Gabriela Litre

From Rainforests to Drylands: Comparing Family Farmers’ Perceptions of Climate Change in Three Brazilian Biomes

Risk perceptions influence individual and collective adaptive responses to climate hazards. Up to now, the majority of literature addressing climate change perception and adaptation has been location-specific. Such an approach is limited with respect to the construction of a generalized theory around why and how people perceive and act towards climate change risks. This chapter seeks to contribute to overcome this limitation by offering a cross-sectional study of climate change risks perceptions among smallholder farmers settled in three contrasting biomes in Brazil: the Amazon (rainforest); the Caatinga (semi-arid); and the Cerrado (savanna). By articulating regional, local and micro scales of comparison, common traits in the perception of climate variability are identified. It is not intended, at this stage, to validate particular theories of climate change, but rather to contribute to a better understanding of climate change as a trans-regional and socially embedded environmental phenomenon. This study shows that, in spite of existing perceptive barriers, smallholders settled in dramatically different contexts share perceptions about risks linked to the following phenomena: (i) changes in the timing of seasons, (ii) decrease in rainfall levels; (iii) temperature rises. Moreover, there are specific adaptation strategies to climate change, like the timing of seeding, which appear to be addressed independently by smallholders of the three biomes. Public policies intended to support adaptive measures and the increase of food security must take subjective risk perception into account within the cultural and environmental contexts of the actors involved.

CLIMATIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC RISKS PERCEPTIONS AND ADAPTATION STRATEGIES AMONG LIVESTOCK FAMILY FARMERS IN THE PAMPA BIOME

En el contexto de la crisis de la modernidad industrial, la capacidad adaptativa a los nuevos riesgos climaticos e socioeconomicos solamente se hace posible por medio de la percepcion y de la comprension de esos riesgos. Por medio de entrevistas con ganaderos de carne bovina de corte como principal fuente de ingresos, este trabajo describe las percepciones de ganaderos familiares del bioma Pampa de Argentina, Brasil y Uruguay sobre los riesgos climaticos e socioeconomicos que enfrentan. La investigacion confirmo que no existe un ganadero clarividente y que sea capaz de realizar previsiones totalmente correctas sobre los escenarios climaticos futuros, que suceden a largo plazo. Las familias ganaderas entrevistadas perciben con mayor facilidad los riesgos familiares, economicos e institucionales que amenazan la sustentabilidad de su actividad y de su modo de vida manera mas directa, en el corto plazo, e actuan para enfrentarlos. Este trabajo confirma que el pasaje de situaciones de riesgo a la efectiva percepcion de esos riesgos esta condicionada por barreras sociales y cognitivas, lo que dificulta las formas de adaptarse y administrar los conflictos inherentes a los cambios globales en las sociedades contemporaneas.

Mulheres e Sustentabilidade: Ana Toni, Mara Régia, Marina Grossi, Thais Corral e Sandra Di Croce

No inicio de 2012, em um painel de alto nivel da ONU sobre “Sustentabilidade Global”, os 22 lideres mundiais que redigiram o relatorio Pessoas Resilientes, Planeta Resiliente: o caminho que vale a pena seguir - debatido tambem na Rio + 20 - argumentaram que as mulheres sao fundamentais para o desenvolvimento sustentavel. Mas, alertaram que, para valorizar esse papel, a igualdade de genero e o empoderamento das mulheres devem alcancar uma dimensao mais significativa no âmbito economico. “A persistente desigualdade de genero tem que ser abordada como parte de qualquer virada seria em direcao ao desenvolvimento sustentavel”, afirmou o painel. Infelizmente, fora das recomendacoes de orgaos como a ONU, a realidade ainda esta longe de ser a ideal. No mundo atual, mulheres de todas as idades, culturas e condicoes sociais enfrentam os maiores desafios socioeconomicos e culturais.