Emergy diagnosis and reflections towards Brazilian sustainable development

This paper presents an environmental emergy-based diagnosis of Brazil compared with Russia, India, China, South Africa and United States. Reflections on the Brazilian sustainable development are presented and discussed based on the evaluations published since 1979. The variation of the emergy per capita for Brazil from 1979 to 2007 indicates that the country's growth is tied to the exploitation of non renewable natural resources which do not directly reflect in the welfare of the population. The total emergy exported per unit of gross domestic product increased in the period, suggesting that the country exports more emergy than that contained in the money received for the exportation. With the help of the emergy indices, the future development of Brazil is explored and discussed. The comparison among the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries and United States indicates that what may be appropriate and usable within one country may not be within another and that to achieve the global sustainability two concomitant actions may occur: (i) the reduction of the total emergy use in developed economies, and (ii) the reduction of indigenous resources exportation in developing economies. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Managing organizations for sustainable development in emerging countries: an introduction

This introduction article is for the special issue Managing organizations for sustainable development in emerging countries: natural resources, biodiversity, and climate change' in the International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology and presents an introduction to the topics and summarizes accepted contributions in the special issue. The accepted works may contribute with organizational management in the search for more sustainable organizations. The works focus on the challenges of managing organizations in a context of degradation of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. Accepted papers discuss these issues, based on the reality of emerging economies (e.g. Brazil, India, and China).

Sustainable development in the BRICS countries: an efficiency analysis by data envelopment

There is much concern about the social and environmental impacts caused by the economic growth of nations. Thus, to evaluate the socio-economic performance of nations, economists have increasingly addressed matters related to social welfare and the environment. It is within the scope of this context that this work discusses the performance of countries in the BRICS group regarding sustainable development. The objective of this study regards evaluating the efficiency of these countries in transforming productive resources and technological innovation into sustainable development. The proposed objective was achieved by using econometric tools as well as the data envelopment analysis method to then create economic, environmental, and social efficiency rankings for the BRICS countries, which enabled to carry out comparative analyses on the sustainable development of those countries. The results of such assessments can be of interest for more specific scientific explorations.

Agricultural production and sustainable development in a Brazilian region (Southwest, Sao Paulo State): motivations and barriers to adopting sustainable and ecologically friendly practices

The objective of this study is to identify the adoption level of practices associated with more sustainable agriculture and environmentally friendly practices. Additionally, the motivations for and barriers to the adoption of these practices by farmers are investigated. Data were collected through closed questionnaires taken by a random sample of farmers in the Southwest, Sao Paulo, Brazil, during the second half of 2013. Overall, sustainable agricultural practices recommended in the literature and analysed in this study are being not fully adopted by farmers of the studied area. The results showed that financial motivation is associated with farmers adopting new, more sustainable technology, whereas the lack of information on and lack of technical support for these technologies are significant barriers. Other results, research implications, limitations and suggestions for future research are presented.

Combining ALOS/PALSAR derived vegetation structure and inundation patterns to characterize major vegetation types in the Mamiraua Sustainable Development Reserve, Central Amazon floodplain, Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Efficiency in Brazil's industrial sectors in terms of energy and sustainable development

This article evaluates the efficiency of Brazil's industrial sectors from 1996 to 2009, taking into account energy consumption and respective contributions to the country's economic and social aspects. This analysis used a mathematical programming method called Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which enabled, from the SBM model and the window analysis, to evaluate the ability of industries to reduce energy consumption and fossil-fuel CO2 emissions (inputs), as well as to increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by sectors, the persons employed and personnel expenses (outputs). The results of this study indicated that the Textile sector is the most efficient industrial sector in Brazil, according to the variables used, followed by these sectors: Foods and Beverages, Chemical, Mining, Paper and Pulp, Nonmetallic and Metallurgical.

Road safety: implications for sustainable development in Latin America

Road accidents cause more deaths than homicides in Latin America, nevertheless it is not highlighted as a major concern by media and society. World Health Organization put this issue in high priority by releasing the Decade of Action in Road Safety that establishes five pillars to guide national road safety plans and activities. This paper addresses the drawbacks in the implementation of these actions in Latin American countries and its implications to achieve a sustainable development. The main concerns are: lack of empowerment of the road safety management organisations; lower vehicular standards; corruption related to the enforcement of traffic safety laws to and to the construction of safer roads; absence of safety vehicular inspections; vehicle fleet increase, decrease of public transportation demand; and the absence of a safety culture. Without facing these problems, sustainable development in Latin America will be impaired, once road safety is a fundamental link to achieve sustainability.

Estratégias de desenvolvimento turístico em municípios pequenos segundo uma perspectiva regional: o caso de Analândia - SP

Pós-graduação em Geografia - IGCE

Desenvolvimento regional e meio ambiente: desafios para a construção da região metropolitana de Bogotá (Colômbia)

Pós-graduação em Geografia - IGCE

O enfoque da Ciência da Informação no contributo ao desenvolvimento sustentável regional: O caso do arquivo da ACIM

The archival institutions should for the elevation of the statistical indices of social and economic to integrate with sustainable development yours communities through regional entrepreneurship and improving informational. The Commerce and Industry Association of Marília (ACIM) archive provided to analyze the influence of the files on regional growth to development sustainable of industries and trade. The management theory and archives processes, set up data to create a model template guiding sustainable which suggested the results provided for: Transparency in the processes; global and local integration; culture and collaboration of the community; physical and human factors; improvement for work management and; to utilized to generate the economy of the ecosystem as a form of natural resources.

Desenvolvimento regional e sustentabilidade: a indústria intensiva em recursos naturais na região administrativa de Ribeirão Preto

The natural resource intensive industries have moved from center to periphery in Brazil. This shift is related to the environmental impacts generated by this type of industry, as occur biggest benefits to these industries in small towns as tax exemptions and donations of land, and local institutional capacity is lower in pollution control. In the 1970s began, in the state of São Paulo, a process of industrial deconcentration of Metropolitan Region of São Paulo to the inside of state, which generated an intense industrialization of the region of Campinas, Ribeirão Preto, Sorocaba e São José dos Campos. This process of industrial deconcentration had support in state policies restricting new industries in the Metropolitan Region and the creation and financing of infrastructure and improvement of road. This research project aims to verify whether there has been a shift of natural resource intensive industries for the Administrative Region of Ribeirão Preto, as well as aspects of the sustainability of this process