Ana Castro | CSRio

Preserved forest worth more than deforested land, study says

by Ana Castro 29/10/2018 0

One hectare of forest standing in the Amazon provides services worth R $ 3,500 per year. These are called environmental services: supply of water, regulation of climate, maintenance of soil fertility, prevention of erosion and pollination of crops. In addition to the impact on health, tourism and biodiversity itself, which were not priced. The same hectare deforested for livestock would give a profit of R $ 60 to R $ 100 per year. If used for soybeans, the value will be from $ 500 to $ 1,000 per year. The point is that environmental services benefit agribusiness in general and society as a whole, in a long-term perspective. Livestock and agriculture gains are immediate and go directly into the owner’s pocket, which increases the pressure for deforestation. Based on these data, in a recent interview for the newspaper O Globo, CSRio´s coordinator Bernardo Strassburg explains why standing forest is worth more than deforested land. “From a nacional perspective, it does not make any sense to deforest more than has been done until now. Deforestation is a bad business,” observes Bernardo

Bird Watching and Citizen Science

by Ana Castro 25/10/2018 0

Of the more than 10,000 species of birds in the world, about 1,900 live in Brazil. However, in spite of this enormous richness, bird watching in Brazil is quite recent when compared to other countries. The first bird watching clubs came in the 1980s. While in the US, for example, where there are about 858 species, the first bird-watching records date from 1901 and today there are over 70 million observers. In the last seminar of CSRio, the ornithologist biologist, Professor Henrique Rajãom spoke about the role of bird-watching in Citizen Science. According to him, birdwatchers contribute, for example, to conservation units in developing lists and records of new species; integration with the surrounding community; conservation incentive and long-term monitoring. Citizen Science is a “partnership between amateurs and scientists in collecting data on a large geographic scale and over a long period of time, documenting ecological patterns and population trends” (Bonney et al., 2009).

CSRio coordinator is keynote speaker at ESP LAC 2018

by Ana Castro 24/10/2018 0

The benefits that nature offers to humans (ecosystem services) are the link between biodiversity and human well-being and permeate, directly or indirectly, various United Nations Environmental Multilateral Agreements. This week, several leaders meet at the Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP) Latin America & Caribbean / LAC Regional Conference to discuss what Latin American and Caribbean countries are doing to meet these agreements from the perspective of Ecosystem Services. CSRIo coordinator, Bernardo Strassburg – as the keynote speaker on the 24th schedule – will explain how a strategic approach to restoration can help maximize benefits and reduce the costs of green restoration.

Biodiversity and climate change: integrated science for coherent policy

by Ana Castro 18/10/2018 0

CSRio´s coordinator Bernardo Strassburg, attended today the workshop “Biodiversity and climate change: integrated science for coherent policy”, organized by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The workshop objectives are to discuss recent assessments and policy-relevant science through a dialogue between the climate and biodiversity communities, including the two major assessment processes, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The main expected outputs from the workshop are the identification of key messages to inform the CBD and UNFCCC as well as strengthened collaboration between the climate and biodiversity communities. Experts in the fields of biodiversity and climate change mitigation and adaptation will identify key issues to be further explored. These results will be conveyed to ministers and political leaders for subsequent comments and feedback.

CSRio Seminar – 24/10

by Ana Castro 18/10/2018 0

On the next CSRio seminar, Prof. Dr. Henrique Rajão will present bird watching and citizen science. The event will take place on 24th of October, 5pm at RDC auditoriom, at PUC-Rio, in Rio de Janeiro. Rajão, as he is known, is an ornithologist biologist, an adjunct professor at PUC-RJ and a collaborating professor of the Biodiversity in Conservation Units Master’s degree, at the National School of Tropical Botany, at the Botanical Garden Research Institute of Rio de Janeiro. He is one of the authors of the book “Birds of the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro” and collaborator of the Project Fauna of the JBRJ. He is also part of the COA-RJ, Bird Watchers Club of Rio de Janeiro, created in 1985, with the objective of “bringing together people of all professions and ages, who have a common interest in birds and like to meet the challenges to look for them, to identify them and to observe them in nature. “ The event is free and open to the general public.

Searching for solutions for the conflict over Europe’s oldest forest

by Ana Castro 11/10/2018 0

Logging of Europe’s oldest forest, Białowieża Forest in Poland, has recently been suspended, likely driven by the European Court of Justice decision to impose fines of 100 000 euros per day, if clearing of the old stands continues. Although this is perceived as a victory of environmental activists over the Polish Forestry Sector, both sides claim to act in the best societal interest, backed up by the best science available. The near future of Białowieża Forest remains uncertain The dispute over Białowieża Forest is a typical conflict of interests represented by different stakeholders: environmentalists, scientists, local government, foresters and local business owners, and is related to value perception. We also highlight the financial aspect of the conflict and discuss how impacts on tourism may have far reaching consequences not only for the local population of Białowieża region, but also for the provision of worldwide-important ecosystem services such as unique biodiversity protection.

Ecosystem services availability after changes in the land use and vegetation coverage: the case of Paraíba do Sul river valley

by Ana Castro 03/10/2018 0

Agnieszka Latawiec and Aline Rodrigues are the authors of the chapter “Ecosystem services availability after changes in the land use and vegetation coverage: the case of Paraíba do Sul river valley”, from the book Geography of coffee in the Paraíba do Sul River Valley. The work presents reflections, studies and proposals for revitalization and sustainability for the Paraíba valley region, traversing the history of the coffee passage through the Paraíba River Valley and showing both the geographic and historical environmental view as well as the ecological and social costs incurred in the period.

CSRio Seminar – the economic relevance of Brazilian conservation units

by Ana Castro 27/09/2018 0

The Center for Conservation and Sustainability of Rio – CSRio, invites everyone to the next seminar, which will take place on October 3, from 5:00 p.m. in the auditorium of Rio Data Center (RDC), PUC-RIO. In this edition we will have the presence of two authors from the recent publication “How much is the Green: The Economic Importance of Brazilian Conservation Units” (CI-Brasil): Claudia Rosa and Gustavo Simas. Claudia Rosa will present about Public Use and its contribution to social welfare and environmental preservation, while Gustavo Simas will discuss the economic importance of PAs in relation to extractivism and fishing. Claudia is a Master in Sustainable Development (UFRRJ) and works on sustainable tourism projects, management and implementation of public use in conservation units. Gustavo Simas holds a PhD in Environmental and Forestry Sciences (UFRRJ), a professor at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio de Janeiro (IFRJ) and a researcher at GEMA / UFRJ and INCT / PPED / UFRJ. The seminar is open to the public, and at the end of the presentations the debates will be conducted in an open and participatory manner. Everybody is welcome!

Look down— there is a gap— the need to include soil data in Atlantic Forest restoration

by Ana Castro 20/09/2018 0

Consideration of soil quality indicators is fundamental for understanding and managing ecosystems. Despite the evidence regarding the importance of soil for provision of local and global ecosystem services, such as water regulation and carbon sequestration, soil remains an under-investigated and undermined aspect of the environment. Here we evaluate to what extent soil indicators are taken into account in restoration. We focused on the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, a highly fragmented biome and a global biodiversity hotspot. We conducted a systematic literature review and we showed that the majority (59%) of the studies on restoration did not consider any soil indicator. Studies that demonstrated the importance of soil indicators most commonly reported soil pH (71%, n=44), followed by potassium content (66%, n=41) and phosphorus (64.5%, n=40), while the least reported indicator was water retention (6.5%, n=4). Only 40% of the retrieved studies included information about reference sites or project baseline information. We complement our literature review with a case study on restoration in two areas of the Atlantic Forest. We found a relation between soil indicators such as soil organic matter, nitrogen, sodium and sand content, and aboveground indicators, confirming a necessity to include soil screening in restoration. Moreover, we found that prior to restoration none of these soil indicators were analyzed. This study highlights the gap that exists in soil data in restoration in studies on the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We urge scientists and practitioners to include basic soil analysis to maximize the successful outcomes of restoration.

Evaluating the impact of future actions in minimizing vegetation loss from land conversion in the Brazilian Cerrado under climate change

by Ana Castro 19/09/2018 0

The global network of protected areas (PAs) is systematically biased towards remote and unproductive places. Consequently, the processes threatening biodiversity are not halted and conservation impact—defined as the beneficial environmental outcomes arising from protection relative to the counterfactual of no intervention—is smaller than previously thought. Yet, many conservation plans still target species’ representation, which can fail to lead to impact by not considering the threats they face, such as land conversion and climate change. Here we aimed to identify spatial conservation priorities that minimize the risk of land conversion, while retaining sites with high value for threatened plants at risk from climate change in the Brazilian Cerrado. We compared a method of sequential implementation of conservation actions to a static strategy applied at one time-step. For both schedules of conservation actions, we applied two methods for setting priorities: (i) minimizing expected habitat conversion and prioritizing valuable sites for threatened plants (therefore maximizing conservation impact), and (ii) prioritizing sites based only on their value for threatened plants, regardless of their vulnerability to land conversion (therefore maximizing representation). We found that scenarios aimed at maximizing conservation impact reduced total vegetation loss, while still covering large proportions of species’ ranges inside PAs and priority sites. Given that planning to avoid vegetation loss provided these benefits, vegetation information could represent a reliable surrogate for overall biodiversity. Besides allowing for the achievement of two distinct goals (representation and impact), the impact strategies also present

Paulo D. Branco

by Ana Castro 19/09/2018 0

Paulo is MSc in Business Administration by the Catholic Pontific University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC Rio). He graduated in Business Administration, with a major in Information Systems also by the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC Rio). He teaches postgraduate courses in the areas of sustainability and business, including the Professional Master in Sustainability Science, at the Department of Geography and Environment, at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), in partnership with CSRio, having most of his academic work in sustainability and business education published in Brazil and abroad. He has been frequently invited as a speaker at various forums focused on sustainability and business. His experiences also extend to being an executive manager in areas such as organizational development and human resources management and a facilitator in programs of managerial development, working hand-on-hand with both the public and the private sector. He is technical director of International Institute for Sustainability (IIS), co-founder of Frontiers of Development Institute and co-founder of Ekobé, one of the first Brazilian consultancy firm specialized in corporate sustainability. Since 2003, Ekobé contributes to the integration of sustainability principles and practices into the strategy of many organizations, like Alcoa, ArcelorMittal, Santander Bank (former Banco Real), Febraban (The Brazilian Federation of Banks), Ethos Institute, Natura and Nokia. He was the vice director of Center for Sustainability Studies (FGVces) of the Business Administration School of Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV EAESP), where he led projects in sustainability strategy and management, stakeholders engagement, sustainable value chains, innovation and entrepreneurship, internationalization of companies, among others.

Adriano Tamm

by Ana Castro 19/09/2018 0

Bachelor’s degree in Geography and Environment from Pontific Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), with additional domain in Environmental Issues. Currently a Master’s student in Geography at the same institution and integrates the research groups Integrated Landscape Management (PUC-Rio), Conservation Science and Sustainability Center of Rio (CSRio) and Interinstitutional Research Group on Ecosystem Services (PUC-Rio). Received a scientific initiation scholarship (PIBIC) and has been an intern at ECOBRAND Gestão Ambiental and at the International Institute for Sustainability (IIS). In the second one, he developed analyses on the vegetal colonization process in degraded areas of different successional stages. Currently, works as a Research and Projects Assistant, supporting the CSRio seminars execution and assisting in the planning and development of projects, research and field activities.