International civil society actors in Genetically Modificied Organisms as a field of struggle: a neo-gramscian study in Brazil and the United Kingdom

Since the international financial and food crisis that started in 2008, strong emphasis has been made on the importance of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) (or ���transgenics���) under the claim that they could contribute to increase food productivity at a global level, as the world population is predicted to reach 9.1 billion in the year 2050 and food demand is predicted to increase by as much as 50% by 2030. GMOs are now at the forefront of the debates and struggles of different actors. Within civil society actors, it is possible to observe multiple, and sometime, conflicting roles. The role of international social movements and international NGOs in the GMO field of struggle is increasingly relevant. However, while many of these international civil society actors oppose this type of technological developments (alleging, for instance, environmental, health and even social harms), others have been reportedly cooperating with multinational corporations, retailers, and the biotechnology industry to promote GMOs. In this thesis research, I focus on analysing the role of ���international civil society��� in the GMO field of struggle by asking: ���what are the organizing strategies of international civil society actors, such as NGOs and social movements, in GMO governance as a field of struggle?��� To do so, I adopt a neo-Gramscian discourse approach based on the studies of Laclau and Mouffe. This theoretical approach affirms that in a particular hegemonic regime there are contingent alliances and forces that overpass the spheres of the state and the economy, while civil society actors can be seen as a ���glue��� to the way hegemony functions. Civil society is then the site where hegemony is consented, reproduced, sustained, channelled, but also where counter-hegemonic and emancipatory forces can emerge. Considering the importance of civil society actors in the construction of hegemony, I also discuss some important theories around them. The research combines, on the one hand, 36 in-depth interviews with a range of key civil society actors and scientists representing the GMO field of struggle in Brazil (19) and the UK (17), and, on the other hand, direct observations of two events: Rio+20 in Rio de Janeiro in 2012, and the first March Against Monsanto in London in 2013. A brief overview of the GMO field of struggle, from its beginning and especially focusing in the 1990s when the process of hegemonic formation became clearer, serves as the basis to map who are the main actors in this field, how resource mobilization works, how political opportunities (���historical contingencies���) are discovered and exploited, which are the main discourses (���science��� and ���sustainability��� - articulated by ���biodiversity preservation���, ���food security��� and ���ecological agriculture���) articulated among the actors to construct a collective identity in order to attract new potential allies around ���GMOs��� (���nodal point���), and which are the institutions and international regulations within these processes that enable hegemony to emerge in meaningful and durable hegemonic links. This mapping indicates that that the main strategies applied by the international civil society actors are influenced by two central historical contingencies in the GMO field of struggle: 1) First Multi-stakeholder Historical Contingency; and 2) ���Supposed��� Hegemony Stability. These two types of historical contingency in the GMO field of struggle encompass deeper hegemonic articulations and, because of that, they induce international civil society actors to rethink the way they articulate and position themselves within the field. Therefore, depending on one of those moments, they will apply one specific strategy of discourse articulation, such as: introducing a new discourse in hegemony articulation to capture the attention of the public and of institutions; endorsing new plural demands; increasing collective visibility; facilitating material articulations; sharing a common enemy identity; or spreading new ideological elements among the actors in the field of struggle.

Fernando Lyrio em entrevista ao EPC

O assessor extraordin��rio do Meio Ambiente para a Rio+20, Fernando Lyrio, conversou com a equipe do EPC, plataforma Empresas pelo Clima do GVces (Centro de Estudos em Sustentabilidade da Funda����o Get��lio Vargas - EAESP) durante a abertura oficial do ciclo 2012 de atividades da plataforma Empresas pelo Clima

P��gina22 entrevista: Fernando Lyrio

Metas para a Rio+20, papel do Brasil na Confer��ncia e objetivos a serem alcan��ados s��o alguns dos assuntos tratados na entrevista realizada pela revista P��gina22 com o assessor extraordin��rio do Minist��rio do Meio Ambiente para a Rio+20

Perspectivas de la agricultura y del desarrollo rural en las Am��ricas: una mirada hacia Am��rica Latina y el Caribe, 2013

Incluye Bibliograf��a

Sustentabilidade ambiental das universidades: avalia����o de seis universidades sediadas no Estado de S��o Paulo �� partir da an��lise das informa����es em seus websites

P��s-gradua����o em Engenharia de Produ����o - FEB

Caribbean forum: Shaping a sustainable development agenda to address the Caribbean reality in the twenty-first century

Includes bibliography.

El desaf��o de la sostenibilidad ambiental en Am��rica Latina y el Caribe. Textos seleccionados 2012-2014

Pr��logo de Alicia B��rcena.

Workshop on public participation in international negotiations on environmental matters: Panel on environmental justice and access rights for sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean

This publication was prepared with financial support from the United Nations Development Account and the project ���Addressing critical socio-environmental challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean ���

M��dias radicais e a utiliza����o do Culture Jamming: quebrando as barreiras constru��das pelos ve��culos hegem��nicos

This monograph aims to analyze the ability of the radical media to lead journalistic productions performed by O Globo during debates of the event Rio +20. The concentration of the major means of communication in the minor part of the population consolidates what can be called by hegemonic media. These media are primarily responsible for controlling the content viewed by a large portion of the population. Aiming a true plurality of information the alternative media day-by-day is looking for a bigger space within the communication market. Thus, the hegemonic media use capable tools to interfere in editorial policies consolidated by corporative media. One of those possible tools is the Culture Jamming, an activist action that interferes in a variety of marketing branches of communication. Therefore, having in its basis theorists such as John Downing and Perseu Abramo this study analyzed the journalistic content produced by the newspaper O Globo between the days 13 to 22 of June, in which the Rio +20 activities were held

A educa����o e a sustentabilidade: o desafio de um paradigma e a d��cada da educa����o para o desenvolvimento sustent��vel da UNESCO (2005-2014)

This paper aims at proposing a discussion on the role of education in a pragmatic plot. It intends to offer some contributions to the consolidation in the essence of sustainable development and of a contextualized sustainability as well as its respective dimensions. Therefore, some conceptual evolutions of such expressions and the implications for when they are being used, especially parallel to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, UNESCO (2005-2014) are presented. This paper also intends to promote some reflection on how much environmental and general education are important with regard to the challenge of multidimensional balance proposed, as seen from the perspective of a paradigm that has been constantly shaped since the Stockholm Conference of 1972, going through the given contributions in 1992 by The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro ��� Eco 92 / Rio 92; and from there to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, of Rio+20, in 2012.

Governan��a ambiental e economia verde

A Confer��ncia Rio+20 mobiliza a comunidade global em 2012 para participar de um desafiador debate sobre a realidade ambiental global e modus operandi existente quanto �� tem��tica ampla e gen��rica do desenvolvimento e do ambiente. Um dos temas estruturantes desta reuni��o �� a transi����o para uma economia verde no contexto do desenvolvimento sustent��vel e da erradica����o da pobreza. O tema da Governan��a Ambiental Global um dos carros chefe do debate na Rio+20, no intuito de promover e acelerar a transi����o rumo a sociedades sustent��veis, configura a constru����o muitas vezes, de forma controversa, das condi����es para a defini����o de novos espa��os institucionais e processos decis��rios compartilhados. Este artigo prop��e aos leitores uma reflex��o para discutir que tipo de sustentabilidade est�� por tr��s da economia verde, a sua aplicabilidade e o que deva ser priorizada na discuss��o de governan��a ambiental. Isto se explica na medida em que existe a necessidade de mudar os mecanismos de utiliza����o dos recursos, profundamente injustos, e que impedem avan��os nos processos decis��rios, pois as decis��es de poucos tem configurado uma l��gica perversa de expropria����o de recursos naturais e n��o resolu����o da exclus��o social.

Res��duos s��lidos urbanos: impactos socioambientais e perspectiva de manejo sustent��vel com inclus��o social

Com a Rio+20 retoma-se a discuss��o de estrat��gias para conciliar desenvolvimento com prote����o dos ecossistemas. Um tema apenas tangenciado nessas discuss��es �� o gerenciamento dos res��duos s��lidos urbanos. Diante da institucionaliza����o da Pol��tica Nacional de Res��duos S��lidos, busca-se contribuir para esse debate, bem como apontar caminhos para o enfrentamento dessa quest��o, privilegiando a inclus��o social. Para isso, foram utilizados documentos e informa����es sobre a gest��o de res��duos s��lidos, e a literatura cient��fica especializada. Observa-se que o inadequado gerenciamento dos res��duos s��lidos gera impactos imediatos no ambiente e na sa��de, assim como contribui para mudan��as clim��ticas. Considerando as limita����es das op����es de destina����o final para os res��duos, �� imprescind��vel minimizar as quantidades produzidas por meio da redu����o, reutiliza����o e reciclagem. Nesse contexto, destaca-se o papel dos catadores, que v��m realizando um trabalho de grande import��ncia ambiental. Dadas as fragilidades desse segmento populacional, �� preciso delinear pol��ticas p��blicas que tornem a atividade de cata����o mais digna e com menos riscos e que, ao mesmo tempo, garantam renda, para assim caminhar rumo a um desenvolvimento mais saud��vel, justo e sustent��vel.

Can the green economy enhance sustainable mountain development? The potential role of awareness building

Mountain socio-ecological systems produce valuable but complex ecosystem services resulting from biomes stratified by altitude and gravity. These systems are often managed and shaped by smallholders whose marginalization is exacerbated by uncertainties and a lack of policy attention. Human���environment interfaces in mountains hence require holistic policies. We analyse the potential of the Global Mountain Green Economy Agenda (GMGEA) in building awareness and thus prompting cross-sectoral policy strategies for sustainable mountain development. Considering the critique of the green economy presented at the Rio + 20 conference, we argue that the GMGEA can nevertheless structure knowledge and inform regional institutions about the complexity of mountain socio-ecological systems, a necessary pre-condition to prompt inter-agency collaboration and cross-sectoral policy formulation. After reviewing the content of the GMGEA, we draw on two empirical cases in the Pakistani and Nepali Himalayas. First, we show that lack of awareness has led to a sequence of fragmented interventions with unanticipated, and unwanted, consequences for communities. Second, using a green economy lens, we show how fragmentation could have been avoided and cross-sectoral policies yielded more beneficial results. Project fragmentation reflects disconnected or layered policies by government agencies, which inherently keep specialized agendas and have no incentive to collaborate. Awareness makes agencies more likely to collaborate and adopt cross-sectoral approaches, allowing them to target more beneficiaries, be more visible, and raise more funds. Nevertheless, we also identify four factors that may currently still limit the effect of the GMGEA: high costs of inter-agency collaboration, lack of legitimacy of the green economy, insufficiently-secured smallholder participation, and limited understanding of the mechanisms through which global agendas influence local policy.

Globale Ern��hrungssicherheit und Herausforderungen f��r die Schweiz

Hunger und Fehlern��hrung geh��ren zu den gr��ssten Herausforderungen in Bezug auf die Weltgesundheit und eine nachhaltige Entwicklung. Die Zahl der an Hunger leidenden Menschen ist gr��sser als die gesamte Bev��lkerung der USA, Kanadas und der Europ��ischen Union. Eine gesicherte Weltern��hrung ist erreichbar, sofern die Weltgemeinschaft entschlossen handelt.