Producing critical reviews, for me, is always a very enjoyable challenge. It is not just about the reading, the reflection on the topic read and the transformation of those reflections into knowledge applicable to particular studies objects. Unlike texts produced on our own case studies, the practice of producing a review relates to the responsibility of building a door that will invite the readers to step into the reviewed book. The review, in this context, becomes a potential invitation to build relationships without any other textual intermediations between the reader and the work reviewed; exceeding, thus, the review itself. What I can say categorically is that the production movement of this review was really joyful, and that the reader will find in the book presented here, skilled texts in the institutional analysis of issues related to complex social arenas linked to environmental issues in Brazil.
The book Environmental Governance in Brazil - between socioenvironmentalism and the green economy, organized by researchers Fábio de Castro and Celia Futemma, was published in 2015 by Paco. The motivations for the creation of the book, however, are settled in a context prior to the year of publication: particularly in processes of construction of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also named as Rio+20, held in 2012 between the 13th and 22nd of June in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. Generally speaking, we can say that the goal of Rio+20 was to discuss the renewal of political commitments to sustainable development and thus it was in open dialogue with the previous conferences.
Various segments of society participated in the event - in different ways. Among these involvements, we can mention representatives of the scientific community whose research topics were directly linked to the socio-environmental theme. Among them, it is worth noting the presence of students and researchers of the Center for Environmental Studies and Research (Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas Ambientais/NEPAM)i i OFICIAL Page. Available on http://www.nepam.unicamp.br/nepam/ Accessed: 23.06.2015. , of the State University of Campinas. This distinction is made because the production of this book originated precisely in a collective project of these members or research partners of NEPAM to produce a political evaluation of Rio+20. In the work, we have a total of twenty-three authors; in common, they all have in their intellectual trajectories the experience of graduating, working or engaging in this research center. They are teachers, students and research associates who share a space marked by nearly three decades of dedication to interdisciplinary studies of the environment and society. Many of these researchers have moderated debates and proposals in previous conferences, such as the ECO-92. Thus, the work presented here is the result of a carefully planned and developed project built over three years that share intellectual analysis on the subject of environmental governance in Brazil, produced by a group that is a reference in the subject, both at the national and international sphere.
It is undeniable that the work is presented from the theoretical perspectives that are very particular of this group of researchers who are linked to NEPAM. Thus, in the book, the analysis that pair the reflection about the roles of certain institutions dedicated to making public policies related to the themes of Environment and Society (concepts that are presented as inseparable) are latent. Despite being produced within a group of academics from a very delimited place, it is not a book that brings texts together lightly (or chosen only fromamicitia relations). All the narratives selected to compose the work went through the analysis of of anonymous reviewers handpicked by the organizers. These reviewers were chosen according to their expertise and gave critical consistency of what could be seen as just a collection of texts. In addition to the peer review, the organizers had a very active role in the construction of intertextual dialogue and the review of chapters. Thus, the book was built within an academic space and at the same time, assembled to express the harmony of that space.
Fábio de Castro, professor at the Center for Latin American Studies and Documentation (CEDLA - Netherlands)ii ii OFICIAL Page. Available on http://www.cedla.uva.nl/10_about/institute.html Accessed: 06/23/2015 , and Celia Futemma, professor and researcher at the NEPAM, the project organizers, have a longstanding intellectual partnership, acting in the debates regarding the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest. The experiences of these researchers with institutional analyzes and communities have enabled them to engineer an exquisite orchestration of the twenty-three authors to produce the book under review here.
The challenge presented to the authors was to think the environmental governance - "that deal with the understanding of how different segments of society interact to negotiate their multiple (and often conflicting) interests in the decision-making about the access, use and management of natural resources (...) "(p.8) - in the time between two important international events dedicated to the deliberation of social and environmental matters: Rio 92 and Rio+20. The proposal was indeed challenging because it represented elaborating an evaluation on ruptures, continuities, gains and losses on such a delicate context as the environment and the society in transition from the twentieth to the twenty-first century. Provocatively, the authors touch on political and cultural wounds to think what we have achieved in the past twenty years and what we are lacking for a more just society. Brazil, then, with all its contradictions - a country with an emerging economy, holding a large share of the world's natural resources and environmental services, with a solid and innovative environmental policy, but that has suffered setbacks in recent years (p .12 / 13) - is the setting and the object of analysis of these twenty-three researchers.
Searching of questions and answers about the environmental dilemmas we face and recognizing the dynamism that is proper of the governance, the book was divided into five debate axes. The first two are devoted to the reflection on the responsibilities and actions of traditional actors such as the State, the academic community, the media and civil society. The third axis is mobilized by issues related to public policies, in a broad sense of the term. The fourth axis is structured to address the themes related to the environmental policies of the Conservation Units (UCs) and to energy issues. And finally, the fifth and final axis - that turned up assuming the constitution of a conclusion - carries a very authorial and biographical tone, because it is composed of reflections and considerations by Fábio Abdala de Andrade (consultant on sustainability management), John Paul Capobianco (biologist and socio-environmentalist), Leila da Costa Ferreira (professor at Unicamp - Social Science and Environmental Sociology researcher) and Roberto Guimarães (professor at the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration of the Getulio Vargas Foundation) on the two conferences that took place in the time frame of the book. Interviewees were chosen for their involvement in both events and their work on the socio-environmental theme. Maria Teresa Manfredo and Lúcia da Costa Ferreira organized the narratives. Despite the division in five axes, it is undeniable that we have a set of analyzes about the oficialities in the areas of governance.
The book's introduction, written by the project organizers, not only presents its structure, but also brings a rather detailed overview of the Brazilian governance context in the last twenty years. Political gains and losses in the socio-environmental field are named and highlighted, independent of partisan political issues. In this sense, we can affirm that the editors set the tone of the chapters that follow: with in-depth reflections, the authors build analysis without responding to or defending the handcuffs of political proposals polarizations that we have been experiencing in recent years. But, may the reader not read that this represents a neutral political position of the book. From the introduction to the last chapter we find a certain regret about the political position of the Brazilian nation regarding the Environment. The words conservatism, throwback, deceptive marketing, among others in the same tone, seem frequent in the researchers' lexicon when reflecting about Brazil's position at Rio+20.
The five themes are organized as it follows:
The first thematic group - "Section 1: Climate Governance and the State" - has two chapters: 1. "Brazil in Rio+20: What was the country's role in the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development" (by Joana Carlos Bezerra) and 2. "Climate Change in Rio+20: a reflection on the 20 years of climate negotiations in Brazil" (by Fabiana Barbi, Gustavo Barbosa Mozzer, Rafael D'Almeida Martins and Leila da Costa Ferreira). The first chapter deepens the differences between the global and national political contexts of the two Conferences that constitute the time delineation of the book. In the second chapter, the authors analyze the tortuous trajectory of climate negotiations in Brazil.
Integrating the second axis of discussion - "Section 2 - Science and Media" - there are chapters: 3. "The proposition of a new contract between science and society: an analysis of the Science, Technology and Innovation Forum for sustainable development" (by Gabriela Marques Di Giulio, José Eduardo Viglio, Ramon Felipe Bicudo da Silva and Francisco Araos) and 4. "Media and Communication of the Environment at the Rio+20" (by Rubia Pereira Gaissler, Thales Novaes de Andrade and Juliane Acquaro). In the first chapter of this axis, the role of science in the debate on climate change and the constitution of risk communication are debated, whereas in the second chapter, the authors focus on the comprehension of the media's role in shaping the perception of climate issues.
The constitution of the third axis - "Civil Society and Participation" - is set by chapters: 5. "Governance of the Oceans at Rio+20: the debate on Marine Protected Areas in the Perspective of Shared Management" (by: Rodrigo Rodrigues de Freitas, Leopoldo Cavaleri Gerhardinger, Paula Chammy Pereira da Costa and Cristiana Simão Seixas) and 6. "Traditional populations, the land issue and biodiversity conservation: strategies and conflicts in Rio+20 times" (by: Jorge Calvimontes and Lúcia da Costa Ferreira). In the first case, the complex process of marine protected areas implementation is debated, particularly highlighting the inconsistencies generated by the imposition of managements and designs for these areas by certain actors on local communities. From the sea, to the land, in this axis' second chapter, the process of institutionalization of the ethnic territories in Brazil is approached. The chapter looks deeply into the long history of setting up of these areas and the bottlenecks and insecurities still faced by traditional peoples.
Featuring the fourth axis of debate - "Conservation and Energy" - there are chapters: 7. "Environmental Policy for Conservation Units in the State of São Paulo" (by: Ana Claudia Rocha Braga, Celia Futemma and Fábio de Castro) and 8. "Brazil and the energy issue in the debate on global environmental changes" (by: Marilia D'Ottaviano Giesbrecht, Gabriela Marques Di Giulio and Leila da Costa Ferreira). The first chapter of this set looks at socio-environmental movements and the changes in environmental policy both nationally and in the state of São Paulo that designed the Conservation Units. The tracing of the institutional historical analysis that characterizes the text is also present in the second chapter of this section; focused on the strategic issue of energy policy.
Ending the book, there are the reflections of the already mentioned researchers over Rio 92 and Rio+20, and the challenges we face in our present. The book's conclusions contribute, in a delicate sense, to the alignment of some lessons (yes, the book assures there are lessons to be learned from these historic experiences!) that are exposed by the group of authors. Three stand out: 1 "Environmental governance (...) refers both to a matter of nature conservation as to that of social justice and economic development" (p.20); 2. "the participation of different sectors of society (...) is central in environmental governance" (p.20); and, 3. "environmental governance is a dynamic process directly influenced by local, national and global factors, and therefore must be analyzed within a multiscale perspective" (p.20).
In a Ciceronian perspective of history, the book consolidates as a piece that comes from quite clear ethical and theoretical premises: decision making should involve dialogue, should be negotiated and open to the very dynamisms of life. I believe that the very production of the book is quite symptomatic of it; the result of a very long term project, thorough peer-review, observations and suggestions made by the organizers to their authors, the chapters bring few contradictions among themselves, and are tuned up over the criticism to the political-institutional losses that Brazil has suffered in the environmental field. Accordingly, they present the results of a group's dialogue. It is a consensus in this dialogue, that the structuring of Rio 92 as a space of hope and action in Brazil, and, at the other end, of Rio+20 as a symbol of the frustration of the various social sectors, in particular the academics. Between socio-environmentalism and the green economy, the book's subtitle, the chapters point out to the construction of a Frankenstein doomed to death: the return of environmental policies that are conservative and defender of a market economy (absolutely unfair) camouflaged in green or sustainable.
Overtly political but not affiliated to any party, the book The Environmental Governance in Brazil is sure to become a reference in undergraduate and graduate programs that dialogue with the theme. Produced in a very specific institutional context - and it can be said that in a certain disappointment context - the book will surely inspire more questions and more efficient responses - and that can go well beyond institutions - to our risk society and our fake green marketing.
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i
OFICIAL Page. Available on http://www.nepam.unicamp.br/nepam/ Accessed: 23.06.2015.
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ii
OFICIAL Page. Available on http://www.cedla.uva.nl/10_about/institute.html Accessed: 06/23/2015
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
July-Sep 2015
History
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Received
04 May 2013 -
Accepted
21 June 2015
