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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 10:11 pm
Time: 10:11 pm
Results for offenses against the environment (brazil)
1 results foundAuthor: Lopez, Alexander Title: Environmental Change, Social Conflicts and Security in the Brazilian Amazon: Exploring the Links Summary: Since the discovery of the American continent the Amazon has attracted international attention. The enormous area covered by the basin as well as the limited knowledge about its dynamics have produced through centuries a combination of myths and reality in the exploration of the basin. The stories of El Dorado and the Country of Cinnamon are starting points in the conceptualisation of the Amazon as an enormous space containing unknown richness and, therefore the origin of the international interest over this region. Nevertheless the international interest has always been present in the Amazon; it is until the 1980 when a systematic and organised international outcry began to take place. These new sets of international demands focus basically in the process of environmental change occurring in the area. Thus, attention is paid to the rate and extent of deforestation as well as to the national and international implication of such a process. The interesting aspect is that simultaneously to the process of environmental change a large number of social conflicts take place. As a result the Brazilian Amazon started to suffer abrupt changes, not only in its natural dimension, but also in its social one. Even though during the last three decades environmental change and social conflicts develop in an important magnitude, the academic debate outside Brazil has been centred in the process of environmental change. The social conflict dimension indeed has been marginalised in the analyses done up to now. Moreover, no serious academic attempt has been done in order to link in one given structure of analyses the two most important aspects of contemporary Amazon (environmental change and social conflicts). It is for the prior reason that the main objective of this dissertation is to overcome this gap by exploring the most important sources of social conflicts in the Brazilian Amazon, studying the particular contribution of environmental change to such a process. To carry out this objective I divide this dissertation in three parts containing nine chapters. Part A includes chapters I, II, and III. The main aim of this part is to provide with the necessary information of what is this dissertation about, as well as to point out what are the most important academic feeders for this study. Consequently, chapter I it is presented as the introduction in which I explain why this study is being carried out. In addition, it presents the research problem, the research questions, the main propositions, the research area, and the process of data collection. Chapter II discusses what I call the academic feeders of this dissertation. This is the most important work done in relating environmental matters to security and violent conflict. In particular it evaluates the contributions and limitations of what is called here the environmental security approach and the environmental conflict approach. This serves as background for the discussion presented in chapter III where I will present most of the research design adopted in this dissertation. Thus, chapter III shows my own theoretical methodological proposal for undertaking this research. Using a systemic perspective I specify a set of four independent variables with possible incidence in the value of the dependent variable (social conflicts). Thus, I place environmental change, land and income distribution, allocation of resources, and population growth as independent variables. However, the term independent does not mean that there is not relation between them, on the contrary it is by understanding the links among them that one can get a better knowledge of the situation in the Brazilian Amazon. Part B encompasses chapter IV and V. Chapter IV provides an overview of the most influential historical elements in terms of the research problem. This chapter will explain why facts as the Pombal period, the rubber boom economy and specially the developmentalism idea are important elements for understanding the current situation in the Brazilian Amazon. Chapter V applies the macro perspective to the Brazilian Amazon. It exhibits an analysis of the current system dynamics. The evaluation of such dynamics is done in two levels. First, I present the system-suprasystem interactions (Brazilian Amazoninternational community). The links are understood and related to the arguments presented in the environmental security approach (chapter II). The second level focuses on the main internal attributes of the system. This is done in order to facilitate the understanding of the case studies and it is related to the environmental conflict approach. Finally part C encompasses the remaining chapters (VI to IX). This part presents a detailed evaluation of the main sources of social conflicts in Roraima and Pará and the possible contribution of environmental change to the conflict dynamic. At the same time I point out some of the main links between the subsystems (Roraima and Pará), and between them and the Brazilian Amazon (chapters VI and VII). In chapter VIII I use the comparative method in order to evaluate the cases of Roraima and Pará. In order to carry out this task I use partially Mill’s methods of difference. This is done basically in order to see the specific contribution of environmental change to the social conflicts taking place in the Brazilian Amazon. At the end this chapter provides the major findings obtained through the case studies. Finally chapter IX relates the empirical findings to the initial discussion on social conflicts and security. In addition, it provides a suggestion for future research based on what has been discussed throughout this study. Details: Oslo: University of Oslo, Department of Political Science, 2000. 229p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 1, 2011 at: http://www.sv.uio.no/isv/ Year: 2000 Country: Brazil URL: http://www.sv.uio.no/isv/ Shelf Number: 122580 Keywords: Natural ResourcesOffenses Against the Environment (Brazil) |