Cláudio César de Almeida Buschinelli

An Environmental Impact Assessment System for Agricultural Research and Development II: Institutional Learning Experience at Embrapa

“An environmental impact assessment system for agricultural R&D” has been implemented by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Agency (Embrapa) aiming at fulfilling the institutional mission statement of ‘introducing sustainable development objectives in all steps of agricultural research’. The impact assessment platform emphasizes close interaction between R&D teams and technology-adopting producers, under actual field contexts, in order to improve both the technology development and the demand probing processes. The proposed integrated environmental indicators system (AmbitecAgro) has been routinely applied in technology appraisals by all of Embrapa’s Research Units, as one of the criteria of its institutional evaluation system, and toward the formulation of the Social Balance Reports, annually published since 1997. The present paper describes the social and environmental dimensions of this integrated impact assessment platform, its roles in the institutional learning process for technology research management, and an impact analysis of proposed agricultural innovations.

Integrated farm environmental management and biodiversity conservation: a case study in the caratinga biological station (Minas Gerais State, Brazil)

The Caratinga Biological Station (CBS) is an important preserve of the Brazilian Atlantic Rain Forest, defined as a national priority for the conservation of this highly fragmented biome and shelter to the largest existing population of the northern muriqui, the critically threatened largest monkey species of the Americas. Extensive research on the demography of this population has indicated favorable conditions for growth, pointing out the importance of promoting expansion of the locally available habitat. In the present study, rural establishments neighboring the CBS were involved in a participatory program for wildlife corridor restoration, by means of the application of a ‘System for Weighted Environmental Impact Assessment of Rural Activities’ (APOIA-NovoRural), which consists of 62 indicators integrated in five sustainability dimensions: i) Landscape ecology; ii) Environmental quality; iii) Socio-cultural values; iv) Economic values; and v) Management and administration. Results regarding the Landscape ecology indicators (those most related with fauna protection) attested to the adequate performance of productive activities in the studied establishments, while pointed out the need for improvements in natural habitats conservation. The Environmental Management Reports issued to the farmers included mapped recommendations for forest restoration and wildlife corridors implementation, favoring the connection of the main preserved area of CBS with the second largest forest fragment in the region. KEY-WORDS: Environmental Impact Assessment; rural development; wildlife corridors; APOIA-NovoRural.

EVOLUÇÃO E CONCENTRAÇÃO DA PRODUÇÃO DE LENHA E CARVÃO VEGETAL DA SILVICULTURA NO BRASIL

The use of firewood and charcoal produced from forest plantations has presented growth trends in the Brazilian energy matrix. These renewable energy sources have been the focus of studies and public policies aimed at restructuring of production chains for the supply of demand. The aim of this study was to analyze market dynamics of firewood and charcoal of forestry in Brazil, considering the evolution of production and prices, the concentration of production and its geographical location in the municipalities and in Brazilian states. It was used as a base data, production and value of the production hall, obtained by the Brazilian Institute of geography and Statistics (IBGE) and the Extraction Vegetal and Forestry Research (PEVS), considering the period between 2001 and 2011. The growth rate of production, Lorenz Curve, Gini index and the spatial distribution maps of production of firewood and charcoal in Brazil were the analysis tools used. The main results show a concentration of the production of firewood in the three states of southern Brazil and charcoal in Minas Gerais state. The rise in prices indicates that the demand is not being sufficiently supplied, especially in the states where the production is still incipient.

CADEIA PRODUTIVA DE ENERGIA DE BIOMASSA FLORESTAL: O CASO DA LENHA DE EUCALIPTO NO POLO PRODUTIVO DE ITAPEVA - SP

The biomass from forests is an important source of energy, in the Brazilian energy matrix, being the eucalyptus the main species to the supplying of firewood demand. Therefore, diagnosing the critical factors that limited the competitive performance of the production of the eucalyptus wood chain was the goal of this work. The study area was the productive pole of Itapeva/SP state and the field survey was conducted in the second half of 2013, using the analysis of supply chains as a conceptual theoretical framework. As a tool for data collection, we used a semi-structured questionnaire, a script for interviews and conducting panels, involving issues related to the production chain of the eucalyptus wood, covering 23 different agents involved in it. The analyzed chain showed to be structured, even facing a production setback, due to a macroeconomic environment that resulted in a drop in the demand for forest products. These products face significant important local barriers, which need to be defeated to increase the chain performance.