Economic Valuation of Oceanographic Forecasting Services: A Cost-Benefit Exercise

This paper provides an assessment of the economic value of the oceanographic services provided by the Mediterranean operational forecasting system, MFSTEP. The main purpose of this exploratory study is to carry out a cost-benefit analysis for different development scenarios, by comparing the costs associated with the project implementation with the private benefits that arise from delivering its products on the market. As far as the costs are concerned, a total cost assessment has been performed by identifying, classifying and estimating the wide range of inputs that have been allocated both to the project development and maintenance. Against this context, a cost questionnaire has been designed and administered to all MFSTEP partners. In addition, the study focuses on an end-users analysis in order to examine end-users’ attitudes and interests for the forecasting products, their needs and satisfaction. As before, we make the use of a survey. Finally, this questionnaire is characterized by exploring the use of the contingent valuation approach so as to address and estimate the private benefits derived from the provision of the MFSTEP products. Estimation results show that the mean willingness to pay for accessing the forecasting products amounts to 65 euro per download. Cost-benefit analysis reveals that, from a market perspective relying on the profit maximisation, a total of 163 downloads per day are required for total maintenance costs recovery, whereas 90 downloads per day are required to recover personnel maintenance costs. Finally, 33 downloads per day are required so as to recover durable equipment maintenance costs.Cost-Benefit Analysis, Contingent Valuation, Survey Design, Willingness to Pay, Cost Assessment, Observing and Modelling Oceanographic System

A Ideologia em sua perspectiva categorial e o Serviço Social brasileiro: um debate necessário para a sustentação da intervenção profissional

O artigo apresentado realizará análise preliminar da categoria ideologia, buscando compreender sua função social na intervenção profissional do/da assistente social. Apoiamos-nos na tese de György Lukács de que o complexo ideológico é mais do que uma “falsa consciência” do real, a ideologia possui a função específica de explicar as relações em sociedade. Partiremos dos escritos de Lukács, Eagleton, Löwy, Konder, Marx e Engels, entre outros. Analisaremos de forma introdutória a relação da ideologia enquanto função social e suas adições na intervenção profissional do/da assistente social. Concluímos que diante do contexto de agudização das contradições entre capital e trabalho, reafirmar a ideologia enquanto função social é necessário para que o profissional dê direção crítica e propositiva à sua intervenção com vistas a universalização dos direitos sociais e à emancipação humana

A Hybrid Approach to the Valuation of Climate Change Effects on Ecosystem Services: Evidence from the European Forests

In this paper we present a systematic attempt to assess economic value of climate change impact on forest ecosystems and human welfare. In the present study, climate change impacts are downscaled to the different European countries, which in turn constitute the elements of our analysis. First, we anchor the valuation exercise in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) Approach and therefore the link between the different forest ecosystem goods and services, including provisioning, regulating and cultural services, human well-being and climate change. Second, climate change is operationalized by exploring the different storylines developed by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and applied, downscaled, for each of the European countries under consideration. Third, and bearing in mind the different nature of the benefits provided by the different types of forest ecosystems under examination, we shall explore different economic valuation methodologies so as to shed light on the magnitude of the involved welfare changes. According to the estimation results the four different IPCC scenarios, i.e. A1F1, A2, B1 and B2, are associated to different welfare impacts. First, these reveal to depend on both the nature of the forest ecosystem service. For example, cultural values reveal to be more sensitive to the four IPCC scenarios than the other ones, with the wood forest products being more resilient to climate change. Second, the distributional impacts of climate change on the provision of these goods and services do also depend on the geo-climatic regions under consideration. For the Scandinavian group of countries, B1 is ranked with the highest level of provision of carbon sequestration services, amounting to 46.3 billion dollars. In addition, we can see that cultural services provided by forest ecosystems have their highest levels in the Mediterranean countries, ranging from 8.4 to 9.0 million dollars, respectively in the B2 and B1 scenarios. Finally, we can see that the total value of wood forest products ranges between 41.2 and 47.5 million dollars for Central Europe to 5.4 and 7.2 million dollars in Northern Europe, respectively A1 and A2 scenarios. For this service, Mediterranean Europe provides a relatively weak role in the provision with values ranging from 6.4 million dollars in A1 scenario to 8.7 million dollars in the B2. In short, and to conclude, the valuation results (1) may contribute to a better understanding of the potential welfare loss in the context of climate change and the economic trade-offs between potential mitigation or adaptation strategies; and (2) confirm that climate change will be responsible for a re-distribution of welfare among the European countries, signalling the potential for a(n) agreement(s) among these same countries focus on the re-allocation of potential trade-offs among the countries.Wood Products, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Market and Non-market Valuation Methods, Ecosystem Goods and Services, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Economic Assessment of Forest Ecosystem Services Losses: Cost of Policy Inaction

This paper presents a bottom-up methodological framework for estimating some of the key ecosystem services provided by forests biomes worldwide. We consider the provision of wood and non-wood forest products, recreation and passive use, and forests’ contribution to climate regulation in terms of carbon sequestration capacity. The valuation framework derives per hectare estimates by applying meta-analysis, value transfer and scaling up procedures in order to control for existing heterogeneities across world regions and forest biomes. The first part of the study estimates stock values per hectare for each forest ecosystem service in the baseline year 2000 and in the year 2050. Carbon stocks represent, in general, the highest value per hectare, followed by provisioning services, passive use and recreational values. The second part provides an estimation of the welfare loss (or gain) associated with policy inaction in the period 2000-2050 leading to a change in the forest area. Welfare results are mixed and require a careful interpretation. In different world regions, no policy initiative can results in both gains and losses, which appear to be sensitive to the use of lower or upper bounds values per hectare.forest ecosystem goods and services; Millennium Ecosystem Assessment; value-transfer, meta-analysis; market and non-market valuation

Justice seems not to be for all: the role played by justice perceptions in discrimination against immigrants

This thesis aimed to examine how justice perceptions are related with the perpetuation of discrimination, exploring the role played by the scope of justice and belief in a just world (BJW) in the legitimation of discrimination against immigrants. Based on the assumptions of the Justified Discrimination Model (JDM), individuals need to search for justification in order to legitimize the discriminatory behaviour, preserving their self-image as a fair individual. The scope of justice is presented as a justice-based argument that facilitates the legitimation process, since the restricted scope of justice helps to the exclusion of the outgroup from positive treatment. This hypothesis is verified correlational and experimentally, indicating the mediation role played by the restricted scope of justice in the relationship between prejudice and discrimination against Brazilian immigrants in Portugal. In order to verify in which conditions this mediation happens, the BJW is applied to the model, testing the prediction that the legitimising role played by the scope of justice is guided by a justice motivation. Results show that the mediation by the restricted scope of justice is moderated by BJW, only when participants expressed a high level of BJW. Experimental studies reinforce the moderation role of BJW where a greater degree of discrimination against immigrants was influenced by a restricted scope of justice priming but only when the BJW was made salient. This evidence introduces an innovation into the literature on the legitimation of social inequalities by demonstrating the relevant role played by justice perceptions in discrimination against immigrants.A presente tese tem como objetivo analisar como perceções de justiça estão relacionadas com a perpetuação da discriminação, ao explorar o papel do scope of justice e da crença no mundo justo (CMJ) na legitimação da discriminação contra imigrantes. Com base nos pressupostos do Modelo da Discriminação Justificada (MDJ), as pessoas precisam de buscar justificações para legitimar seu comportamento discriminatório, preservando sua auto-imagem como um indivíduo justo. O scope of justice é apresentado como um argumento de justiça que facilita o processo de legitimação, visto que o scope of justice restrito auxilia que exogrupos sejam excluídos de tratamento positivo. Está hipótese é verificada correlacional e experimentalmente, indicando o papel mediador do scope of justice restrito na relação entre preconceito e discriminação contra imigrantes brasileiros em Portugal. A fim de verificar em que condições esta mediação acontece, a CMJ é aplicada ao modelo, testando a predição de que o papel legitimador do scope of justice é guiado por uma motivação para justiça. Resultados mostram que a mediação pelo scope of justice é moderada pela CMJ, apenas quando os participantes expressam CMJ alta. Estudos experimentais reforçam o papel moderador da CMJ, onde um maior grau de discriminação contra imigrantes é influenciado pela primação do scope of justice restrito, apenas quando a CMJ está saliente. Esta evidência introduz uma inovação na literatura sobre legitimação das desigualdades sociais ao demonstrar o papel relevante das perceções de justiça na discriminação contra imigrantes

Economic Valuation of Forest Ecosystem Services: Methodology and Monetary Estimates

By using ad hoc value transfer protocols, this paper offers a methodological contribution and provides accurate per hectare estimates of the economic value of some selected ecosystem services for all forest biomes in the world, identified following the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment taxonomy MEA. The research also estimates potential total economic losses from policy inaction in year 2050. Final results show that total losses are significant. The total figure is €78 billion, the greatest losses coming from North America and Mexico, followed by Africa, Russia and some Asiatic countries. Most of this loss is attributable to provisioning services and carbon sequestration, while only a minor part is due to loss of cultural services. In terms of biomes the greatest losses are from boreal and warm mixed forests, followed by tropical forests. These results may be surprising to some who argue that it is the loss of tropical forests, particularly the Amazon, that is the most significant. A detailed analysis, shows, however, that this is not the case. The best estimates point to greater losses in areas where use and non-use values are highest, which includes North America.Forest, Ecosystem Services, Biodiversity, Valuation, Value Transfer

Sobre a pesquisa enquanto bricolagem, reflexões sobre o pesquisador como bricoleur

http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/1983734815113 O texto proposto tem como intenção apresentar e problematizar os aspectos que compõem a bricolagem enquanto uma abordagem metodológica das ciências sociais, mais especificamente com foco nos processos de investigação em educação. A argumentação realizada a partir dos referenciais Denzin e Lincoln (2006) e Kincheloe e Berry (2007), se constrói ancorada em três pontos: uma apresentação do tema segundo seus conceitos; um exemplo no qual se utiliza tal abordagem e por fim, questões e dúvidas acerca de seus limites e contradições. Recebido em: 25/07/2014Aprovado em: 08/08/201

UTILIZAÇÃO DA PLANTA MEDICINAL ERVA-DE-SÃO-JOÃO (Hypericum perforatum L.) NO TRATAMENTO DE DEPRESSÃO

O Brasil possui a maior taxa de pessoas com depressão na América Latina e a tendência para os próximos anos é um crescente aumento. Para o tratamento dessa doença existem inúmeros tratamentos farmacológicos, no entanto, a utilização errônea de medicamentos pode acarretar em graves problemas à saúde. Assim, existe necessidade de incluir terapias menos agressivas no tratamento de pacientes. Desta forma, surge a possibilidade de utilizar a planta medicinal Hypericum perforatum por possuir compostos biologicamente ativos que atuam como Inibidores Seletivos da Recaptura de Serotonina (ISRS). O objetivo deste estudo foi elencar pesquisas que reportem os efeitos positivos do Hypericum perforatum sobre o tratamento de depressão, dispondo os compostos biologicamente ativos responsáveis por esta ação. Como metodologia adotou-se levantamento bibliográfico em bases de dados eletrônicos, livros científicos e legislação brasileira. Os resultados apontam que a utilização de H. perforatum pode suprir necessidades visíveis na saúde pública do país. A atuação dos compostos hipericina, pseudo-hipericina e hiperforina têm demonstrado ação positiva no tratamento de depressão leve, moderada e até mesmo em casos graves. A vantagem de utilizar compostos de plantas medicinais está em possuir menores efeitos nocivos ao organismo