Highlighting the elections in Brazil and the theme of forest governance, issue #106 of the journal Estudos Avançados was launched in November. Its digital version is available on the Scientific Electronic Library Online (Portuguese only).

The first dossier, entitled "Elections," brings articles that are based on investigations in the field of political sciences to approach the Brazilian electoral history. "The articles explore concerns present in public opinion, in the media debate, and in the political agenda, whether at the national, regional or local level", explains editor Sérgio Adorno.

Three themes of the greatest relevance, according to Adorno, are addressed by the issue: electoral polls, candidacy programs, and the ideological foundations of Bolsonarism.

The trends and performance of electoral polls have been analyzed by Fernando Meireles, from the Brazilian Center of Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP), and Guilherme Russo, a lecturer at the São Paulo School of Economics (EESP) of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV), based on estimates from surveys carried out between 2012 and 2020. Bruno Wilhelm Speck, from the Department of Political Science at USP's Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Literature, and Human Sciences (FFLCH), has concluded that political leaders are capable of retaining voters more than parties, having analyzed data on the elections for mayors held between 2000 and 2020 for the article "Parties Dominate the Registration of Candidates, Leaders Connect Better with the Electorate." Lucio Rennó, from the Institute of Political Science at the University of Brasília (UnB), has analyzed the ideological components of the voters who support Jair Bolsonaro based on preferences on political issues in the article "Bolsonarism and the 2022 Elections."

"Is Brazil Really a Polarized Country? Analysis of Presidential Elections from 1989 to 2018," by Antonio Carlos Alkmim, from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), and Sonia Luiza Terron, PhD in Political Science, considers the eight Brazilian presidential elections in the post-military dictatorship period as an object of analysis. "The geographic polarization between the first and second placed is a characteristic of the Brazilian presidential elections from 1989 to 2018. The meaning, intensity, and geography of the confrontation varies, but the polarization is present in all elections," the authors point out.

Electoral reforms as reflections of the maturation of the Brazilian political system after the 1988 Constitution have been addressed by Arthur Fisch and Lara Mesquita, researchers at FGV's Center for Politics and Economics in the Public Sector Studies (CEPESP), who have explored the changes in the proportional system and electoral financing. For them, "it is important to be aware of such changes so that the system evolves in a way that consolidates the gains of democracy."

Other contributions to the dossier have addressed Brazilian voters' perceptions of political parties since the redemocratization process, campaign financing, and women's performance in the national elections.

"If, on the one hand, recent legislative innovations have produced positive impacts, on the other hand, conservative reactions have still mitigated achievements and maintained male representation as predominant," said Sérgio Adorno about reforms and gender equality in the Brazilian electoral arena in the last three decades.

Forest Governance

According to the article that opens the second dossier, forest governance has been a strategic theme for IEA's journal since the publication of issue #9 on the Floram Project – Forests for the Environment (1990), led by professor Aziz Ab'Saber, from FFLCH. The articles bring subsidies for a reflection on the advances in the field of forest governance in Brazil, and the global perspectives in the field of environmental and climate governance.

To talk about Brazilian forest legislation, the article by Paulo Eduardo dos Santos Massoca, a researcher associated with the Center for the Analysis of Social-Ecological Landscapes (CASEL) at the University of Indiana, and Eduardo Sonnewend Brondízio, from the Department of Anthropology at the same University, starts with an examination of the narratives about the values of trees and forests in law since the 16th century, and its recent revaluation and the conflict of opposing interests.

Next, the article "Sectarian Fundamentalism Prevents the Strengthening of the Sociobiodiversity Economy," by Ricardo Abramovay, from USP's Institute of Energy and Environment (IEA), explores the ideological and cultural roots of incentives for forest destruction, and presents forces that seek to oppose the current federal policies and initiatives with the potential to pave the way for an economy of forest socio-biodiversity.

The other articles address topics such as reactions and resistance led by civil society associations and by virtue of multisectoral coalitions and platforms, socio-ecological innovations that shape social relationships that have the local community as protagonist, and an analysis of the highlights of the web seminar "Building Dialogues on Forest Governance."

The list below contains the names of the authors who have contributed with each one of the addressed themes:

Elections

Is Brazil Really a Polarized Country? Analysis of Presidential Elections from 1989 to 2018 - Antonio Carlos Alkmim and Sonia Luiza Terron
Electoral Reforms in Contemporary Brazil: Changes in the Proportional Representation and Electoral Financing Systems - Arthur Fisch and Lara Mesquista
Where Did the Parties Go According to Public Opinion? Perceptions of the Political Parties in the Redemocratization of Brazil - Rachel Meneguello and Oswaldo E. do Amaral
Parties Dominate the Registration of Candidates, Leaders Connect Better with the Electorate - Bruno Wilhelm Speck
Campaign Funding and Women’s Electoral Performance in Brazilian Elections (1998-2020) - Vitor de Moraes Peixoto, Larissa Martins Marques, and Leandro Molhano Ribeiro
Election Polls in Brazil: Trends and Performance - Fernando Meireles and Guilherme Russo
Left, Right, and Presidential Elections in Brazil - Gabriela Tarouco
Bolsonarism and the 2022 Elections - Lucio Rennó

Forest Governance

Forest Governance: Three Decades of Advances - Cristina Adams, Luciana Gomes de Araujo, and Liviam E. Cordeiro-Beduschi
We Protect When We Value: History of Brazilian Forestry Legislation - Paulo Eduardo dos Santos Massoca and Eduardo Sonnewend Brondízio
Sectarian Fundamentalism Prevents the Strengthening of the Sociobiodiversity Economy - Ricardo Abramovay
Governance Experiences in Ecosystem and Landscape Restoration in Brazil - Robin L. Chazdon, Rafael B. Chaves, Miguel Calmon, Ludmila Pugliese de Siqueira and Rodrigo G. Prates Junqueira
Brazilian Cases of Socio-Innovative Landscape Restoration - Aurélio Padovezi, Jordano Roma, Daniela Coura, Lucas Antunes da Silva, Marina Campos, Patrick Ayrivie de Assumpção, and Laura Secco
Multilevel Collective Action and Socio-Ecological Innovation in Forest Governance - Liviam E. Cordeiro-Beduschi, Cristina Adams, Luciana Gomes de Araujo, Aurelio Padovezi, Jordano Roma Buzati, Marcus Vinícius Chamon Schmidt, and Raquel Rodrigues dos Santos

Nobre e outros oito pesquisadores ligados ao estudo da Amazônia, povos amazônicos e bioeconomia participaram do evento Amazônia: Alternativas à Devastação. Realizado nos dias 15 e 16 de setembro, o webinar foi organizado pelo Grupo de Pesquisa Meio Ambiente e Sociedade do IEA. Os vídeos podem ser vistos na íntegra no site.

Segundo Nobre, o bioma amazônico está passando por um processo de savanização, devido à queda da umidade e aumento das temperaturas globais, intensificados pelo desmatamento.

Os pesquisadores não negam a importância de explorar os potenciais econômicos da Amazônia. No entanto, é consenso entre eles que o desenvolvimento da região deve acontecer de forma sustentável, preservando a biodiversidade e inserindo os povos da região como participantes ativos dessa economia.

Para pensar alternativas à exploração predatória na Amazônia, Josué da Costa Silva, geógrafo e professor da Universidade Federal de Rondônia, ressalta a necessidade de repensar o conceito de progresso. “É preciso fazer mudanças radicais nas ideias que hoje são aceitas pelo desenvolvimento para promover uma discussão que vá além da questão econômica”, afirmou. O professor argumenta a necessidade de retomar a ideia de “bem-viver” para pensar soluções para o futuro. Ele explicou que o conceito visa a um futuro com respeito à natureza, ao homem, à mulher, a diversidade e a inclusão.

Neste contexto, Ivani Faria, geógrafa e pesquisadora da Universidade Federal do Amazonas, defendeu a necessidade de reconhecer que as populações locais têm conhecimentos e organizações sociais e econômicas diferentes, voltadas para o bem-viver. “Essas formas precisam ser conservadas e compreendidas para a formulação de políticas públicas endógenas e efetivas para essas comunidades”, argumentou Ivani. A pesquisadora, no entanto, lamentou a existência de uma desvalorização das cadeias produtivas da sociobiodiversidade, dos conhecimentos e das tecnologias que vêm do território e da terra.

Na opinião de Ricardo Abramoway, professor do Instituto de Energia e Ambiente da USP (IEE), o desenvolvimento de uma economia da sociobiodiversidade da floresta deve ser norteado pela ciência, tecnologia e conhecimento, incluindo os saberes dos povos da floresta, que podem ser fontes de inspiração. Porém, ele afirmou que “um dos desafios mais importantes é que essa economia tenha uma expressão econômica significativa”, disse Abramoway. “Empresas estão sendo criadas justamente para enfrentar o desafio de ampliar a oferta dos produtos, mantendo as propriedades biológicas e respeitando a riqueza material e espiritual dos povos da floresta”, completou.

Também estiveram presentes no evento o professor Ricardo Galvão, do Instituto de Física da USP (IF) e ex-diretor do Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (Inpe); a pesquisadora do Inpe, Lúbia Vinhas e o pesquisador do Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Telecomunicações Roberto Araújo. Os seminários foram mediados pelos membros do Grupo de Pesquisa Meio Ambiente e Sociedade, Wagner Costa Ribeiro e Pedro Roberto Jacobi, atual coordenador.

Projetos no IEA

O projeto Amazônia 4.0, ancorado no IEA e apresentado por Nobre no seminário, propõe um desenvolvimento alternativo à produção agropecuária e ao extrativismo nocivo na região. “Estamos trabalhando com conceitos de economia baseada na biodiversidade, que implica trazer os conhecimentos modernos e equilibrá-los com o conhecimento indigena milenar num círculo virtuoso. Usando também as ferramentas da quarta revolução industrial, [podemos] explorar economicamente de forma sustentável e com equidade social”. Duas estratégias do projeto são os Laboratórios Criativos da Amazônia (LCA) e a Rainforest Business School.

O LCA é composto de laboratórios móveis e portáteis, que funcionam como biofábricas e capacitam comunidades e alunos em universidades para a operação de linhas de produção da industrialização de recursos amazônicos, como cacau, cupuaçu, castanha, entre outros. Esses laboratórios terão tecnologias capazes de realizar sequenciamento genômico de plantas, animais e microorganismos. A primeira biofábrica, voltada para cupuaçu e cacau, já está sendo construída e, segundo Nobre, deve ficar pronta em fevereiro do ano que vem.

Desenvolvido no IEA e na Universidade Federal do Amazonas, a Rainforest Business School é um projeto para construir um currículo de negócio sustentável, voltado à discussão e inovação dos modelos de desenvolvimento em florestas tropicais, com tecnologia e conhecimentos encontrados nos LCAs. “Estamos projetando ainda, mas estou esperançoso que vamos construir uma escola de floresta em pé inovadora e que ainda não existe em nenhum lugar do mundo”, comentou Nobre.

Climate Negotiations

Goldemberg states that emissions increased globally by 33% between 1992 and 2022, with a 78% increase from developing countries (including China), which in 1991 were already responsible for more than 50% of the emissions. "Therefore, it is clear that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), established at the 1992 Earth Summit, and the Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997, did not achieve the expected success," says the physicist.

He traces the climate negotiations back to a decision made at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen for developed countries to allocate US$ 100 billion annually until 2020 to meet the needs of developing countries. "Bitter discussions on this topic took place over the years and it was decided that COP29 (Baku, 2024) would be dedicated to finance and review the 2009 decision under the Paris Agreement of 2015."

The physicist highlights that at the closing session of COP29, faced with the imminent risk of failure, the president of the Conference presented a final decision "without consulting the plenary": to adopt the anual target of at least US$ 300 billion in climate finance from various public and private, bilateral, and multilateral sources, including alternative ones, until 2035. Goldemberg explains that this happened despite the fact that UNFCCC's Standing Committee on Finance estimates that US$ 5 to US$ 7 trillion (approximately US$ 455-485 billion per year) will be needed from 2022 to 2030.

He remembers that several countries questioned the COP29 decision and lamented the lack of a minimum allocation of resources for least developed countries, as well as the absence of guidelines for advancing the energy transition, in addition to arguing that China and Saudi Arabia should also contribute to climate finance.

"What we hope is that COP30, under the Brazilian presidency, will improve this situation." However, Goldemberg considers it unlikely that the anual US$ 300 billion allocated for climate finance until 2035 will increase, since "Trump's election will reduce the United States' participation in the process." Additionally, there is the impact of global inflation on the amount. "What can be improved is trying to increase the share of concessional resources that will come from public resources," he ponders, citing examples such as the Marshall Plan, created in 1948 by the USA for the European reconstruction, and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), adopted in 2022, which "can actually be considered a Marshall Plan to help North American industry face the energy transition."

Nonetheless, he states that climate finance from industrialized countries to developing countries is only part of the effort to reduce emissions: "Internal actions taken by governments can play an important role depending on the right public policy choices." Among these actions, Goldemberg mentions taxes on carbon emissions or the regulation of the emissions market by setting a maximum emission level per sector (or enterprise) and the creation of a market for buying and selling carbon credits like the one created by Brazil in 2024.

Emphasis on renewable energy: a more ambitious strategy that developing countries could adopt, according to Goldemberg

A more ambitious strategy for developing countries is trying to guide their growth using more efficient technologies and renewable energy sources, the physicist adds.

In the Brazilian case, he comments that the federal government is, "at least rhetorically", taking this path through the New Growth Acceleration Program (Novo Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento/PAC), which should invest a total amount of R$ 1.7 trillion: R$ 1.3 trillion by the end of 2025 and R$ 400 billion after 2026. "Due to the economic vicissitudes the country is going through and the low investment, the implementation of the Novo PAC is occurring slowly, but still paving the way through indispensable legislative measures to attract 'green' investments."

Goldemberg concludes by saying that holding COP30 in Belém will place a greater emphasis on preserving the Amazon rainforest, even considering that Brazil's contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions is modest (4.43% in 2022). "The success in reducing deforestation in the Amazon and the adoption of a law creating a carbon market in Brazil, which has only occurred in a few developing countries to date, will enable us to lead the way," he says.

Sustainable Society

Physicist Paulo Artaxo, coordinator of USP's Center for Studies on Sustainability of the Amazon Rainforest, also believes that COP30 will be an opportunity for Brazil to regain global leadership on issues related to climate change. He is the author of the article "COP30 and the Worsening Climate Crisis – Pathways to Build a Sustainable Society."

Some of the strategies he cited for adapting to climate change are: improving water resource management; protecting and restoring ecosystems by conserving natural areas; developing sustainable agricultural systems by developing plant varieties more resistant to extreme weather conditions such as droughts and floods; strengthening the health system to address heat-related and vector-borne diseases; disaster resilience planning with contingency plans that include community empowerment and the improvement of infrastructure to protect populations; and implementing educational programs on climate change and sustainability to increase public awareness and engagement.

However, Artaxo warns that the international landscape in which the Conference is taking place is unfavorable to the intensification of global governance. "We need to chart a course for the world to wean itself off fossil fuels, which are the root of the climate problems we face. We also need to structure policies for adapting to the new climate, particularly in the most vulnerable countries. In this task, implementing financing mechanisms is crucial so that less developed countries can implement their energy transition and adapt to the new climate."

According to him, although Brazil accounted for 4.5% of global emissions in 2023, it is not yet among the countries that price greenhouse gas emissions. "This creates difficulties in implementing regulatory policies for the so-called carbon market."

Artaxo emphasizes that the externalities of carbon emissions are not taken into account, adding that zeroing out net emissions (the difference between gross emissions and removals) can boost economies due to the investments needed to enable reductions and damage control. "Obviously, this transition to a low-carbon society must be carried out gradually and in a coordinated manner, also considering the reduction of social inequalities."

Assisted natural regeneration (RNA) project in the region of Cotriguaçu, in the state of Mato Grosso

He lists a series of measures aimed at reducing Brazilian emissions: reducing deforestation and restoring forest areas; increasing the use of renewable energy; promoting sustainable agriculture with the implementation of agroecological practices; and investing in quality public transportation and urban mobility with low greenhouse gas emissions, having an added benefit of reducing urban air pollution, which affects the health of millions of Brazilians.

Risks for the Amazon

"Amazon at Risk and COP30 as a Critical Opportunity to Avoid the Point of No Return" is an article authored by climatologist Carlos Nobre, a visiting professor at the IEA and holder of the Climate & Sustainability Chair (a partnership between the Institute and USP's President's Office), and researchers Julia Arieira and Diego Oliveira Brandão, both members of the Scientific-Technical Secretariat of the Science Panel for the Amazon. For them, the Conference represents a key opportunity to discuss and develop solutions for "preserving the ecological limits that sustain the integrity of the Amazon rainforest and the well-being of its people."

For this to happen, the authors consider it essential that dialogue between governments, civil society, local communities, the private sector, and academia be anchored in both science and local knowledge. Thus, "COP30 will be decisive in building pathways that reconcile sustainable development and a climate justice that recognizes that the impacts of climate change affect different social groups unequally, both in intensity and vulnerability."

The article analyzes the main threats pushing the Amazon towards its critical thresholds, the tipping points, and discusses governance and nature-based strategies that can halt its destruction and boost its regeneration and sustainable use.

Currently, 23% of the Brazilian Amazon is deforested, an area equivalent to 1 million km², according to the study. Although there has been a reduction in deforestation in recent years, forest fires intensified by the historic drought of 2023-2024 have generated an alarming increase in greenhouse gas emissions, as pointed out by the authors.

The Amazon is also suffering from global warming. Some regions have already exceeded the 1.5°C increase limit (compared to the second half of the 19th century) established by the Paris Agreement: "In 2023, record temperature values were recorded in Manaus and Monte Alegre with annual averages of 28.8°C and 27.9°C, respectively, which were surpassed in 2024. Compared to the average for 1990-2010, these values represented an increase of 1.7°C in Manaus and 0.9°C in Monte Alegre in 2023, and an increase of 1.8°C in both Manaus and Monte Alegre in 2024."

Extreme droughts in the region have become more frequent. Previously, they occurred once every 20 years, but this century the recurrence interval was shortened to 5 years. An extreme drought event is a natural phenomenon associated with rising ocean surface temperatures in the North Tropical Atlantic and the Equatorial Pacific, but it has intensified and become more frequent due to human-induced global warming, the researchers comment. The consequence is a drastic reduction in the water levels of many important rivers in the region. The study explains that global warming above 2°C could further intensify the warming of surface waters in both oceans and, consequently, increase the occurrence of droughts in the Amazon.

Floating houses based on the bottom of Lake Aleixo, near Manaus, during the drought of 2023

A synergistic combination of deforestation between 20% and 25%, and global warming of 2°C to 2.5°C could push more than half of the region into a state of irreversible degradation, according to the authors. The interaction between deforestation, forest degradation, fires, and global warming is associated with five potential tipping points: 1) a 2°C increase in average global temperature compared to pre-industrial levels; 2) local annual precipitation below 1,000 mm; 3) accumulated water deficit greater than -400 mm; 4) a dry season lasting more than six months; and 5) a cumulative forest cover loss of 20%. "Some telling evidence of these processes include prolonged dry season, increased atmospheric vapor pressure deficit, and increased tree mortality rates."

The article warns that exceeding the point of no return will jeopardize greenhouse gas emissions control, alter rainfall patterns, and reduce agricultural and forestry productivity (both within and outside the Amazon). Other consequences will include the worsening of social inequalities, and losses in biological and cultural diversity, fueling a cycle of environmental degradation and social injustice.

Given these risks, the researchers emphasize that large-scale forest restoration, the implementation of sustainable infrastructure, regenerative livestock and agriculture practices, and bioindustrialization are essential nature-based solutions to keep the Amazon from environmental and social collapse in addition to curbing destruction. They add that the inclusion of Indigenous peoples and other communities of the region in the discussions is crucial to promoting social justice, sharing benefits, and reducing inequalities.

Other articles

The dossier includes five additional articles analyzing the consequences of climate change for Brazil in various areas and presenting proposals for minimizing and/or adapting to them. Some of the authors are pathologist Paulo Saldiva, a full professor at USP's School of Medicine and former director of the IEA; soil specialist Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri, a professor at the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ/USP) and a researcher at the Center for Carbon Research in Tropical Agriculture (CCARBON/USP); and economic and social development specialist Marcel Burztyn, a full professor at the Center for Sustainable Development at the University of Brasília (UnB).

"Municipal Health Systems and Climate Change: Infrastructure and Resilience Challenges in Brazil," which addresses the harmful effects of climate change on human health, proposes a conceptual, operational, and budgetary transformation for building resilient systems in the country, emphasizing the integration between levels of care, the strengthening of regional governance, and the valuing of community social capital.

Crop and livestock farming is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, but it is also one of the most vulnerable activities to climate change. A paper dedicated to the sector's role in addressing climate change presents information on some agricultural management practices considered options for adaption and mitigation of effects.

Socio-environmental protection is also addressed in the dossier. Researchers from UnB have analyzed the evolution of social protection instruments and present a proposal for integrating public policies to combat poverty and sustainable development. In this proposal, the abundant sunlight in Brazil's semiarid region becomes a solution intstead of a problem due to its use in clean energy generation, resulting in an income for vulnerable communities.

Legal aspects related to greenhouse gases are the subject of two further articles. One of them addresses the monitoring of the integrity and safety of CO₂ storage facilities, while the other is a comparative study of the legislative landscape for this area in Brazil, the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, Canada, Australia, Japan, and the European Union. A third paper focuses on the creation of a regulated carbon market in Brazil. After analyzing international and national experiences, and legislative initiatives such as bills and the establishment of the Brazilian Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System by Law 15.042/24, the authors conclude that fundamental issues remain to be resolved, including those related to the agricultural sector.

The dossier ends with a review of "The Empire of Climate: A History of an Idea," a book by David Livingstone published in 2024 by Princeton University Press. Nilson Cortez Crocia de Barros, a tenured professor at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), comments that given the evidence of the severe effects of climate change, "Livingstone recovers the broad spectrum of considerations regarding the influence of climate on the human species. This spectrum is mapped along four paths: the medical path, the path of soul-searching, the economic path, and, finally, the military path."

Related themes

An interview with filmmaker Cacá Diegues (1940-2025) in 2021 is one of the highlights of issue #114

In addition to the opening dossier, issue #114 contains a second set of texts entitled "Society and the Environment." Although it covers a variety of topics, the section is equally connected to those to be discussed at COP30, according to the journal's editor, Sérgio Adorno. The themes range from natural resources (forests, water, and natural gas) to land issues. The proposal for citizen science and the concept of urban commons are also addressed.

The third section of the issue is dedicated to arts and culture. The operetta "Abel, Helena," by Artur Azevedo, the religious influence on artistic production, and the promotion of culture and the arts in Brazil are some of the covered subjects. There is also an interview with filmmaker Cacá Diegues, who died last February at the age of 84. Conducted in 2021 by Noel dos Santos Carvalho, a professor of Brazilian Cinema at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), it focuses on public policy, the film market, and attempts to institutionalize film production in the country.

The list below contains the names of the authors who have contributed with each one of the addressed themes:

COP30 Challenges

Expectations for COP30 in Belém - José Goldemberg
COP30 and the Worsening Climate Crisis – Pathways to Build a Sustainable Society - Paulo Artaxo
Amazon at Risk and COP30 as a Critical Opportunity to Avoid the Point of No Return - Carlos Afonso Nobre et al.
Municipal Health Systems and Climate Change: Infrastructure and Resilience Challenges in Brazil - Flavio Pinheiro Martins et al.
Crop and Livestock Farming as Part of the Solution to Tackle Global Climate Change - Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri et al.
From Social to Socio-Environmental Protection in Times of Climate Change: A Retrospective and a Proposal - Marcel Bursztyn et al.
Legal Comparative Analysis of CO₂ Storage Monitoring in Selected Countries - Thaiz da Silva Vescovi Chedid et al.
The Regulated Carbon Market in Brazil - Adriana Carvalho Pinto Vieira et al.
The Climate Change Apocalypse and the Echoes of the Classical Geographic Mindset - Nilson Cortez Crocia de Barros

Society and the Environment

Ecological-Economic Zoning: Overview and Interface with Planning and Public Policies - Marcia Renata Itani et al.
The Challenge of the Water/City Dyad in the Management of Urban Aquifers - Filipe da Silva Peixoto and Itabaraci Nazareno Cavalcante
A Genealogy of Urban Common Good - Ana Rosa Chagas Cavalcanti and Leandro Silva Medrano
Private Management of Public Forests in Brazil: Analysis of Concession Contracts - Victor Pegoraro et al.
The Brazilian Academic Milieu and the Application of Citizen Science to Ecological Research - Eduardo Roberto Alexandrino et al.
Santa Catarina’s Natural Gas Adhesion to Ascher’s Neo-Urbanism - Leonardo Mosimann Estrella et al.
From Royal Land Grants to Latifundia: Reconstituting the Chain of Ownership in a Rural Settlement in Goiás - Graciella Corcioli et al.
Land Ownership Regularization in the Context of Agrarian Reform: The Case of the Santa Monica Rural Settlement in Terenos, MS - Luciane Cleonice Durante et al.
Unfinished Discussions: Disaster and Complex Systems - Leandro Roberto Neves

Arts and Culture

Artur Azevedo and the Operetta: "Abel, Helena" - João Roberto Faria
Film Production, Cinema Novo, and Brazilian Modernity – Interview with Filmmaker Cacá Diegues - Noel dos Santos Carvalho
In the Colors of Creation: Living Religion and Regional Culture in Antônio Poteiro - José Reinaldo F. Martins Filho
Towards a Policy of Encounters: Reflections on the Advancement of Culture and Arts in Brazil - Sharine Machado Cabral Melo

Photos (from the top): Science in HD/Unsplash; HD Mídia/WRI Brasil; Alberto César/Amazônia Real; and personal archive of Cacá Diegues

Deficiencies that highlight inequalities in the Metropolitan Region of Rio Janeiro are the subject of the opening dossier of Estudos Avançados #107. Its digital version is available on the Scientific Electronic Library Online (Portuguese only). Entitled "Urban Infrastructure," the five studies in the set discuss both the very concept of "infrastructural turn" in urban studies in the last two decades and aspects related to the precariousness of access to water, waste management, distribution of the electricity network, and the social life connected with a cycle path. The authors are from the areas of sociology, anthropology, and urbanism.

According to the journal's editor, Sérgio Adorno, the dossier explores the new dimensions of social inequalities, "as well as highlights the strangulation of urban policies implemented by different government administrations."

The article by Mariana Cavalcanti and Marcella Araújo, both from the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), discusses the "structural turn" from the theories and temporalities of the urbanization of Brazilian cities. The objective, they say, is to bring a "panoramic view of theoretical discussions produced in Brazil, based on ethnographic research that has been the subject of everyday production in cities for fifty years" to the international debate.

The importance of water in the daily life of women living in favelas (local slums) and occupations in Rio de Janeiro is analyzed in the study by Camila Pierobon, from the Brazilian Center of Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP), and Camila Fernandes, from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Through small domestic events, dialogues with residents of those places, or more extensive ethnographic descriptions, the researchers show how "water carries the strength of what is ordinary and is one of the objects that allow us to see the power and vulnerability that daily life carries in terms of gender, class, and race."

Based on the infrastructural changes in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, urbanist Francesca Piló, from Utrecht University, examines how the configuration of electricity networks collaborates in formatting the urban fabric of the city in its material and technological forms, symbolic discourse, and everyday practices. The article identifies three ways in which this contribution occurs: 1) reordering of urban space, 2) urban fragmentation, and 3) daily practices of handling meters and direct connection to the network (gatos).

The work of sociologist Maria Raquel Passos Lima, from UERJ, adopts the spaces of waste dumps and landfills, usually made invisible and stigmatized, as a privileged focus of analysis to think about the production of the city. She introduces the concept of "residual infrastructure" as a strategy for this examination. Based on the case of the closure of the waste landfill at Jardim Gramacho, in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro, she addresses "a process of infrastructural change or dismantling of an infrastructure." The ethnographic part corresponds to the fieldwork carried out during her doctoral research, when she accompanied the activities of recyclable waste pickers for 14 months.

Collapse of part of the Tim Maia Cycleway, in the southern zone of Rio de Janeiro, in April 2016

The effects of the implantation of the Tim Maia Cycleway on social life is the subject of the article by anthropologist Julia O'Donnell. She recalls that the equipment was hailed at its inauguration, in 2016, for offering new frameworks for the oceanfront landscape in addition to new alternatives for urban mobility, a combination that made it a "central element of a broader city project, which had the harmonization between man and nature as one of its main axes." By following the process of idealization, construction, and inauguration of the equipment and its successive collapses, the work intends to discuss how this peculiar case allows reflection on important aspects of urban infrastructure from anthropology.

The nine articles in the second section of the issue, "Presences," brings articles on various topics related to history, education, culture, and the history of science. In the first one, Milena Fernandes de Oliveira analyzes the way in which the relationship between economy and history has been presented in the work of Gilberto Freyre, particularly in "The Masters and the Slaves" (Casa-Grande & Senzala) and "The Mansions and the Shanties" (Sobrados e Mucambos).

In his article, Victor Santos Vigneron de la Jousselandière seeks to identify the tensions that cross the work of critic Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes in a period marked by the emergence of a new cinematographic production and by discussions around the economic development of the country. The reference is the conference Cinema Brasileiro e Realidade Social, written by the critic in the early 1960s. The relationship between cinema and literature present in the film La Flor (2018), by Argentine filmmaker Mariano Llinás, is explored in the article by Rogério de Almeida and Cesar Zamberlan, which aims to understand the interpretative perspectives that emerge from the film and the way in which they relate to the literary and cinematographic resources used by Llinás.

Literary critic Antonio Candido (1918-2017), whose work is analyzed from the point of view of its importance for education

The works of literary critic Antonio Candido and Peruvian Marxist thinker José Carlos Mariátegui are the subjects of articles by Márcia Machado and Deni Alfaro Rubbo, respectively. For Machado, it is not an exaggeration to say that Candido has provided important contributions, subsidies, and theoretical tools to rethink the way in which the training process has been conceived, and education and university have been historically constructed in Brazil. Rubbo's work makes a critical evaluation of the book "In the Red Corner: The Marxism of José Carlos Mariátegui," by historian Mike Gonzales, to observe the scope and gaps of the work from the comparison with other works.

Three articles address specific literary works. Edinael Sanches Rocha undertakes a stylistic analysis of Meu Tio o Iauaretê, by João Guimarães Rosa, and seeks to identify data in the culture of native peoples that could establish links of meaning with the tale. Based on Winnicottian psychoanalysis, the study by Luan Felipe de Souza Junqueira and Fabio Scorsolini-Comin reflects on the psychic illness process of the character Laura in the short story A Imitação da Rosa, by Clarice Lispector. The relationship between the characters Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, and Dulcineia is the subject of the article by Maria Augusta da Costa Vieira, whose objective is to understand the reasons that lead the reader to "admir and intensely respect a character who, in essence, is a complete madman."

The section ends with a study by Heráclio Tavares on the non-verbal dimension of scientific practice. He examines ideas from different authors, and drafts of articles and entries by physicist César Lattes in his laboratory notebooks. Lattes has been one of the main people responsible for the experimental observation of the decay of the pi meson. Tavares explains that part of this process took place through the development of the visual scientist's ability to perceive the shapes of the traces left by the particles in the detectors.

The editor of the journal highlights the opportunity of the article by physicist and environmentalist José Goldemberg about the 30 years of the Climate Convention, which opens the "Current affairs" section. The other studies in the section are about the enunciative-discursive differences in street demonstrations in Brazil in 1983-84 and 2013, the challenge of environmental and social integration of primitive and contemporary humanity, the historical contextualization of the relationships between consumption, capitalism, and human passions that have shaped contemporary consumer culture, and the discourses present in articles about tattoos published in Brazilian journals between 1990 and 2020.

''Crooked Plow: A Novel'' (Torto Arado), one of the books reviewed in issue #107

The issue closes with six book reviews, including "Crooked Plow: A Novel" (Torto Arado), by Itamar Vieira Junior, reviewed by Winifred Knox and Miridan Britto Falci. The other texts address books about the interest of Americans of African descent in knowing the strong connections of the Brazilian state of Bahia with Africa, the history of literary and cultural relations between Brazil and France, the characteristics of the Soviet revolutionary process until Stalinism, the typology of bildungsromane, and the development of artificial intelligence in China.

The list below contains the names of the authors who have contributed with each one of the addressed themes:

Urban infrastructures

Autoconstruction and City Production: Another Genealogy of Urban Infrastructure Studies - Mariana Cavalcanti and Marcella Araujo
Caring for Others, Taking Care of Water: Gender and Race in the Production of the City - Camila Pierobon and Camila Fernandes
From "Cycle-view" to "the Bike Path to Death": The Social Life of Urban Infrastructure - Julia O’Donnell
Residual Infrastructures: Colonialisms in Waste Management and Catador Politics - Maria Raquel Passos Lima
The Techno-political Fabric of Rio de Janeiro: Insights from Electricity Infrastructure - Francesca Pilo’

Presences

On the Economic Interpretation of History in Gilberto Freyre (1933-1956) - Milena Fernandes de Oliveira
"Brazilian Cinema and Social Reality," by Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes - Victor Santos Vigneron de la Jousselandière
La Flor, by Mariano Llinás: Cinema Re-encounters Literature - Rogério de Almeida and Cesar Zamberlan
Literature, Instruction, and Education in the Work of Antonio Candido: The Humanization of Man - Márcia Machado
Iauaretê, Further Beyond: New Relations between the Culture of Original Peoples and "My Uncle, the Iauaretê," by João Guimarães Rosa - Edinael Sanches Rocha
The Ineffable Luminosity of Madness in "The Imitation of the Rose" - Luan Felipe de Souza Junqueira and Fabio Scorsolini-Comin
Don Quixote, Sancho Panza. and Dulcinea - Maria Augusta da Costa Vieira
Mariátegui in Debate: Marxist Ghosts and Critical Horizons - Deni Alfaro Rubbo
Non-verbal Knowledge in the History of Science: The Prowess of César Lattes - Heráclio Tavares

Current affairs

Thirty Years of the Convention on Climate Change - José Goldemberg
Postmodern Tension in Street Demonstrations in Brazil: Dialogical Notes on Political Signature - Anderson Salvaterra Magalhães
An Integrative Conception of Humanity - Julio Aurelio Vianna Lopes
Ethical Dilemmas in Consumer Culture: Anthropocene, Psychoanalysis, and Capitalism as the Operational Mode of Passions - Isleide Arruda Fontenelle
Tattooing: a Rhizomatic Map of a Research Theme - Valéria Cazetta

Reviews

Bahia as an African Destination - Nathalia Silva
Crooked Plow and the Deep Brazil - Winifred Knox and Miridan Britto Falci
French-Brazilian Literary and Cultural Space - Marise Hansen
From Lenin to Stalin: Continuances and Ruptures - Lincoln Secco
Bildungsroman: The Multiple Variations of a Genre - Klaus Eggensperger
Artificial Intelligence in the East-West Divide - Isadora Maria Roseiro Ruiz and Cristina Godoy Bernardo de Oliveira

Photos: Fernando Frasão/Agência Brasil; Mauro Bellesa/IEA-USP