Examining the Contradictions of Small Hydro power Plants as Sustainable Energy Sources in Brazil

As Pequenas Centrais Hidrelétricas (PCHs) vêm ganhando destaque nos esforços voltados para a expansão da oferta de energia elétrica em âmbito mundial. Tal fato se deve à ideia de que essas plantas de geração de energia, por seu menor porte, causariam impactos ambientais insignificantes, quando comparadas com grandes usinas hidrelétricas. Em função disso, o Brasil tem flexibilizado as normas ambientais e concedido incentivos financeiros com o objetivo de facilitar e agilizar a implantação de PCHs no país. Além disso, programas governamentais, como o PROINFA e o “Luz para Todos”, também podem ter contribuído para a expansão desse tipo de empreendimento nos últimos anos. Apesar da imagem limpa e dos incentivos concedidos, diferentes pesquisas científicas têm demonstrado evidências de que as PCHs, mesmo com seu menor porte, alteram as características hidrológicas dos ecossistemas aquáticos e causam impactos à biota em níveis individual, populacional e de comunidades. Em adição, já existem evidências de que alguns impactos ambientais acarretados por um conjunto de PCHs podem ser maiores do que os impactos causados por usinas hidrelétricas de grande porte. Portanto, não existem motivos para facilitar e agilizar os processos de aprovação e implementação de PCHs. O presente artigo aponta que as estratégias utilizadas para acelerar a implantação de PCHs contribuem para fragilizar os instrumentos de controle ambiental adotados no Brasil e para disseminar a percepção de que esses instrumentos são entraves ao desenvolvimento econômico, colocando, assim, a questão ambiental em patamares inferiores nas decisões tomadas no setor elétrico. O artigo postula, ainda, que as PCHs, como qualquer outro empreendimento potencialmente poluidor, devem ser alvo de uma avaliação socioambiental criteriosa, que possa subsidiar o processo decisório sobre as alternativas para a expansão da oferta de energia elétrica no Brasil.Small Hydropower Plants (SHPs) have become prominent worldwide because of widespread efforts to expand energy supply. This development is partially due to the misguided idea that this type of power generation plants can cause insignificant environmental impacts when compared to their larger counterparts. As a result of this point of view, Brazil has relaxed environmental standards and granted financial incentives to facilitate and expedite the implementation of SHP. In addition, government programs such as the PROINFA and “Luz para todos” also contributed to the expansion of SHPs. Despite of the clean image and granted incentives to SHPs, there is scientific evidence to support the claim that SHPs, despite its smaller size, can alter the hydrological characteristics of aquatic ecosystems with impacts to biota at individual, population and community levels. In addition, there is scientific evidence showing that the environmental impacts caused by a number of SHPs may be larger than the impacts caused by large hydroelectric plants. Therefore, we argue that there is no reason to facilitate and streamline the procedures for the approval and implementation of SHPs. This article discusses the strategies used to accelerate the deployment of SHPs which weaken the environmental control instruments adopted in Brazil. We also address the perception that the environmental licensing instruments are obstacles to economic development. We argue that this type of behavior contributes to halt the position of the environmental dimension in the decision-making process by the electric energy sector. Finally, we proposed that SHPs, as any other potentially polluting development, should be subject to careful environmental assessments which can support the decision-making process regarding the establishing of sustainable alternatives for the expansion of electricity supply in Brazil

Compressible primitive equation: formal derivation and stability of weak solutions

We present a formal derivation of a simplified version of Compressible Primitive Equations (CPEs) for atmosphere modeling. They are obtained from $3$-D compressible Navier-Stokes equations with an \emph{anisotropic viscous stress tensor} where viscosity depends on the density. We then study the stability of the weak solutions of this model by using an intermediate model, called model problem, which is more simple and practical, to achieve the main result

Deforestation assessment in the state of Rondônia between 2001 and 2011

No presente estudo, foi avaliada a acurácia dos mapeamentos do desmatamento conduzidos pelo Programa de Monitoramento do Desflorestamento na Amazônia (PRODES) do Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) e pela Secretaria de Estado do Desenvolvimento Ambiental (SEDAM), para o Estado de Rondônia, no período entre 2001 a 2011, utilizando imagens Landsat 5 TM. Com base nos resultados deste estudo, os mapeamentos conduzidos pela SEDAM e pelo PRODES-INPE apresentaram coeficientes Kappa similares, estimados em 0,89 e 0,87, respectivamente. Os dados do desmatamento dos sistemas PRODES e SEDAM revelaram um decréscimo nas taxas de desmatamento em todo o Estado de Rondônia no período de análise, embora os desmatamentos ilegais dentro de áreas protegidas tenham aumentado cerca de 400% entre 2002 e 2011. Assumindo-se esta tendência de desmatamento da última década, é possível afirmar que as terras indígenas e unidades de conservação (UC) em Rondônia serão os principais alvos de desmatamento e destruição nos próximos anos.The goal of this study was to assess the accuracy of deforestation maps produced by the National Institute for Spatial Research (INPE) and the Rondônia State Secretariat of Environmental Development (SEDAM) for the state of Rondônia between 2001 and 2011. Our results show that the deforestation mappings conducted by SEDAM and PRODES-INPE present similar Kappa coefficients, which were estimated at 0.89 and 0.87, respectively. The deforestation datasets prepared by PRODES and SEDAM show a decrease in deforestation rates in Rondônia state in the study period. However, there was a significant increase in illegal deforestation (approximately 400% within the protected areas) in this period. Based on the deforestation trend observed in the past decade, we can affirm that forests inside protected areas are the main targets for deforestation in Rondônia state

Dependence and state-led expropriation of land in the neo-developmental / neo-extractive context: implications for reproduction of communities affected by the Minas-Rio Pipeline and the Açu Port Complex

With 1,121 expropriations for the construction of the Minas-Rio (Brazil) pipeline and 1,500 families expropriated for the construction of the Açu Port Complex (Brazil), adding to the impact on aquatic systems with degradation, increased demand, salinization and release of suspended iron ore, these large enterprises produce deleterious socio-environmental effects. This, in a context of economic development based on the export of agricultural, mining and energy commodities, pipelines and ports form structures of integration to the global chain ensuring the reproduction of capital while at the local scale they affect the social reproduction of local communities. In analyzing the economic dependence of Brazil within the framework of Neo-extractivism, this article seeks to identify links between these enterprises and the economic development model, which explain the causes of the impacts that affect socio-family and community reproduction, through a bibliographical research and a survey of official documents. The main conclusion of the analysis is that the impacts to social reproduction in territories that develop traditional practices and ways of life result from an option to adopt a development strategy that leads to the deepening of external economic dependence, while aggravating social and environmental vulnerabilities at a local scale.Com 1.121 desapropriações para a construção do mineroduto Minas-Rio e 1,5 mil famílias desapropriadas para a construção do Complexo Portuário do Açu, adicionando o impacto em sistemas aquáticos, com degradação, aumento da demanda, salinização e suspensão do abastecimento público por despejos de minério de ferro, esses grandes empreendimentos produzem efeitos socioambientais deletérios. Isso se dá em um modelo de desenvolvimento econômico baseado na exportação de commodities agrícolas, minerárias e energéticas, em que minerodutos e portos formam estruturas de integração à cadeia global que buscam assegurar a reprodução do grande capital, ao mesmo tempo em que em escala local afetam a reprodução social de famílias e comunidades que habitam os territórios escolhidos para sediar tais empreendimentos. Ao analisar a dependência econômica do Brasil nos marcos do neodesenvolvimentismo/neoextrativismo, este artigo procura identificar nexos entre esses empreendimentos e o modelo de desenvolvimento econômico que expliquem os determinantes dos impactos que afetam a reprodução sociofamiliar e comunitária, por meio de uma pesquisa bibliográfica e de um levantamento de documentos oficiais. A principal conclusão das análises realizadas é de que os impactos à reprodução social em territórios que desenvolvem práticas e modos de vida tradicionais decorrem da opção de adotar uma estratégia de desenvolvimento econômico que leva ao aprofundamento da dependência econômica externa e ao agravamento das vulnerabilidades sociais e ambientais em escala local

Land-use in Amazonia and the cerrado of Brazil.

The total area and annual rate of native vegetation clearing is greatest in the Cerrado region followed by the Brazilian states of Para, Mato Grosso, Maranhao and Rondonia. Amazonian forest clearing proceeds most quickly where abundant natural resources (wood or land) are accessible by roads and close to markets. These regions are concentrated along the eastern and southern flanks of Amazonia, particularly in eastern Para, Cuiaba and Rondonia. There are still large discrepancies in estimates of annual deforestation; Landsat (Thematic Mapper-based) mapping of deforestation in the closed-canopy forests of Amazonia has not include non-Brazilian countries and is incomplete for the cerrado biome. Amazonian deforestation was last mapped 1994. Current estimates of Amazonian forest clearing do not include most of the forests that are affected by logging each year, which is an area (about 7,000 km2 yr-1)more than half the size of the area of annual deforestation. Logging changes forest structure and increases forest flammability. The intensity of logging ranges from 1-to 100-species harvest, and averages 20m3 of wood harvested per hectare. Logging may increase dramatically in the coming years. Fire affects large, but difficult to measure, areas of pastureland, logged forests, secondary forests and primary forests. Forest ground fires are particularly difficult to map fom satellite data. Fire is more frequent where forest clearing is taking place, and where seasonal drought is most severe. The destiny of Amazonian forest land cleared for crops and cattle pasture is complex, and highly variables regionally. Areal estimates are needed for managed pasture, degraded pasture, cropland and secondadry forests, for these ecosystems are functionally distinct. Most forest clearing is for pasture establishment, followed by shifting cultivation. Cattle pasture is the logical land-use for both small-scale and large-scale rural Amazonians because cattle are easily sold or traded, and they maintain their value during inflation. Cattle patures help secure land claims and increase land value. In the Cerrado, there has been a shift from extensive cattle grazing of natural savannas to pasture planted with African forage grasses; mechanized soy bean production is the second most extensive land-use. Pastures are the most important land-cover for the LBA (Large-Scale Biosphere - Atmosphere experiment in Amazonia) science campaign. Brazilian Amazonia experiences reduced rainfall during ENSO events. ENSO-related drought is most severe in eastern Amazonia. A basin-wide reduction in rainfall would have its greatest affect on vegetation near the border between savanna and closed-canopy forest in Rondonia, Mato Grosso, Para and Tocantins. The LBA campaign should be conducted in variety of rural landscapes to capture the multiplicity of human effects on native ecosystems, as well as the range of cliamatic and edaphic conditions under which these ecosystems have evolved. It should address the current (ENSO) and predicted variations in climate, and should be designed to recommend those land-uses that best reconcile the maintenance of ecosystem processes with socially equitable economic growth

Mapeamento espaço-temporal de plantios de soja no estado de Rondônia, Amazônia ocidental brasileira

Although soybean production has been increasing in the state of Rondônia in the last decade, soybean planted area has been estimated indirectly using secondary datasets, which has limited understanding of its spatiotemporal distribution patterns. This study aimed to map and analyze spatial patterns of soybean expansion in Rondônia. We developed a classification technique based on Spectral Mixture Analysis (SMA) derived from Landsat imagery and Decision Tree Classification to detect and map soybean plantations in 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2014. The soybean classification map showed 93% global accuracy, 23% omission and 0% of commission errors for soybean crop fields. The greatest increases of soybean cropped area in the state of Rondônia were observed between 2000-2005 and 2005-2010 time-periods (33,239 ha and 59,628 ha, respectively), mostly located in Southern Rondônia. The expansion of soybean areas to Northern Rondônia (25,627 ha) has mostly occurred in the 2010-2014 time period. We estimate that 95.4% of all newly created soybean plantations, detected by 2014, were established on lands deforested nine or more years earlier. We concluded that the incursion of soybean plantations on lands deforested for other land uses (e.g. ranching) is contributing to their displacement (pastures) from older colonization zones toward more remote frontier areas of the Amazon, exacerbating new deforestation there