Network for Cooperation in Integrated Water Resource Management for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean No. 39

Editorial remarks.-- Open discussion: Tariff policies for the achievement of MDGs ; Natural resources within UNASUR ; The human right to water and sanitation.-- Meetings: Tariff and Regulatory Policies ; Transboundary Water Cooperation ; Latinosan III.-- News of the Network: National Water Resources Strategy ; Hydroelectric Development in Chile.-- Internet and WWW News

Horizons 2030: Equality at the centre of sustainable development. Summary

The world is living a change of era. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals represent the international community’s response to the economic, distributive and environmental imbalances built up under the prevailing development pattern. This document, presented by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to its member States at its thirty-sixth session, provides an analytical complement to the 2030 Agenda from a structuralist perspective and from the point of view of the Latin American and Caribbean countries. The proposals made here stem from the need to achieve progressive structural change in order to incorporate more knowledge into production, ensure social inclusion and combat the negative impacts of climate change. The reflections and proposals for advancing towards a new development pattern are geared to achieving equality and environmental sustainability. In these proposals, the creation of global and regional public goods and the corresponding domestic policies form the core for expanding the structuralist tradition towards a global Keynesianism and a development strategy centred around an environmental big push.

Horizons 2030: Equality at the centre of sustainable development

The world is living a change of era. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals represent the international community’s response to the economic, distributive and environmental imbalances built up under the prevailing development pattern. This document, presented by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to its member States at its thirty-sixth session, provides an analytical complement to the 2030 Agenda from a structuralist perspective and from the point of view of the Latin American and Caribbean countries. The proposals made here stem from the need to achieve progressive structural change in order to incorporate more knowledge into production, ensure social inclusion and combat the negative impacts of climate change. The reflections and proposals for advancing towards a new development pattern are geared to achieving equality and environmental sustainability. In these proposals, the creation of global and regional public goods and the corresponding domestic policies form the core for expanding the structuralist tradition towards a global Keynesianism and a development strategy centred around an environmental big push.

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).

Rest stops during road transport: Impacts on performance and acute-phase protein responses of feeder cattle

Angus x Hereford steers (n = 42) and heifers (n = 21) were ranked by gender and BW on d 0 of the experiment and randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatments: 1) no transport and full access to feed and water (CON); 2) continuous road transport for 1,290 km (TRANS), or 3) road transport for 1,290 km, with rest stops every 430 km (STOP; total of 2 rest stops). Treatments were applied from d 0 to 1 of the experiment. Cattle from TRANS and STOP treatments were transported in separate commercial livestock trailers, within a single 2.1 x 7.2 m compartment, but through the exact same route. During each rest stop, STOP cattle were unloaded and offered mixed alfalfa-grass hay and water for ad libitum consumption for 2 h. Upon arrival of STOP and TRANS on d 1, cattle were ranked by sex and BW within each treatment and assigned to 21 feedlot pens (7 pens/treatment; 2 steers and 1 heifer/pen). Full BW was recorded before (d -1 and 0) treatment application and at the end of experiment (d 28 and 29). Total DMI was evaluated daily from d 1 to 28. Blood samples were collected on d 0 (before loading of TRANS and STOP cattle), 1 (immediately after unloading of TRANS and STOP cattle), 4, 7, 10, 14, 21, and 28. Body weight shrink from d 0 to d 1 was reduced (P < 0.01) in CON compared to TRANS and STOP, and reduced in STOP compared to TRANS. Mean ADG was greater (P < 0.05) in CON compared to TRANS and STOP, but similar (P = 0.68) between TRANS and STOP. No treatment effects were detected (P >= 0.18) on hay, concentrate, and total DMI. Mean G: F was greater (P = 0.05) in CON compared to STOP, tended to be greater (P = 0.08) in CON compared to TRANS, and similar (P = 0.85) between TRANS and STOP. Plasma cortisol concentrations were greater (P <= 0.04) in TRANS compared to CON and STOP on d 1, and greater (P = 0.04) in TRANS compared to CON on d 4. Serum NEFA concentrations were greater (P < 0.01) in TRANS compared to CON and STOP on d 1, and greater (P <= 0.05) in TRANS compared to CON on d 4 and 7. Mean plasma ceruloplasmin concentrations were similar (P = 0.19) among treatments. Plasma haptoglobin concentrations were greater (P <= 0.04) in TRANS compared to CON and STOP on d 1, and in STOP compared to CON on d 1. In conclusion, inclusion of rest stops during a 1,290-km transport prevented the increase in circulating cortisol and alleviated the NEFA and haptoglobin response elicited by transport, but did not improve feedlot receiving performance of transported cattle.

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.