Processing National CO2 Inventory Emissions Data and their Total Uncertainty Estimates

The uncertainty of reported greenhouse gases emission inventories obtained by the aggregation of partial emissions from all sources and estimated to date for several countries is very high in comparison with the countries’ emissions limitation and reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. Independent calculation of the estimates could confirm or question the undertainty estimates values obtained thus far. One of the aims of this paper is to propose statistical signal processing methods to enable calculation of the inventory variances. The annual reported emissions are used and temporal smoothness of the emissions curve is assumed. The methods considered are: a spline-function-smoothing procedure; a time-varying parameter model; and the geometric Brownian motion model. These are validated on historical observations of the CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel combustion. The estimates of variances obtained are in a similar range to those obtained from national inventories using TIER1 or TIER2. Additionally, some regularities in the observed curves were noticed.     

Pesticides in surface water,sediment, and rainfall of the northeastern Pantanal basin,Brazil

Within the last 25 years an intensive agriculture has developed in the highland regions of Mato Grosso state (Brazil), which involves frequent pesticide use in highly mechanized cash-crop cultures. To provide information on pesticide distribution and dynamics in the northeastern Pantanal basin (located in southern Mato Grosso), we monitored 29 pesticides and 3 metabolites in surface water, sediment, and rainwater of the study area during the main application season. In environmental samples, 19 pesticides and 3 metabolites were detected in measurable quantities, resulting in at least one pesticide detection in 68% of surface water samples (n = 139), 62% of sediment samples (n = 26), and 87% of rainwater samples (n = 91). Surface water samples were most frequently contaminated by endosulfan compounds (alpha-, beta-, -sulfate), ametryn, metolachlor, and metribuzin, although in low (< 0.1 microgram L-1) concentrations. Sediment samples exhibited concentrations up to 4.5 micrograms kg-1 of p,p'-DDT, p,p'-DDE, endosulfan-sulfate, beta-endosulfan, and ametryn. In contrast, rainwater was polluted with substantial amounts of endosulfan, alachlor, metolachlor, trifluralin, monocrotofos, and profenofos (maximum concentrations = 0.3 to 2.3 micrograms L-1) in the highlands. Lowland rainwater samples taken 75 km from the next application area contained 5- to 10-fold lower mean pesticide concentration than in the highlands. Cumulative deposition rates of the pesticide sum within the study period ranged from 423 micrograms m-2 in the highlands to 14 micrograms m-2 in the lowlands. The atmospheric input of pesticides to ecosystems seemed to be of higher relevance in the tropical study area than known from temperate regions.     

Prospects for the co‐management of mangrove ecosystems on the North Brazilian coast: Whose rights,whose duties and whose priorities?

This article describes the co‐management approach in situations of open access to and of increasing pressure on resources, using a mangrove coastal zone in North Brazil as an example. Co‐management clearly has the potential to turn nonviable, de facto open access to mangroves into effective common property management. Alliances of different political and ideological groups have been formed under the RESEX (reservas extrativistas — natural resource user reserve) model of coastal co‐management. Local economic interests have been mobilized as client constituencies. The RESEX system of co‐management assigns additional duties to both co‐managing parties, i.e., the state administration and the local users, in exchange for new rights. The authors argue that local support for the RESEX model has been gained on partially distorted premises. As the public authority passes on responsibility for management to local users under the RESEX model, this entails a number of duties for the local users. Thus local users assume the duty to implement and monitor resource management; they also appear to gain the right to take local decisions, such as excluding outsiders from resource access, and designing local resource management rules. However, as this article shows with two examples, some important new rights for local users under the RESEX co‐management concept are contrary to environmental legislation in force. This conflict is at present unresolved. It is argued that increased transparency about their precise rights for local resource co‐managers will considerably improve the prospects of coastal co‐management in Brazil.     

Impacts of market economy access and livelihood conditions on agro-food transition in rural communities in three macro-regions of Brazil

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Urbanization has threatened rural communities’ livelihoods worldwide, changing their agro-food systems from locally produced traditional items to...     

Detection and Molecular Characterization of Gemycircularvirus from Environmental Samples in Brazil

Gemycircularvirus (GemyCV) is a group of viruses which has been recently proposed as a new viral genus detected in fecal and environmental samples around the world. GemyCVs have been detected in human blood, brain tissue, cerebrospinal fluid, and stool sample. In the present study, we demonstrate for the first time, through molecular detection and characterization, the presence of GemyCVs in environmental samples from Brazil. Our results show a percentage of positivity ranging from 69 (25/36) to 97 % (35/36) in river water samples collected in Manaus, Amazon region, and wastewater from a wastewater treatment plant located in Rio de Janeiro, respectively, revealing GemyCVs as an important environmental contaminant.     

Treatment of effluent from re‐refined lubricating oils by combined processes of coagulation,flocculation, and Fenton process

This work examines the possibility and the potential application of physicochemical processes (coagulation and flocculation) and advanced oxidative processes (Fenton Process) in the treatment of effluents from the re‐refining of used lubricating oils.     

Jute bioblanket as a soil rehabilitation strategy in Sorocaba,Brazil: Soil chemistry and SWOT approaches

Soil erosion and the invasion of exotic plant species are major constraints to achieve sustainable development around the world. Currently, we find few products devoted concomitantly to combatting soil erosion as well as the establishment of unwanted exotic plants. In this paper, we introduce a new product, called herein a bioblanket, that protects the soil and impedes the establishment of exotic plant species. This product is of simple design, and to manufacture it, we use two biodegradable materials: jute tissue and grass wastes. We designed this product to combat soil erosion and the germination and establishment of new, unwanted, invasive plant species. In this paper, we describe our evaluation of how successful this product was in terms of improving the chemical attributes of soil. We also identified the product's potentialities and weaknesses by means of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. The bioblanket ameliorated the chemical attributes of the soil, as evidenced especially by the neutralization of acidity (8.5%) and aluminum toxicity (33%), and by an increment in nutrients concentration. We argue that after adequate treatment and management, the residues of plants that are normally considered unwanted materials can be transformed into a raw material to control the propagation of unwanted plant species, and concomitantly control soil erosion while improving the chemical conditions of the soil. The improvement of the soil chemical attributes was one of the main positive effects reported through the SWOT analysis. In addition, the SWOT analysis revealed some features that need improvement in future generations of the product, but we argue that these features do not impede the benefits for the use of the product in its present form.     

14C content in vegetation in the vicinities of Brazilian nuclear power reactors

(14)C specific activities were measured in grass samples collected around Brazilian nuclear power reactors. The specific activity values varied between 227 and 299 Bq/kg C. Except for two samples which showed (14)C specific activities 22% above background values, half of the samples showed background specific activities, and the other half had a (14)C excess of 1-18%. The highest specific activities were found close to the nuclear power plants and along the main wind directions (NE and NNE). The activity values were found to decrease with increasing distance from the reactors. The unexpectedly high (14)C excess values found in two samples were related to the local topography, which favors (14)C accumulation and limits the dispersion of the plume. The results indicate a clear (14)C anthropogenic signal within 5 km around the nuclear power plants which is most prominent along northeastwards, the prevailing wind direction.