Civic movements, participation culture and city transformation: tension and cooperation in urban development

Em um contexto global de desconfiança quanto aos rumos tomados pela política institucional e seus gestores, muitos cidadãos buscam maneiras – individuais ou coletivas - possíveis de participar na tomada de decisão, de forma a garantir maior autonomia aos seus futuros e representatividade nas decisões. Entre o querer e o poder as distâncias são, todavia, bastante variáveis, e muitas vezes o desejo de colaborar se transforma em esforço para resistir e lutar contra os obstáculos impostos a uma verdadeira governação democrática. A partir de uma atuação prévia do autor deste trabalho como cidadão interessado de forma individual ou em vários grupos cidadãos, surgiu a impressão de que, não fossem as resistências dos poderosos a uma participação intensamente democrática, as próprias administrações e políticas públicas (além da sociedade como um todo) poderiam ser muito beneficiadas pelo voluntarismo de tantos cidadãos em ajudar o desenvolvimento de sua cidade. Para isso, esta dissertação objetivou aprofundar o conhecimento e refletir sobre a atuação dos movimentos cívicos no desenvolvimento urbano em relação aos diferentes modelos de governação e à cultura de participação à escala local. Para alcançar esse objetivo, foram escolhidos oito casos (seis no Brasil e dois em Portugal) com diferentes níveis de participação (identificados por vários autores) ofertada pelo poder público e métodos de ação ou reação vinda por parte dos cidadãos. Parte desses casos foi acompanhada pelo autor, enquanto outros tiveram suas informações angariadas por meio da pesquisa bibliográfica. Ao fim da análise dos casos à luz dos conceitos teóricos e do cruzamento de seus resultados, o trabalho percebeu a necessidade de uma reinterpretação do contributo da “escada de participação cidadã” de Arnstein (1969), a qual foi feita com inclusão de informações relacionadas ao tipo de governação e a postura (predominante) adotada pelos cidadãos. Dessa forma, a hipótese de fortalecimento da sociedade mediante os esforços cívicos foi confirmada com muitos valores sociais positivos resultantes como as novas relações pessoais, os novos aprendizados, o fortalecimento da coletividade, o afeto e o senso de pertencimento gerado com o espaço.In a global context of distrust to the paths taken by institucional policy and its managers, many citizens look for ways to participate – individually or collectively - in decision-making, as a way to ensure greater authonomy to their futures and representativity in the decisions. Between wanting and being able to there are, however, variant distances and many times the will to collaborate becomes effort to resist and fight agains imposed obstacles to a true democratic governance. Starting from previous acting of the author of this work as activist/interested citizen as individual or in citizen groups, a impression has arised that, if not by the resistance of the powerful agains an intense democratic participation, even public policies and government (besides society as a whole) could be greatly benefitted from the voluntarism of so many citizens to help the development of their city. For this, this thesis aimed to deepen the knowledge and reflect over the way of acting of civic movements for urban development in relation to different governance models and participation levels offered by public sector. To reach this objective, it was chosen eight cases (six in Brazil and two in Portugal) with different participation levels (that were recognized by many authors before) offered by public power and action or reaction methods by citizens. Some of these study cases had their developments followed by the author, while others had their informations collected from bibliographical research. By the end of case analysis according to theoretical concepts and the intersection of its results, the work perceived the need for a reinterpretation of the contribution of Arnstein “ladder of citizen participation”, that was made with inclusion of information related to governance type and (predominant) position adopted by citizens. In this way, the hypothesis of society strengthening through civic efforts was validated by many resulting positive social values like the new personal relations, new knowledges and learning, strengthening of collectivity and the affect and belonging sense generated with the space.Mestrado em Planeamento Regional e Urban

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Política, atores e interesses no processo de mudança institucional: a criação do Ministério da Saúde em 1953 Politics, actors, and interests in the process of institutional change: the creation of the Brazilian Ministry of Health in 1953

Este trabalho analisa a criação do Ministério da Saúde, em 1953, por meio da identificação dos principais agentes envolvidos, seus interesses e estratégias utilizadas para atingir seus objetivos e influenciar o processo de mudança institucional. Relacionando este processo às características particulares do contexto político da época, identificaremos, entre as arenas de decisão, aquela que ganhou relevância; apresentaremos as variáveis políticas que interferiram no surgimento dessa nova agência estatal autônoma para a saúde pública.<br>This analysis of the 1953 creation of the Ministry of Health identifies the main actors involved, their interests, and the strategies they employed to reach their goals and influence the process of institutional change. Placing the process within the context of the era's specific political characteristics, the article identifies the predominant decision-making arena as well as the political variables that influenced the emergence of this new, autonomous government agency for public health

NEOTROPICAL XENARTHRANS: a data set of occurrence of xenarthran species in the Neotropics

Xenarthrans—anteaters, sloths, and armadillos—have essential functions for ecosystem maintenance, such as insect control and nutrient cycling, playing key roles as ecosystem engineers. Because of habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting pressure, and conflicts with domestic dogs, these species have been threatened locally, regionally, or even across their full distribution ranges. The Neotropics harbor 21 species of armadillos, 10 anteaters, and 6 sloths. Our data set includes the families Chlamyphoridae (13), Dasypodidae (7), Myrmecophagidae (3), Bradypodidae (4), and Megalonychidae (2). We have no occurrence data on Dasypus pilosus (Dasypodidae). Regarding Cyclopedidae, until recently, only one species was recognized, but new genetic studies have revealed that the group is represented by seven species. In this data paper, we compiled a total of 42,528 records of 31 species, represented by occurrence and quantitative data, totaling 24,847 unique georeferenced records. The geographic range is from the southern United States, Mexico, and Caribbean countries at the northern portion of the Neotropics, to the austral distribution in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. Regarding anteaters, Myrmecophaga tridactyla has the most records (n = 5,941), and Cyclopes sp. have the fewest (n = 240). The armadillo species with the most data is Dasypus novemcinctus (n = 11,588), and the fewest data are recorded for Calyptophractus retusus (n = 33). With regard to sloth species, Bradypus variegatus has the most records (n = 962), and Bradypus pygmaeus has the fewest (n = 12). Our main objective with Neotropical Xenarthrans is to make occurrence and quantitative data available to facilitate more ecological research, particularly if we integrate the xenarthran data with other data sets of Neotropical Series that will become available very soon (i.e., Neotropical Carnivores, Neotropical Invasive Mammals, and Neotropical Hunters and Dogs). Therefore, studies on trophic cascades, hunting pressure, habitat loss, fragmentation effects, species invasion, and climate change effects will be possible with the Neotropical Xenarthrans data set. Please cite this data paper when using its data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us of how they are using these data

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data