Deforestation, Coffee Cultivation, and Land Degradation ... - lumes

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interviews have been included in this report. In the future, these interviews would be arelevant and desirable addition to this study.1.4 MethodologyThis study was written in cooperation with three months of work with the non-governmentalorganization Iracambi Recursos Naturais (Iracambi), located in Rosário da Limeira, Brazil.The time spent in this region enabled the author to gain firsthand appreciation of therelationships existing between deforestation, coffee cultivation, and land degradation.Additionally, the author was able to experience direct interaction with the many actorsinvolved in the work to conserve the Mata Atlântica and improve the economic and socialconditions of small-scale coffee farmers. This interaction consisted of observation, research,data collection, and hands-on work in the forest and on the farms. In addition the authorattended meetings of the Rural Farmers Union and participated in meetings betweenEMATER (the region’s agricultural extension agency), Iracambi and Partners of theAmericas for the development of the Small Farmers Loan Fund. Research also consisted ofinformal interviews and work with local farmers; one interview with representatives fromEMATER; one interview with the mayor of Rosário da Limeira; one interview with Dr. DaleBeckman, Partners of the Americas representative for Brazil, and the everyday interactionwithin Iracambi.Below is a more detailed description of the methods involved specific to each section of thereport:• Theoretical framework: the material presented in this section of the report is based on theknowledge gained from the author’s educational experience while at Lund University’sMasters in Environmental Science (LUMES) program, in addition to a literary review.• Background: Research and literary review of the development of the events and situationsthat have led to the existing problems presented in this report; and a description of thestudy area of Rosário da Limeira and the coffee farmers as observed by the author.• Problem Analysis: Developed through a systems analysis approach and with the use of aconceptual model. Based upon the information obtained during the author’s three-monthstay in Rosário da Limeira, collection of data, and literature review.• Discussion and Results: The author cooperated with Iracambi to research various forms ofland management strategies that have the most potential in the region. These strategies arepresented in this section. This research was a combination of primary data collectionthrough interviews with the region’s agricultural agency, EMATER and work on thefarms in the region that take part in semi-experimental land management activities.Secondary data collection consisted of a comprehensive review of relevant literature.2. Theoretical FrameworkThis section provides the theoretical setting for the problems discussed throughout this report.Beginning with a broad look at the goals for achieving sustainability and then discussing theimportance of such goals on a global scale—then zeroing in on the key points from Agenda21 with which this paper focuses.2.1 Achieving SustainabilityThe concept of “sustainable development” was introduced to the world in 1987 in a reportpublished by the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development5
entitled “Our Common Future.” This report linked the progress of global economicdevelopment with the depletion of the world’s natural resources and the degradation of theenvironment. For the first time, it was declared to the world that it is “impossible to separateeconomic development from environmental issues” (Nelissen 1997 p. 277 ).In the past the world was concerned about the impacts of economic growth on theenvironment. But today as our finite natural resource base degrades and environmentalquality is diminished, the tables have turned and the focus has shifted to include a perhapsmore troublesome concern: What are the effects of environmental degradation on the world’seconomic and social development? To deal with these concerns the UN Commission’s report,often referred to simply as the Brundtland Report, suggested that humanity must look at ourglobal problems in a systemic manner, recognizing the inter-relationships betweenecological/environmental, economic, and social problems around the globe. Offered in thereport is the most widely accepted definition of sustainable development: “developmentwhich ensures that humanity meets the needs of the present without compromising the abilityof the future generations to meet their own needs” (ibid. p.282).The idea of a pathway to sustainable development was a global trendsetter and foreverchanged the way we view the world. As a consequence of the ideas set forth in theBrundtland Report, an Earth Summit was convened in June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil toconfront the global task of reaching for an internationally cooperative sustainabledevelopment. As a testament to the significance of this issue, the Summit was attended by100 world leaders from countries around the world, representing more than 96 percent of theworld’s total population. The Earth Summit was the largest face-to-face meeting in thehistory of international diplomacy (Sitarz 1994).In the Brundtland Report it was recognized that poverty is both a major cause and effect ofglobal environmental problems. Thus, the agreement reached at the Earth Summit was thatsustainable development must strive to meet the needs of necessary economic development,while managing natural resources and curbing environmental destruction. Such developmentshould proved a reasonable and fair standard of living for the global population, which meansbringing a balance to the over-consumption and mass production activities of theindustrialized world and the poverty or near-poverty conditions of the developing world(ibid.).A major result of the Rio Earth Summit was the formulation of Agenda 21, which is aspecific action plan designed as a tool for achieving global sustainable development in the21 st century. Agenda 21 addresses the changes needed to charter the course for developmentnow and in the future, in a manner that makes efficient use of natural resources and alters theconsumptive and productive patterns of the world (ibid.). In the years following the Summitof 1992, Agenda 21 has become synonymous with sustainable development and with theconcept of “think globally, act locally.” As a result, the majority of countries that participatedin the Summit have submitted a nation-specific action plan based upon the guidelines ofAgenda 21 and have committed to taking steps necessary to achieve sustainability goals.Further, in many countries, Agenda 21 has been translated into state/province andcounty/municipality action plans.Many of the concerns for sustainable development as targeted the Earth Summit andidentified in Agenda 21 are addressed in this study. As discussed in the objectives, the goal ofthis study is to look at the relationships between efficient use of the Earth’s natural6
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Page 24 and 25: this situation is that many farmers
Page 26 and 27: alternative in developing countries
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Page 38 and 39: Appendix 2: Price Fluctuations of C
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