Costa Rica's payment for environmental services program: intention, implementation, and impact.

We evaluated the intention, implementation, and impact of Costa Rica's program of payments for environmental services (PSA), which was established in the late 1990s. Payments are given to private landowners who own land in forest areas in recognition of the ecosystem services their land provides. To characterize the distribution of PSA in Costa Rica, we combined remote sensing with geographic information system databases and then used econometrics to explore the impacts of payments on deforestation. Payments were distributed broadly across ecological and socioeconomic gradients, but the 1997-2000 deforestation rate was not significantly lower in areas that received payments. Other successful Costa Rican conservation policies, including those prior to the PSA program, may explain the current reduction in deforestation rates. The PSA program is a major advance in the global institutionalization of ecosystem investments because few, if any, other countries have such a conservation history and because much can be learned from Costa Rica's experiences.

Gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon: global prices, deforestation, and mercury imports.

Many factors such as poverty, ineffective institutions and environmental regulations may prevent developing countries from managing how natural resources are extracted to meet a strong market demand. Extraction for some resources has reached such proportions that evidence is measurable from space. We present recent evidence of the global demand for a single commodity and the ecosystem destruction resulting from commodity extraction, recorded by satellites for one of the most biodiverse areas of the world. We find that since 2003, recent mining deforestation in Madre de Dios, Peru is increasing nonlinearly alongside a constant annual rate of increase in international gold price (∼18%/yr). We detect that the new pattern of mining deforestation (1915 ha/year, 2006-2009) is outpacing that of nearby settlement deforestation. We show that gold price is linked with exponential increases in Peruvian national mercury imports over time (R(2) = 0.93, p = 0.04, 2003-2009). Given the past rates of increase we predict that mercury imports may more than double for 2011 (∼500 t/year). Virtually all of Peru's mercury imports are used in artisanal gold mining. Much of the mining increase is unregulated/artisanal in nature, lacking environmental impact analysis or miner education. As a result, large quantities of mercury are being released into the atmosphere, sediments and waterways. Other developing countries endowed with gold deposits are likely experiencing similar environmental destruction in response to recent record high gold prices. The increasing availability of satellite imagery ought to evoke further studies linking economic variables with land use and cover changes on the ground.

Operationalizing the social-ecological systems framework to assess sustainability.

Environmental governance is more effective when the scales of ecological processes are well matched with the human institutions charged with managing human-environment interactions. The social-ecological systems (SESs) framework provides guidance on how to assess the social and ecological dimensions that contribute to sustainable resource use and management, but rarely if ever has been operationalized for multiple localities in a spatially explicit, quantitative manner. Here, we use the case of small-scale fisheries in Baja California Sur, Mexico, to identify distinct SES regions and test key aspects of coupled SESs theory. Regions that exhibit greater potential for social-ecological sustainability in one dimension do not necessarily exhibit it in others, highlighting the importance of integrative, coupled system analyses when implementing spatial planning and other ecosystem-based strategies.

Ecoturismo en comunidades rurales: análisis de los impactos negativos para la población local. Un estudio de caso

En los últimos años han aparecido nuevas formas de turismo más sostenibles, donde existen elementos relacionados con el descanso, el disfrute y la protección del medio ambiente o el conocimiento de la cultura local, a través de políticas que favorecen la sostenibilidad del destino. En este sentido, el ecoturismo se configura como una tipología turística que se desarrolla en contacto con la naturaleza. Este turismo ayuda a mejorar el desarrollo socioeconómico de las comunidades locales, a la vez, que fomenta la conservación de los recursos naturales y el respeto hacia el medio ambiente. Aunque, esta tipología de turismo también genera importantes impactos negativos. El objetivo principal de esta investigación es analizar los impactos socioeconómicos, culturales y medioambientales percibidos por el ecoturismo por parte de los residentes de comunidades rurales de República Dominicana. La técnica de recolección de datos utilizada ha consistido en un cuestionario. Entre las principales conclusiones, cabe destacar que actualmente no se perciben impactos negativos, pero si hay una serie de elementos que hay que ir considerando, con la finalidad de que no se conviertan en un impacto a corto plazo para la comunidad rural.

Gene-associated markers provide tools for tackling illegal fishing and false eco-certification

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing has had a major role in the overexploitation of global fish populations. In response, international regulations have been imposed and many fisheries have been 'eco-certified' by consumer organizations, but methods for independent control of catch certificates and eco-labels are urgently needed. Here we show that, by using gene-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms, individual marine fish can be assigned back to population of origin with unprecedented high levels of precision. By applying high differentiation single nucleotide polymorphism assays, in four commercial marine fish, on a pan-European scale, we find 93-100% of individuals could be correctly assigned to origin in policy-driven case studies. We show how case-targeted single nucleotide polymorphism assays can be created and forensically validated, using a centrally maintained and publicly available database. Our results demonstrate how application of gene-associated markers will likely revolutionize origin assignment and become highly valuable tools for fighting illegal fishing and mislabelling worldwide.

Desenvolvimento, pobreza e meio ambiente no seridó potiguar: um estudo centrado nas micro-regiões do seridó oriental e ocidental

This research work intends to carry out a study focused on the dynamic between development, poverty reduction and conservation of natural resources. To consider this relationship to the region chosen was the micro-region of Eastern and Western Seridó in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. In recent years, several studies (Araújo, 2011; BASTOS, 2009) have pointed out that after a period of economic crisis in its tripodproductive, formed by the activities of farming, cotton farming, mining and faced in the eighties, this region of the State of Rio Grande do Norte, has not only shown signs of economic recovery but also improve their social indicators. On the other hand, studies of desertification as the view of the state of RN (produced in cooperation between the Government of RN and research institutions) and the Sustainable Development Plan of Seridó (ADES, 2000), indicate that there is an ongoing French process of degradation of natural resources that is capable of compromising the ability of sustaining such a system. To verify this reality and likely finding this relationship, this work is adopted for this study, the analysis of evolution of secondary data from official bodies such as the IBGE on HDI, per capita income and other social indicators between 2000 and 2009. Here is another time of the survey analysis of qualitative data collected from interviews with institutions of academic intervention in nature, researchers at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) State agencies that address the issue of the Middle Environment in Seridó: Institute for Sustainable Development of the NB (IDEMA) and the Brazilian Institute of Environment and the Amazon (IBAMA) and institutions of direct intervention in the region, as the Agency's Sustainable Development Seridó (adhesive) and the Joint Semi-Arid (ASA). After crossing data from quantitative and qualitative, it was found that the dynamics of the region's economic Seridó Potiguar partially answers the improvement of social indicators of poverty. Contribution by the State in this shared stock transfer income. Regarding the influence of productive restructuring in the region on issues of environment, it is noted that the ceramic tile industry, responsible for the absorption percentage of the population with limited ingress into the urban economy, given the low education, accounts for the increase of susceptibility to the ongoing process of desertification in North Seridó Rio Grande. We conclude finally that the guarantee of increased income, freedom and conservation of natural resources ensures primarily by changing the beliefs and values, especially on the part of the business sector, which use natural resources so predatory, aimed at maintaining their rates of return on investment. And concomitantly, the synchronization between technological change, through the use of new energy sources, and institutional change.

Implantação de Reservas Legais: uma nova perspectiva na conservação dos recursos naturais em paisagem rural

According to the Forest Code of 1965, it is mandatory that every rural property destine part of its land to the establishment of Legal Reserves. When a diagnosis is made over all Brazil, the reality is quite different from what is demanded by law. Therefore, this work, as a general objective, proposes ways of establishing Legal Reserves based on the analysis of the environmental deterioration in a river basin. For this purpose, the environmental deterioration was detected based on three diagnoses: physical-conservational, socioeconomical, and environmental quality. In this way, from a quantitative and qualitative diagnosis, it was possible to identify the main aggressive factors in the studied river basin and to indicate the main vulnerabilities that the area is subjected. According to such diagnosis, some proposals for the establishment of Legal Reserves are discussed here based on scientific arguments aimed at the conservation of water resources, soil and biodiversity. It is hoped, that from this study, the environment receives a new tool for diagnosis, pollution control, recovery and conservation of natural resources.

Alterações ambientais em Parelhas, Rio Grande do Norte: metais pesados em sedimentos de drenagens e percepção de comunidades rurais em relação a mudanças na paisagem

The conservation of natural resources is essential and constitutes the main subject of many researches, which characterize important aspects concerning the environmental alterations in the ground, water, landscape and socioeconomic information. This study aimed to investigate the anthropogenic input of heavy metals in the environment, in the area of the Parelhas dump site and in part of the Seridó River and to determine the concentration of heavy metals in the sediments. This can result in risk to the environment and human health. In addition, we sought to establish the socioeconomic profile of rural communities adjacent to Seridó River and to comprehend the perception of these dwellers about the changes in the places they live. The area of this study is located in the city of Parelhas/RN, in the centralsouthern part of the State, in the micro-region of the Oriental Seridó. This area comprehends the place where the dump site is located, next to RN 086, the Caldeirão dam, the Quintos river called by local citizens Caldeirão creek and part of Seridó river, perpetuated by the Boqueirão dam, which crosses the city and it includes the rural communities of Almas, Domingas, Sussuarana II and Colonos. Regarding the study with bottom sediments, the samples were collected and taken to the laboratory of geochemistry, where they were dried, sieved, weighted and submitted to weak acid attack. The analysis of heavy metals was held by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer - Flame AAS. We applied 23 closed questionnaires constituted by 38 questions to collect informations in the rural communities, oriented to establish the socioeconomic profile and the environmental perception of the participants. The participants were distributed in the communities of Almas (1), Domingas (2), Sussuarana II (10) and Colonos (10). Most of them presented similar socioeconomic profiles. They are from 45 to 60 years old and live in these localities for 20 to 30 years or more. The families are composed by 3 or 4 people; the agriculture is the main activity, livestock is the secondary and 48% of them earn the minimal wage. Regarding the environmental perception, the participants can realize some changes in vegetation, soil, water and landscape. People living longer in the community, and with more years of experience on the local reality can perceive the depletion of the soil, pastures and changes in the landscape. These changes portray how the place was previously and what it represents today. The perception of these changes, besides the environmental ones, includes others concerning the increasing number of dwellers in the last years, as well as the number of houses. The changes happened through activities developed by the dwellers over the years, including agricultural practices, livestock, grass planting and even the cultivation of cotton. The study provided the acquisition of new data about the environmental reality of this region. It can subsidize the definition of public policies that can be implemented from the perspective of conservation of water resources and of the coexistence and survival of man in the semi-arid

Options for rural poverty reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Chlamydophila psittaci infections in hyacinth macaws (anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) confiscated in Brazil

The hyacinth macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) is the largest species of psittacine birds. It is considered endangered and illegal trade is one of the main factors involved in its decline. In this study, 26 hyacinth macaws maintained under poor husbandry conditions and destined for the illegal trade were confiscated in São Paulo State, Brazil. These birds were evaluated for the presence of antibodies against Chlamydophila psittaci by complement fixation test and C. psittaci DNA by seminested polymerase chain reaction. Results showed that 65.4% of the macaws were positive for at least one test. Birds with subclinical infections can shed chlamydiae intermittently over long periods, contributing to the dissemination of the agent. Global trade is one of the most important drivers of disease emergence. The high percentage of positive samples in this study emphasizes the potential risk that the illegal trade of wild birds represents for both human and animal health. Copyright 2013 by American Association of Zoo Veterinarians.

Estudos para implantação de reservas legais: uma nova perspectiva na conservação dos recursos naturais

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Geoecologia da paisagem na avaliação do uso dos recursos Hídricos da parte inicial da bacia do Ribeirão das Posses - SP

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Irrigação e Drenagem) - FCA

O Tratamento de questões ambientais através da modelagem matemática: um trabalho com alunos do ensino fundamental e médio

Pós-graduação em Educação Matemática - IGCE

Sistema integrado para o planejamento e gestão de recursos hídricos no Município de Lençóis Paulista – SP

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Irrigação e Drenagem) - FCA