Small-scale gold mining and the COVID-19 pandemic: Conflict and cooperation in the Brazilian Amazon

The COVID-19 pandemic exposes both conflict and cooperation in artisanal and small-scale gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon. Reporting on the experiences of artisanal and small-scale gold miners (garimpeiros, in Brazilian Portuguese), we show how, on the one hand, the pandemic challenges an already precarious working system that could lead garimpeiros, often invisible to public policies, to positions of further vulnerability; and, on the other hand, highlights the capacity of garimpeiros to self-organize and navigate the difficulties by finding alternative solutions to cope with the crisis. This leads us to argue that emerging strategies of cooperation, related to self-organization and communication channels have the potential to provide experiences useful for processes of conflict transformation in the post-crisis. We acknowledge that much depends on the severity of the crisis and its manifestations in the region; nevertheless, the potential for constructive outcomes from the crisis should not be disregarded

Clinical Presentation and Outcomes of Kawasaki Disease in Children from Latin America: A Multicenter Observational Study from the REKAMLATINA Network

Objetivos: Describir la presentación clínica, el manejo y los resultados de la enfermedad de Kawasaki (EK) en Latinoamérica y evaluar los indicadores pronósticos tempranos de aneurisma de la arteria coronaria (AAC). Diseño del estudio: Se realizó un estudio observacional basado en el registro de la EK en 64 centros pediátricos participantes de 19 países latinoamericanos de forma retrospectiva entre el 1 de enero de 2009 y el 31 de diciembre de 2013, y de forma prospectiva desde el 1 de junio de 2014 hasta el 31 de mayo de 2017. Se recopilaron datos demográficos, clínicos y de laboratorio iniciales. Se utilizó una regresión logística que incorporaba factores clínicos y la puntuación z máxima de la arteria coronaria en la presentación inicial (entre 10 días antes y 5 días después de la inmunoglobulina intravenosa [IGIV]) para desarrollar un modelo pronóstico de AAC durante el seguimiento (>5 días después de la IGIV). Resultados: De 1853 pacientes con EK, el ingreso tardío (>10 días tras el inicio de la fiebre) se produjo en el 16%, el 25% tuvo EK incompleta y el 11% fue resistente a la IGIV. Entre los 671 sujetos con puntuación z de la arteria coronaria notificada durante el seguimiento (mediana: 79 días; IQR: 36, 186), el 21% presentaba AAC, incluido un 4% con aneurismas gigantes. Un modelo pronóstico simple que utilizaba sólo una puntuación z de la arteria coronaria máxima ≥2,5 en la presentación inicial fue óptimo para predecir la AAC durante el seguimiento (área bajo la curva: 0,84; IC del 95%: 0,80, 0,88). Conclusiones: De nuestra población latinoamericana, la puntuación z de la arteria coronaria ≥2,5 en la presentación inicial fue el factor pronóstico más importante que precedió a la AAC durante el seguimiento. Estos resultados resaltan la importancia de la ecocardiografía temprana durante la presentación inicial de la EK. © 2023 Los autoresObjectives: To describe the clinical presentation, management, and outcomes of Kawasaki disease (KD) in Latin America and to evaluate early prognostic indicators of coronary artery aneurysm (CAA). Study design: An observational KD registry-based study was conducted in 64 participating pediatric centers across 19 Latin American countries retrospectively between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2013, and prospectively from June 1, 2014, to May 31, 2017. Demographic and initial clinical and laboratory data were collected. Logistic regression incorporating clinical factors and maximum coronary artery z-score at initial presentation (between 10 days before and 5 days after intravenous immunoglobulin [IVIG]) was used to develop a prognostic model for CAA during follow-up (>5 days after IVIG). Results: Of 1853 patients with KD, delayed admission (>10 days after fever onset) occurred in 16%, 25% had incomplete KD, and 11% were resistant to IVIG. Among 671 subjects with reported coronary artery z-score during follow-up (median: 79 days; IQR: 36, 186), 21% had CAA, including 4% with giant aneurysms. A simple prognostic model utilizing only a maximum coronary artery z-score ≥2.5 at initial presentation was optimal to predict CAA during follow-up (area under the curve: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.80, 0.88). Conclusion: From our Latin American population, coronary artery z-score ≥2.5 at initial presentation was the most important prognostic factor preceding CAA during follow-up. These results highlight the importance of early echocardiography during the initial presentation of KD. © 2023 The Author(s

Transforming matters: sustaining gold lifeways in artisanal and small-scale mining

Growth strategies in mining regions promote gold extraction basedonindustrial mining, associating Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) with persistent informality. Against this background, we consider how to approach transformations to sustainability in ASGM. Acknowledging how problematic this topic is for sustainability debates,given howASGM is associated with a host of environmental and social problems,we argue that a justice lens demands we confront such challenges within the global politics of sustainability. This leads us to review advances inthe study of ASGM, linked to debates on extractivism, resource materialities, and informality. We use the notion of gold lifeways to capture how the matter of mining shapes different worlds of extraction. We argue that consideration of the potential for transformations to sustainability needs to be grounded within the realities of ASGM. This necessitates giving value to miners’ knowledge(s), perspectives and interests, while recognising the plurality of mining futures. Nevertheless, we conclude that between the immediacy of precarious work and the structural barriers to change in ASGM, the challenges for transformation cannot be underestimated.NWOGlobal Challenges (FSW

Bandits at Serra do Mar? : conflicts, strategies and multiple uses of natural resources in the Atlantic Forest, São Paulo

Orientadores: Lúcia da Costa Ferreira, Cristiana Simão SeixasTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências HumanasResumo: O histórico da relação entre os moradores e os gestores do Núcleo Picinguaba do Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar (PESM), localizado no litoral norte do Estado de São Paulo, o mais rico e desenvolvido do país, está caracterizado pelos conflitos relacionados aos direitos de permanência e de uso dos recursos naturais. Criado em 1977, durante a última ditadura militar e seguindo premissas preservacionistas, o PESM permaneceu no papel até inícios dos anos 1980, quando começaram os primeiros contatos com os moradores. Estes moradores, trabalhadores do campo e pescadores, viram, então, deslegitimados seus direitos ao trabalho e à continuação de suas atividades produtivas e culturais. Desde então, passaram a serem considerados clandestinos, ilegais, irregulares ou, segundo suas próprias palavras, "bandidos", devido a que a legislação proíbe a presença permanente de moradores no interior das Unidades de Conservação de Proteção Integral. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi analisar os conflitos, as ações, as estratégias e a organização dos diversos atores sociais (moradores, gestores, membros de ONG, membros do poder público, pesquisadores) vinculados ao Núcleo Picinguaba a respeito do uso dos recursos naturais e acesso a terra, e, finalmente, refletir se esta dinâmica influencia positivamente nos processos sociais associados à conservação da biodiversidade. Parto da ideia de que todos esses atores têm seus próprios interesses, suas próprias perspectivas, motivações, lutas e estratégias de ação, e se organizam ao redor delas numa arena muito complexa e de múltiplos níveis. Este conflito originou novas formas de organização social no PESM: lideranças locais surgiram e se formaram associações comunitárias que tinham por objetivo a luta pelo direito que os moradores consideravam violados. Ao longo dos últimos anos, o diálogo entre gestão e moradores tem se intensificado e novos espaços de discussão e negociação, assim como novos atores com seus próprios interesses, têm aparecido. Três questões são transversais a este conflito e às estratégias que os atores têm seguido ao longo dos anos: a questão da terra, a questão da identidade e a própria questão do uso e conservação dos recursos naturais. Assim, os moradores têm se organizado em torno à luta pelo direito a terra, recorrendo para isso a estratégias identitárias e a categorias como populações tradicionais, quilombolas e caiçaras. Tudo isto em um contexto de uma UC de Proteção Integral, localizada em uma região não só altamente biodiversa, mas com um forte histórico de uso dos recursos naturais e de ocupação humanaAbstract: The history of the relationship between inhabitants and managers of the Picinguaba Administrative Nucleus in the State Park of Serra do Mar (SPSM) is characterized by conflicts related to the rights to permanence and to the use of natural resources. The SMPS is located in the northern coast of São Paulo State, the richest and more developed state of Brazil. Created in 1977 during the last military dictatorship, the park followed a preservationist scheme. The SMSP remained on paper until the beginning of the 1980s decade, when the first contacts between the park administration staff and the inhabitants began. At this moment, these inhabitants, rural workers and fishermen, were delegitimized and lost their rights to work and to continue their cultural and productive activities. Since then, the inhabitants were considered illegal, irregular, clandestine or, on their own words, "bandits", due to the Brazilian law prohibiting the presence of inhabitants inside the Protected Areas with strictly protection. This research aims to analyze the conflicts, actions, strategies and organization of the different social actors (inhabitants, managers, members of NGOs, public power, and researchers) related to the Picinguaba Nucleus, about the use of natural resources and the access to land. Finally, it will evaluate if this dynamic influence the social processes associated to biodiversity conservation. I start from the idea that all these actors have their own interests, perspectives, motivations, struggles and action strategies, and organize themselves around them in a very complex and multi-level arena. This conflict caused new forms of social organization in the SPSM: local leaders arose and communal associations that aim the struggle for the inhabitants rights were created. During the last years, the dialogue between managers and inhabitants was intensified, and new spaces of negotiation and new actors with own interests have appeared. Three issues are transversal to this conflict and the strategies followed by the actors along the years: land issue, identity issue and use and conservation of natural resources issue. Thus, the inhabitants were organized around the struggle for their right to land, and using categories such as traditional people, caiçaras and quilombolas. All of this in a context with a Protected Area with strictly protection, located in a region not only with high biodiversity, but with a history of use of natural resources and human occupationDoutoradoAspectos Sociais de Sustentabilidade e ConservaçãoDoutor em Ambiente e Sociedad

Creating Shared Value Meets Human Rights: A Sense-Making Perspective in Small-Scale Firms

How do firms make sense of creating shared value (CSV) projects? In their sense-making processes, do they extend the meaning spectrum to include human rights? What are the dominant cognitive frames through which firms make sense of CSV projects, and are some frames more likely to have transformative power? We pose these questions in the context of small-scale firms in a low-to-middle income country—a context where CSV policies have been promoted extensively over the last decade in the expectation of improved economic competitiveness, growth, and sustainable development processes. We employ a grounded theory approach to identify three dominant cognitive frames used by our respondents to make sense of CSV. The most prevalent frame (growth first) prioritizes economic over social and environmental goals, and considers social, environmental, and human rights benefits to trickle down from economic growth and wealth generation. In the second frame (green-win), economic actors follow a win–win logic according to which environmental sustainability is pursued only if there are clear and foreseeable economic payoffs. The third frame (humanizing the business) is a niche that emphasizes the attainment of certain human rights goals, despite a perceived lack of immediate economic returns. Our work casts doubt on the capacity of CSV projects to stimulate sustainable development processes without radically changing entrepreneurs’ cognitive frames from growth first to humanizing the business

Using Interviews In Sirenian Research

[No abstract available]10911

Balancing economic development and environmental responsibility: Perceptions from communities of garimpeiros in the Brazilian Amazon

Addressing sustainability in small-scale gold mining (SSGM) can be controversial. In Brazil there is a heated debate over the sustainable approach in SSGM operations, especially in the Amazon biome where biodiversity conservation and indigenous peoples' rights raise global concern. Opposing opinions about what should be “sustained” emerge from two extreme perspectives: ensuring the perpetuation of small-scale gold mining to guarantee incomes and productivity, and considering this activity as one of the major threats to Amazonian ecosystems. It is important to understand if, in the Brazilian Amazon, this debate is condemned to remain as “SSGM versus sustainability” or if it could be transformed into “SSGM and sustainability”, meaning that SSGM might embrace an understanding of sustainability that is more balanced between economic and environmental component. Therefore, this study aims at addressing the perceptions of small-scale miners (garimpeiros) themselves regarding sustainability. The research unfolds the dynamic between state impositions of environmental regulations and garimpeiros' response by showing: i) the problematics over environmental licensing and the role of cooperatives in helping with its legal aspects, and generally promoting environmental sustainability; ii) the controversial relationship between garimpeiros and environmental law enforcement agencies; iii) how miners understand the impact of deforestation; and finally, iv) how they explore sustainability pathways with landscape impact-mitigation practices. The results show that garimpeiros’ actions point to the prolongation of their SSGM activity. Nevertheless, it is possible to see seeds of transformation towards more sustainable practices reinforced by associations, the adoption of cleaner technology and initiatives of rehabilitation of mined-out landscapes. Still, SSGM associations mostly employ the notion of sustainability as a palliative to allow their economic growth at the expense of the natural environment. This practice fuels the polarized debate over sustainability in the Amazon and exposes the extreme divergence of positions among all the actors in the arena. Moreover, the notion of sustainability is so malleable that there is a risk that scholars, institutions, and miners might interpret it in different, idiosyncratic ways to serve their particular political values, interests, desires, and visions of the future