a dependent economy, which primarily serve to reinforce a capitalist mode of production marked by high environmental impact and deeply stratified class relations. In the neoliberal era, states intending to protect the environment through critical EE strategies suffer serious limitations due to their role as stewards of a globalized economy based on the supply of raw materials, high-impact land-use, and a cheap labor force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent 70% decline in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon suggests that it is possible to manage the advance of a vast agricultural frontier. Enforcement of laws, interventions in soy and beef supply chains, restrictions on access to credit, and expansion of protected areas appear to have contributed to this decline, as did a decline in the demand for new deforestation. The supply chain interventions that fed into this deceleration are precariously dependent on corporate risk management, and public policies have relied excessively on punitive measures. Systems for delivering positive incentives for farmers to forgo deforestation have been designed but not fully implemented. Territorial approaches to deforestation have been effective and could consolidate progress in slowing deforestation while providing a framework for addressing other important dimensions of sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazil has a long history of environmental problems, but philosophy seems to lag behind other disciplines that actively consider this history. Nonetheless, there is a sufficiently rich intellectual tradition to allow a genuine environmental philosophy to emerge. Based on a detailed overview of discussions pertaining to environmental reflection and activism in Brazil, three fields of tension in recent Brazilian environmental history--military developmentalism versus militant environmental activism, anthropocentric realism versus ecocentric Utopia, and sustainable development versus strong sustainability--presuppose philosophical positions and represent three corresponding "intellectual culprits" that need to be addressed. Among emerging trends in environmental philosophy, two avenues of thought can be highlighted as promising for dispersing these "culprits": ethnocultural pluralism and global environmental responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The creation of policies for managing the water resources, such as charging policies for the use of the water, has been influenced by different perspectives that not only affect the views that people have of the world, but also their actions. This paper discusses the different perspectives that influence the process of creation and implementation of these policies, seeking to evaluate their consequences on the system of charging for the use of water resources in Brazil. It was observed that although the Brazilian legislation on water resources has been created in a context of discourses of sustainable development, the focus of its implementation is, basically, the technical-driven perspective, with an anthropocentric and utilitarian view, relegating social and ecological sustainability to second place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state of São Paulo, the most populous state in Brazil with 40 million people, is leading the way in Brazilian environmental policies. This article discusses the implications this has particularly for climate change policies. Located in the southeast part of the country, far from the Amazon rainforest, São Paulo state has adopted policies and actions that are leading to effective improvements in the quality of air and to the partial recovery of the original Atlantic rainforest, and that promote sustainable practices for ethanol production from sugarcane. Compared to the state of São Paulo, Brazil as a whole faces a considerably different situation, with the federal and the state governments having chosen different pathways for addressing the challenges posed by climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares environmental policymaking in two Brazilian cities, Rio de Janeiro and Cubatão. It examines the formation of state-society synergistic interactions in the public policymaking process and their effect on long term sustainability of social mobilization. It concludes that whereas social capital can be constructed in the context of policymaking, it is critically dependent on a concerted effort from both state and society actors to build trust in their daily interactions. The Cubatão and Carioca River cases show that state-society synergy had little effect on the ability of the policy coalitions formed for pollution clean up to sustain themselves over time. Instead, there are indications that rather than a constraint, the flexible and informal nature of such coalitions may have been a critical factor in their ability to carry out policy successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines whether Japan's role in international activity towards a sustainable future has changed in the decade since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Japan since Rio; Change at the domestic level; Observation that Japan was playing a more active role on environmental matters at both the regional and global levels; Japan's concern with the climate-change debate; Japan's capacity for environmental leadership.

Focuses on the impact on the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) after 10 years. Urban challenge; Socio-environmental burdens and deprivations; Observation that brown agendas are still incipient, and concern that citizens are at risk has grown only recently; Potential of local Agenda 21 initiatives; Challenges to effectiveness; Action through education and empowerment.

Points out that the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992, and the resulting Rio Declaration on Environment and Development document was a vital but not yet decisive victory in the ongoing battle over the meaning of scientific findings in environmental policy. Quantitative risk assessment; Precautionary principle; Definitional controversies; Lack of scientific certainty regarding cause and effect; Environmental implications of each and every planned activity.

Evaluates the impact of the last 10 years on the Rio North-South Bargain from the perspective of the South. 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Sustainable development; Additionality principle; Common-but-differentiated-responsibility principle; Polluter-pays principle; State of malaise of global environmental politics.

Discusses the creation of extractive reserves in Brazil that grants legal protection to forest land traditionally used by rubber tappers, Brazil-nut gatherers and others. Number of extractive reserves established in one of Brazil's states most threatened by deforestation; Value to rubber tappers; Sustainable harvest versus deforestation; Economic value of extractive products; Extractive products for the future; Beyond cost-benefit analysis; Forest justification; Forest maintenance as a constraint on development.

Examines the impact of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 10 years after. Observation that the momentum for interstate environmental diplomacy has ebbed dramatically; Deficiencies in Agenda 21, the action plan on issues ranging from desertification and soil erosion to water quality and urban settlements; Failure of the UNCED framework to come to grips with the socioeconomically transnationalized character of environmental problems.

The article discusses environmental activist Marina Silva and her clashes with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in the presidential election polls. Topics include death of presidential candidate Eduardo Campos, environmental policies, stagnancy in economy and political corruption in Brazil, Silva's grass-root socio-environmentalism, election of Silva into Brazilian Senate as a member of the Workers' Party, opposition for genetically modified soya beans, and plans for sustainable development.

Examines that the effect of the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 after 10 years of globalization. Organizer Maurice Strong; Institutional and conceptual roots in the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment; Substantial transformation of the international institutional system leading to the diminishment of the United Nations and the interstate system.