FG Sozialwissenschaftliche Umweltfragen
Refine
Document Type
- Doctoral thesis (5) (remove)
Has Fulltext
- yes (5)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (5)
Keywords
- Brasilien (2)
- Forestry (2)
- Agrarindustrie (1)
- Agribusiness (1)
- Agricultural mechanization (1)
- Agriculture (1)
- Agrobusiness (1)
- Arbeitsmarkt (1)
- Bioenergieerzeugung (1)
- Biomass residues (1)
Institute
Labor market perspectives of the Brazilian sugarcane agro-industry : prospects and challenges
(2012)
Brazil has five centuries of tradition in sugarcane production and is the world's largest producer and exporter of sugar. It is also the world’s largest exporter and the second largest producer of ethanol fuel. Economic, social and environmental aspects have caused structural modifications in the sugarcane production system including the mechanization of the harvesting operation. Mechanization has potential economic, environmental, agronomic and social impacts. From the economic point of view, it leads to cost reductions, and possibly higher productivity. Mechanization could also have a positive impact on the environmental dimension of the sector’s sustainability as it avoids the need for pre-burning practices, a point that is especially relevant for the ethanol supply chain. As mechanization enables the harvesting of raw sugarcane, dry leaves and tops (trash) are left on the field, which could have agronomic advantages. The recovery of a reasonable fraction of the sugarcane trash could potentially increase bioelectricity production. These energy gains could increase the sector’s competitiveness and to some extent avoid emissions from fossil fuels. On the other hand, agricultural mechanization can be considered a controversial agricultural technology as its increased intensity causes a negative balance in rural jobs creation. Mechanization simultaneously causes a demand increase for specialized agricultural workers and reduces the demand for non-specialized workers. Currently, the lack of qualified workforce is a challenge for the sector. In an attempt to bridge this gap, partially coordinated qualification strategies had emerged. Even when a number of additional jobs will be created, presumably the sector will not be able to relocate its current rural staffing. Large portions of these workers are temporary migrants from deprived regions of Brazil who typically have low levels of schooling, including a share of illiterate. Other agricultural products have also shown the tendency to reduce their number of workers, regardless of the increases in their production. This phenomenon, partially caused by increasing mechanization, could also hinder the opportunities of sugarcane harvesters to absorb into other rural activities. In addition, the changes undergone by the sector have been accelerated due to the introduction of environmental laws phasing out the sugarcane burning practice in various federal entities. The complexity of this transition and the remarkable heterogeneity of the sector were approached in this dissertation using the Human Capability Framework. The use of this tool led to the identification of key capacity and labor market influencing features based on stakeholders’ interaction and feedback. The framework was an instrumental part of understanding the multifaceted system of actors and structures, which have a stake in the developments of the sector. The identified capacity influencing features were: workers’ background, workers’ union affiliation, formal and informal skill formation, demographics and productivity. It was noted that key socio-economic indicators vary widely in a regional basis with a sharp substandard trend in the workers from the North and Northeast. The identified labor market influencing features were: national and international markets, legislation, agricultural trends, working conditions, the pace of mechanization, and Agro-environmental Zoning. The labor market is expected to undergo qualitative, quantitative, geographical and temporal changes depending of the interaction of these elements. It was concluded that there is an increasing influence of globalization on the developments of the sector and that these changes will heavily rely on the developments of production, area expansion, productivity, and the technology adopted. It was concluded that if coordinated policies in a number of separate but linked areas and plans for their implementation were developed, then labor supply and demand might be more constructively linked when dealing with economic, energy, and sustainability goals.
Regular electricity access is a key element for the economic development and social welfare of rural areas. Decentralized energy generation has the advantage of using local resources, increasing employment and reducing transmission and distribution losses. Brazil is a tropical country, endowed with vast arable land, plentiful precipitation levels, and a large supply of human labour. Furthermore, it has strong regional distinctions with geographical, cultural and economical differences. Forestry and agriculture, important activities in the Brazilian economy, are dependent on local people and are deeply connected to traditions, nature and culture. Furthermore, these activities generate a significant amount of residues that could be used in conversion technologies for biomass, based on type, availability and market demand. When biomass were used to generate energy locally, community members could have business opportunities, improving local economy and life quality of individuals while diversifying the Brazilian energy matrix, which is mostly based on hydropower. Alternatives for implementing small-scale decentralized biomass schemes are dependent on the screening of the existing biomass supply chains, the implementation of adapted technologies for local conditions and the exploration of local resources. The present research carried out a detailed field work in order to evaluate the potential of Brazilian biomass in different regions. The author identified crucial needs, usual constraints and possible challenges of rural electrification and economic development in Brazil. Several case studies and social groups were investigated in the Federal States of Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Pará to identify different resource management strategies, which biomass technology was applied and the needs of the local population. It was concluded that the compaction of biomass to generate solid biofuels with uniform properties could be a cost-effective alternative for communities taking advantage of the resources available in the region to produce energy. Nevertheless, each case has to be considered on its own. It was concluded that energy supply and consumption should be addressed through integrated research. Scientific research should be focused on technological solutions for improving living standards and socio-economic development in rural areas. The implementation of new regulatory arrangements and a constant revision of the Brazilian energy policies are crucial for encouraging a national industry for renewables. It was also concluded that the cultural, geographical and socio-economic discrepancies of Brazil could involve challenges for the implementation of future projects, even when their development would provide benefits for Brazil as a whole.
Die “Energiewende” wird in der vorliegenden Arbeit als umfassender gesellschaftlicher Prozess aus soziologischer Perspektive untersucht. Da die Vorreiter der Entwicklung bisher in geographischen und damit auch sozialen Nischen zu finden sind, wurden sieben möglichst weit fortgeschrittene und ambitionierte „Energieregionen“ im ländlichen Raum als Fallstudien ausgewählt. Das Paradigma der Energieautarkie oder der 100% Region wurde dabei als Leitbild eines noch jungen Entwicklungspfades mit Hilfe qualitativer Methoden untersucht. Unter Energieautarkie (oder Energieautonomie) wird das Ziel verstanden, eine Region vollständig durch erneuerbare Energieproduktion mit Wärme und Elektrizität zu versorgen. Dies ist aufgrund der hohen Anforderungen bisher selten vollständig realisiert worden. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschreibt die Hindernisse, Entwicklungsstufen und typischen Probleme sowie die Faktoren, welche ihre Bewältigung ermöglichen. Im Vergleich der Fallstudien wird ein theoretisches Modell entwickelt, um den Erfolg einzelner Initiativen erklären und in gewissem Umfang vorhersagen zu können. Daraus wird die These abgeleitet, dass sich die technische und ökonomische Infrastruktur erneuerbarer „Energieregionen“ langfristig der Sozialstruktur anpasst und die Diffusion weiterer „Energieregionen“ vom gegebenen Niveau des Sozialkapitals bedingt wird. Aufgrund der gegenseitigen Abhängigkeit sozialer und technischer Komplexitätsniveaus bedeutet die Energiewende für den ländlichen Raum in erster Linie eine soziale und organisatorische Herausforderung. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschreibt die verschiedenen Strategien der beteiligten Akteure und ihre Konstellationen.
The economic crises of the mid 1980s and 1990s due to a fall in economic productivity inflicted serious negative consequences on Cameroon’s forest ecosystems and forest resources which became the target of intense exploitation for multiple purposes. A forest policy reform at the behest of the World Bank was intended to regulate forest exploitation in a sustainable way. More than a decade since the inception of this policy, this study, through a three-tier methodological approach of survey, content analysis and observation, seeks to assess policy impacts per se, as well as the role of environmental communication in mitigating non-sustainable forest exploitation in Anglophone Cameroon. The study also investigates a valid and reliable option for the sustainable management of forest resources, by comparing and contrasting the two operational forest management paradigms. The outcome of the investigation reveals that both policy and environmental communication have a more positive impact in the community forest area than in the state-managed forest area, implying that the former is a better forest management option than the latter. However, forest sustainability is still at stake in both areas, due, generally, to bad forest governance such as corruption, minimal public participation, lack of transparency and accountability, as well as the ubiquitous presence of poverty, unemployment and inadequate public access to socio-economic development indicators. To this end, the study proffers some robust recommendations that if implemented will greatly enhance the badly needed forest sustainability.
Over the last decade or so, there has been an increasing need to acknowledge the role played by local resource users in environmental decision making and to incorporate their perceptions in the management of natural resources. This has led to the development of various methods of assessing environmental attitudes and of natural resource valuation. Most of these studies have been conducted in developed countries and have utilised economic methods of valuation. This study highlights the environmental attitudes and values of a very important group of stakeholders - women - and the significance of taking these into consideration in the management of local coastal natural resources. Using respondents from two Ghanaian coastal communities, Bortianor and Moree, the study also investigated poverty-coastal natural resource linkages and how this knowledge can be used to improve Natural Resource Management in Ghana. In proposing specific policy options for managing the coastal environment an examination of formal, informal institutional and legal framework was also done. Primary data was collected by means of focus group discussions, personal interviews and participant observations. A total of 304 women (151 from Bortianor and 153 from Moree) took part in the study. The results showed that the study communities had poor access to basic amenities such as potable water, schools, health facilities as well as basic sanitation services. Their livelihood patterns revolve around the availability of coastal natural resources such as fish and fuel wood. The attitudinal scale used to assess environmental attitudes achieved adequate internal consistency with Cronbach’s (1951) Alpha reliability coefficients of 0.729 in Bortianor and 0.735 in Moree. The environmental attitudes of respondents were overwhelmingly positive; this however did not match the state of affairs in the area. The study showed that positive attitudes do not always result in pro-environmental behaviour. In the study areas poverty, low educational levels and other social and cultural practices could also influence the ability of respondents to translate the generally positive environmental attitudes into positive environmental action. The section on environmental values assessed the environmental values of respondents through the relative importance they placed on the different benefits derived from coastal natural resources. It also prioritised environmental issues or concerns in the study areas from the perspectives of the respondents. Rather than use a simple ordinal ranking of all objects, the paired comparison approach was used. The study showed that in both areas respondents placed the greatest importance on the coastal natural resources as sources of wealth creation and food. When it came to environmental concerns, it was not surprising that issues of safe drinking water, available fish and good sanitation were most important to respondents. From the results it was argued that since coastal natural resources as sources of food and income ranked highest, developing activities and policies that add value to the fishery industry, generate income and improve the standard of living of respondents would be most effective. Improving their standard of living could shift their focus from more utilitarian values to that of more pro-natural resource values. After examining existing institutional capacities and respondents’ perceptions of who should manage local coastal natural resources, the study concludes by using the findings to make some practical policy recommendations.