Enrique Ortega | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (original) (raw)
Papers by Enrique Ortega
Ecological Modelling, 2010
Humanity's future depends on the preservation of natural ecosystems that supply resources and abs... more Humanity's future depends on the preservation of natural ecosystems that supply resources and absorb pollutants. Rural and urban productions are currently based on chemical products made from petroleum, which are responsible for high negative impacts on the Biosphere. In order to prevent those impacts, efficient public policies seeking for sustainable development are necessary. Aiming to assess the load on the environment (considering the gratuitous contributions of natural systems-a donor's perspective) due to human-dominated process, a scientific tool called Emergy Evaluation has been applied in different production systems, including crops and farms. However, there is still a lack of emergy studies in the context of watersheds, probably due to the difficulty of collecting raw data. The present work aims to carry out an assessment of Mogi-Guaç u and Pardo watershed, through the combined use of Emergy Evaluation and Geographical Information System. The agricultural and natural land uses were considered, while urban areas were excluded. Emergy flows (expressed in seJ ha −1 yr −1 ) obtained for all agricultural and natural land uses were expanded for the whole watershed and the emergy indices were calculated. The results show that the watershed has: low renewability (%R = 32%); low capture of natural resources through high external economic investment (EYR = 1.86); low dependence on natural resources (EIR = 1.16); and moderate load on the environment (ELR = 2.08). Considering a scenario where sugar-cane crops, orchards and pasture areas are converted from conventional to organic management, watershed's emergy performance improved, reaching a new renewability of 38%, but it is still not enough to be considered sustainable.
Advances in Aging Research, 2014
This study aimed to identify the key physical abilities (aerobic endurance, gait speed, balance, ... more This study aimed to identify the key physical abilities (aerobic endurance, gait speed, balance, strength) and psychological variables associated with the level of basic (BADL) and instrumental (IADL) activities of daily living in an autonomous community-dwelling elderly population in Italy. 135 elderly people (63% women; mean age = 73.3, SD = 5.5) were included in the study. Stepwise regression was performed to verify the association between these variables and the level of BADL and IADL in the elderly participants. Results showed that balance (β = −0.21, p < 0.01) and perception of physical functioning (β = 0.32, p < 0.0001) were the key individual variables related to BADL scores, and IADL score was associated with perception of physical functioning (β = 0.30, p < 0.0001) and upper limb strength (β = 0.21, p < 0.05). The results demonstrate a relationship between physical functioning and ADL, both real physical functioning and perceived physical functioning.
Apunts Educació Física i Esports, 2011
Efecte de diferents estratègies de presentació de feedback mitjançant vídeo en classes d'Educació... more Efecte de diferents estratègies de presentació de feedback mitjançant vídeo en classes d'Educació Física
Ecological Questions, 2008
The Water Code, created in 1934, was the first attempt of governmental intervention in Water Basi... more The Water Code, created in 1934, was the first attempt of governmental intervention in Water Basin Management in Brazil. It was a centralized bureaucratic system established to regulate the use of water. Since the beginning, Water Management suffered significant changes and the model currently used is an integrated participative systemic model. The distribution of water resources in Brazil is very irregular, 70% of water is located in the North region, 15% to the Central-West, 12% in the South and Southeast and 3% in the Northeast region (BNDES 1997). The state of São Paulo is located in the Southeast region, which has the biggest water consumption. The Water Resources Agency of São Paulo State (CETESB) has an advanced water management system with 20 Watershed Management Committees. Groups from different social sectors compose these committees. They constitute a new kind of organization that is responsible for the watershed planning. Actually, these committees use to obtain relevant information but they are not able to develop future scenarios, objectives, strategies and temporary goals for the water basin. The Mogi-Guaçu watershed is the most important basin in São Paulo State from the economic point of view, but the river has problems of erosion, silting, flooding and low water quality. The water quality problems are due to nonpoint sources of pollution from agriculture and municipal and industrial point sources.
![Research paper thumbnail of LA PRODUCCIÓN CIENTÍFICA EN RUGBY UNION ENTRE 1998-2007 [Scientific production in Rugby union betwen 1998-2007]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/95685091/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](El análisis de la producción científica por medios cuantitativos sirve para detectar la actividad... more El análisis de la producción científica por medios cuantitativos sirve para detectar la actividad, estructura, y evolución de un área del conocimiento y cuantificar sus resultados. El objetivo del presente estudio fue identificar, clasificar y categorizar la literatura científica en el campo del rugby union, indexada en la plataforma Isi Web Of Knowledge (WOK) entre los años 1998 y 2007. Se analizaron las siguientes variables: a) Idiomas; b) Temas de investigación (condición física, psicología, sociología, técnica-táctica deportiva, fisiología, materiales, gestión, enseñanza, y teoría del entrenamiento); c) Revistas; d) Instituciones; y e) Año. El muestra final objeto de estudio fueron 136 trabajos. Las características principales de estos estudios fueron que: a) el 99,3% eran en ingles; b) el 83,5% eran estudios de investigación; c) el 51,4% era sobre lesiones del deporte; d) la mayoría de las publicaciones son de instituciones anglosajonas, y; e) se observa un incremento del número de publicaciones en los últimos cinco años (15-20 publicaciones al año).
Este trabalho apresenta no âmbito do CNPq/REPENSA (Redes Nacionais de Pesquisa em Agrobiodiversid... more Este trabalho apresenta no âmbito do CNPq/REPENSA (Redes Nacionais de Pesquisa em Agrobiodiversidade e Sustentabilidade Agropecuária), Projeto número 562441/2010-7, "Estruturação de rede de monitoramento e base compartilhada de dados de sistemas de produção integrada e intensiva sustentável (suinocultura-agrosilvipastoril) em assentamento de reforma agrária visando balanços favoráveis de água, energia e nutrientes", informações norteadoras para projetos de fertirrigação para uma agricultura de baixa emissão de carbono. A fertirrigação vem se consolidando como atividade integradora de cadeias produtivas outrora dissociadas, sendo ferramenta importante de inclusão social no meio rural na borda do Pantanal (Bacia do Alto Taquari), transformando externalidades ambientais em fonte de renda e ganhos de produtividade agropecuária. Os resultados e indicadores aqui apresentados mostram que a fertirrigação com efluente de biodigestor de granjas de suínos, aqui convencionado de biofertilizante, gera impactos negativos e positivos. Os negativos recaem no potencial para eutrofização de corpos d'água por nitrogênio reativo na forma de nitratos (NO3); ambos os processos podem e devem ser substancialmente minimizados pelo uso controlado e eficiente do biofertilizante na agropecuária com doses adequadas de macro (especialmente N, P, K) e micronutrientes (Cu e Zn, entre outros) para diversas
ABSTRACT O estudo tem por objetivo os modelos de produção agro- industrial integrados com os ecos... more ABSTRACT O estudo tem por objetivo os modelos de produção agro- industrial integrados com os ecossistemas local. Contribui com a discussão e solução dos problemas do caos urbano e da degradação ambiental, permitindo assim a conquista de um maior grau de bem- estar à população. Espera-se abrir um campo de pesquisa interdisciplinar, inovador e comprometido com as mudanças sociais, que acompanhe os acontecimentos que se dão fora da universidade e que nos momentos oportunos em que se requeira sua colaboração possa dar uma contribuição à analise das perspectivas de desenvolvimento, na proposição de novos modelos de empresa agro-industrial e de políticas publicas.
A queda no preço do café no mercado internacional nos últimos anos e a dificuldade de acesso dos ... more A queda no preço do café no mercado internacional nos últimos anos e a dificuldade de acesso dos pequenos produtores ao pacote tecnológico oferecido pelo mercado para o aumento da produtividade da lavoura está fazendo com que muitos produtores abandonem a cafeicultura para se dedicar a outras atividades. A agroecologia se apresenta como alternativa a estes produtores devido às suas
Agricultural Systems, 2015
Greenhouse gas emissions and climate change has been partially attributed to agricultural expansi... more Greenhouse gas emissions and climate change has been partially attributed to agricultural expansion by deforestation, while the pressure to assure food, fiber and energy for the future generations leads to the intensification of agricultural systems. The transition to more efficient systems is actually considered an important strategy to reduce deforestation and to spare land for other uses, including the recovery of environmental services and ecohydrological processes in the drainage basin such as carbon sink and water regulation. The Brazilian Federal Program for Low Carbon Agriculture (ABC Program) intends to reduce carbon emissions by stimulating technological processes that neutralize emissions or enhance the sinking of greenhouse gases. A pilot farm has been established to assess an intensive animal-plant farming system that incorporates anaerobic digestion for biogas, power generation and organic fertilizer production. Emergy Synthesis was chosen as a methodological tool to assess and to diagnosis the farm system design. The modified emergy assessment including externalities (greenhouse gas emissions) improves the understanding of integrated crop-livestock systems efficiency in internal recycling of nutrients and power conversion. The adoption of manure treatment in intensified agricultural systems can effectively contribute to enhance environmental and economic performances.
Proceedings of IV Biennial International Workshop …, 2004
Almost a decade ago (1996) Argentina released the commercial use of transgenic seed. Thereafter, ... more Almost a decade ago (1996) Argentina released the commercial use of transgenic seed. Thereafter, the characteristics of Argentinean Agriculture changed drastically. The "Transgenic Revolution" involves soybean, corn and cotton. The process occurred during the last decade and it is considered an intensification of the "external inputs technology" that is considered as the "input decade". Soybean production became a relevant crop for Argentina, with a planted surface that rose to 12 100 000 hectares and a production of almost 35 000 000 metric tons. Nowadays, soybean represented more than 50 percent of the whole agricultural exports of the country. During the nineties, for big farmers, roundup-ready soybeans came "to solve" one of the main problems for the farm management: weed control, obtaining a virtual simplification of control and cost reduction in the herbicide price. For companies of pesticides and seeds, a unique opportunity to concentrate and rearrange the business focuses on genetic engineering. The expansion of this model occurred not only in the Pampas but and also in new areas with high biodiversity, opening a new agricultural borders in important ecosystems like Yungas, Great Chaco and the Mesopotamian Forest. Landscape transformation in the rural sector is evident and there is a new critical issue: the appearance of weeds with tolerance to glyphosate. Besides that, new important phenomena appear: nutrients depletion, soil structure degradation, initial desertification and lost of species. Transgenic cropping is a powerful technology, that could produce transformations on environment and society. Some of the consequences are migration, concentration of richness by agribusiness, lost of food diversity and food sovereignty; therefore there is a urgent need of studies on risk assessments integrating ecological and socioeconomic analysis. GMO expansion in Argentina has been facilitated by a very strong pressure of big companies, developed countries involved in trade of GMOO seeds and herbicides, big farmers' organizations and part of scientific sector of local government, but there is not a real social discussion and the implantation occurs without law obeisance, and it is necessary to complete legislation and regulations. Other South American countries are at this time facing similar pressures during the releasing of transgenic crops. Big infrastructure projects for extensive production of soybean as the "Paraguay-Paraná Hidroway" will pass through floodplain wetlands, a complex set of different preserved ecosystems. The ecological economics approach, under the post-normal science focus, is used to discuss the confirmed impacts of release of GMO soybean technology.
El análisis emergético como herramienta para evaluar la sustentabilidad en dos sistemas productivos
Ecological Modelling, 2007
The study of the water quality in natural or artificial reservoirs has utmost importance to hinde... more The study of the water quality in natural or artificial reservoirs has utmost importance to hinder eutrophication and develop projects for multiple uses. Through the knowledge of reservoir energy diagrams and the hierarchy of factors that act on reservoir energy dynamics, management systems can be proposed with the objective of maintaining the quality of water. The symbolic language of energy flows provides not only ways to compare diverse ecosystems, but also enables a relative evaluation of the behavior of each component of the ecosystem. Thus this study utilizes the energy systems language developed by Odum [12] to represent a reservoir as a dynamic system. Two models have been evaluated and simulated to evaluate eutrophication in Broa Reservoir. The models were aggregated, macroscopic mini-models of the reservoir that retained the most important components and relationships. The first mini-model simulates the reservoir daily metabolism and the second considers long-term phosphorus inflow. The models were tested with data from the Broa Reservoir. Results show that the use of energy flow language makes possible the construction of models to represent adequately structures and important functions of the Broa Reservoir. In this manner understanding of the real ecosystem is facilitated.
The emergetic analysis is a valuable tool for the integral and systematic evaluation of ecosystem... more The emergetic analysis is a valuable tool for the integral and systematic evaluation of ecosystems. It estimates the values of emergy incorporated to products, as well as the impact of human activities on ecosystems. In this work an evaluation of the rate of use of the resources in the agroecosystems and sustainability on two systems of banana (Musa spp.) production was carried out. Those systems were Conventional and Agroforestry Systems at Valle de la Ribeira, SP Brazil. The emergetic indexes calculated were: Renewability (% R), Emer- getic Yield Ratio (EYR), Emergy Inversion Ratio (EIR) and Emergy Exchange Ratio (EER). The obtained results indicate that conventional system is highly dependent on external inputs and all indexes of evaluated emergetic analysis demonstrate that the agroforestry system has higher renewability (68% vs. 29% R), higher potential of utilization of resources per consumed emergy (3,2 vs. 2,8 EYR), smaller pressure on the environment (0,46 vs. 2,41 ELR) and...
In the commerce of food products there is an urgent need for a certification procedure to make it... more In the commerce of food products there is an urgent need for a certification procedure to make it possible to distinguish products according to the different technical, environmental and social characteristics of their production systems. Food products can be grouped into three main types, according to their origin: ecological, organic and agrochemical. Up to now, ecological farmers have obtained a better price for their products but, as the number of agrochemical farmers that adopt organic techniques increases, the price paid for ecological products may decrease, jeopardizing ecological family managed farms. The ecological farm is quite different from other kinds of farm. It is a farm with a small or medium area (10-30 ha), managed by a family group who lives there, usually obeying environmental laws, preserving and using properly the natural resources. It is not fully oriented to the market, it produces for self consumption and exchanges many things without the use of money. The m...
Modelos sistêmicos que contemplam variáveis bioquímicas indicativas da qualidade da água de rios ... more Modelos sistêmicos que contemplam variáveis bioquímicas indicativas da qualidade da água de rios são ferramentas com grande potencial para auxiliar na gestão de bacias hidrográficas por possibilitar a elaboração de cenários e proporcionar a antecipação de possíveis impactos sofridos pelos rios. Através destes pode-se propor soluções e medidas mitigadoras dos mais diversos problemas relacionados à qualidade de um rio. Este trabalho propõe um modelo sistêmico da qualidade de rios fundamentado na diagramação de sistemas de energia desenvolvida por H. T. ODUM. A partir dos Diagramas de Sistemas de Energia, foi realizada a modelagem matemática, a obtenção dos dados de equilíbrio e dos coeficientes de fluxo e a simulação dinâmica dos principais elementos do Rio Mogi-Guaçu. O modelo proposto foi validado mediante a comparação dos resultados obtidos na simulação com dados empíricos disponíveis na literatura. Os resultados do modelo apresentaram boa concordância com os dados experimentais. Foram criados cenários para visualização de possíveis condições futuras do rio Mogi-Guaçu, os quais foram orientados de acordo com alternativas de políticas públicas ambientais, uso das terras, crescimento populacional e industrial. Os cenários têm a capacidade de mostrar o quanto cada parâmetro relacionado às alterações antrópicas pode alterar as variáveis de qualidade do rio. Cenários de interações entre diferentes variáveis foram avaliados e mostraram que, com os crescimentos aparentemente inevitáveis, da indústria e populacional aliados a mudanças climáticas, o tratamento do esgoto doméstico se apresenta como um elemento chave para a manutenção da qualidade do rio Mogi-Guaçu.
To develop more objective and more efficient criteria for judging sustainable development, the in... more To develop more objective and more efficient criteria for judging sustainable development, the interactions between human activities and the environment are being simulated using various forms of systemic modeling. H.T. Odum was a pioneer in applying modeling concepts from electrical circuitry and irreversible thermodynamics to systems ecology. The Emergy Simulator (EmSim) project is a computer implementation of the main concepts of H.T. Odum’s Energy Systems Language. First, with EmSim it is possible to share models through the Internet or export them as drawings. Second, EmSim is able to translate Odum’s Energy Systems diagrams directly into a set of ordinary differential equations that can be integrated and plotted. EmSim also can correctly compute emergies and transformities in energy networks. Finally, EmSim is an open source project that can be improved by other people interested in these kinds of calculations. Everybody is welcome to try it, learn more about it and participat...
Ecological Modelling, 2010
Humanity's future depends on the preservation of natural ecosystems that supply resources and abs... more Humanity's future depends on the preservation of natural ecosystems that supply resources and absorb pollutants. Rural and urban productions are currently based on chemical products made from petroleum, which are responsible for high negative impacts on the Biosphere. In order to prevent those impacts, efficient public policies seeking for sustainable development are necessary. Aiming to assess the load on the environment (considering the gratuitous contributions of natural systems-a donor's perspective) due to human-dominated process, a scientific tool called Emergy Evaluation has been applied in different production systems, including crops and farms. However, there is still a lack of emergy studies in the context of watersheds, probably due to the difficulty of collecting raw data. The present work aims to carry out an assessment of Mogi-Guaç u and Pardo watershed, through the combined use of Emergy Evaluation and Geographical Information System. The agricultural and natural land uses were considered, while urban areas were excluded. Emergy flows (expressed in seJ ha −1 yr −1 ) obtained for all agricultural and natural land uses were expanded for the whole watershed and the emergy indices were calculated. The results show that the watershed has: low renewability (%R = 32%); low capture of natural resources through high external economic investment (EYR = 1.86); low dependence on natural resources (EIR = 1.16); and moderate load on the environment (ELR = 2.08). Considering a scenario where sugar-cane crops, orchards and pasture areas are converted from conventional to organic management, watershed's emergy performance improved, reaching a new renewability of 38%, but it is still not enough to be considered sustainable.
Advances in Aging Research, 2014
This study aimed to identify the key physical abilities (aerobic endurance, gait speed, balance, ... more This study aimed to identify the key physical abilities (aerobic endurance, gait speed, balance, strength) and psychological variables associated with the level of basic (BADL) and instrumental (IADL) activities of daily living in an autonomous community-dwelling elderly population in Italy. 135 elderly people (63% women; mean age = 73.3, SD = 5.5) were included in the study. Stepwise regression was performed to verify the association between these variables and the level of BADL and IADL in the elderly participants. Results showed that balance (β = −0.21, p < 0.01) and perception of physical functioning (β = 0.32, p < 0.0001) were the key individual variables related to BADL scores, and IADL score was associated with perception of physical functioning (β = 0.30, p < 0.0001) and upper limb strength (β = 0.21, p < 0.05). The results demonstrate a relationship between physical functioning and ADL, both real physical functioning and perceived physical functioning.
Apunts Educació Física i Esports, 2011
Efecte de diferents estratègies de presentació de feedback mitjançant vídeo en classes d'Educació... more Efecte de diferents estratègies de presentació de feedback mitjançant vídeo en classes d'Educació Física
Ecological Questions, 2008
The Water Code, created in 1934, was the first attempt of governmental intervention in Water Basi... more The Water Code, created in 1934, was the first attempt of governmental intervention in Water Basin Management in Brazil. It was a centralized bureaucratic system established to regulate the use of water. Since the beginning, Water Management suffered significant changes and the model currently used is an integrated participative systemic model. The distribution of water resources in Brazil is very irregular, 70% of water is located in the North region, 15% to the Central-West, 12% in the South and Southeast and 3% in the Northeast region (BNDES 1997). The state of São Paulo is located in the Southeast region, which has the biggest water consumption. The Water Resources Agency of São Paulo State (CETESB) has an advanced water management system with 20 Watershed Management Committees. Groups from different social sectors compose these committees. They constitute a new kind of organization that is responsible for the watershed planning. Actually, these committees use to obtain relevant information but they are not able to develop future scenarios, objectives, strategies and temporary goals for the water basin. The Mogi-Guaçu watershed is the most important basin in São Paulo State from the economic point of view, but the river has problems of erosion, silting, flooding and low water quality. The water quality problems are due to nonpoint sources of pollution from agriculture and municipal and industrial point sources.
El análisis de la producción científica por medios cuantitativos sirve para detectar la actividad... more El análisis de la producción científica por medios cuantitativos sirve para detectar la actividad, estructura, y evolución de un área del conocimiento y cuantificar sus resultados. El objetivo del presente estudio fue identificar, clasificar y categorizar la literatura científica en el campo del rugby union, indexada en la plataforma Isi Web Of Knowledge (WOK) entre los años 1998 y 2007. Se analizaron las siguientes variables: a) Idiomas; b) Temas de investigación (condición física, psicología, sociología, técnica-táctica deportiva, fisiología, materiales, gestión, enseñanza, y teoría del entrenamiento); c) Revistas; d) Instituciones; y e) Año. El muestra final objeto de estudio fueron 136 trabajos. Las características principales de estos estudios fueron que: a) el 99,3% eran en ingles; b) el 83,5% eran estudios de investigación; c) el 51,4% era sobre lesiones del deporte; d) la mayoría de las publicaciones son de instituciones anglosajonas, y; e) se observa un incremento del número de publicaciones en los últimos cinco años (15-20 publicaciones al año).
Este trabalho apresenta no âmbito do CNPq/REPENSA (Redes Nacionais de Pesquisa em Agrobiodiversid... more Este trabalho apresenta no âmbito do CNPq/REPENSA (Redes Nacionais de Pesquisa em Agrobiodiversidade e Sustentabilidade Agropecuária), Projeto número 562441/2010-7, "Estruturação de rede de monitoramento e base compartilhada de dados de sistemas de produção integrada e intensiva sustentável (suinocultura-agrosilvipastoril) em assentamento de reforma agrária visando balanços favoráveis de água, energia e nutrientes", informações norteadoras para projetos de fertirrigação para uma agricultura de baixa emissão de carbono. A fertirrigação vem se consolidando como atividade integradora de cadeias produtivas outrora dissociadas, sendo ferramenta importante de inclusão social no meio rural na borda do Pantanal (Bacia do Alto Taquari), transformando externalidades ambientais em fonte de renda e ganhos de produtividade agropecuária. Os resultados e indicadores aqui apresentados mostram que a fertirrigação com efluente de biodigestor de granjas de suínos, aqui convencionado de biofertilizante, gera impactos negativos e positivos. Os negativos recaem no potencial para eutrofização de corpos d'água por nitrogênio reativo na forma de nitratos (NO3); ambos os processos podem e devem ser substancialmente minimizados pelo uso controlado e eficiente do biofertilizante na agropecuária com doses adequadas de macro (especialmente N, P, K) e micronutrientes (Cu e Zn, entre outros) para diversas
ABSTRACT O estudo tem por objetivo os modelos de produção agro- industrial integrados com os ecos... more ABSTRACT O estudo tem por objetivo os modelos de produção agro- industrial integrados com os ecossistemas local. Contribui com a discussão e solução dos problemas do caos urbano e da degradação ambiental, permitindo assim a conquista de um maior grau de bem- estar à população. Espera-se abrir um campo de pesquisa interdisciplinar, inovador e comprometido com as mudanças sociais, que acompanhe os acontecimentos que se dão fora da universidade e que nos momentos oportunos em que se requeira sua colaboração possa dar uma contribuição à analise das perspectivas de desenvolvimento, na proposição de novos modelos de empresa agro-industrial e de políticas publicas.
A queda no preço do café no mercado internacional nos últimos anos e a dificuldade de acesso dos ... more A queda no preço do café no mercado internacional nos últimos anos e a dificuldade de acesso dos pequenos produtores ao pacote tecnológico oferecido pelo mercado para o aumento da produtividade da lavoura está fazendo com que muitos produtores abandonem a cafeicultura para se dedicar a outras atividades. A agroecologia se apresenta como alternativa a estes produtores devido às suas
Agricultural Systems, 2015
Greenhouse gas emissions and climate change has been partially attributed to agricultural expansi... more Greenhouse gas emissions and climate change has been partially attributed to agricultural expansion by deforestation, while the pressure to assure food, fiber and energy for the future generations leads to the intensification of agricultural systems. The transition to more efficient systems is actually considered an important strategy to reduce deforestation and to spare land for other uses, including the recovery of environmental services and ecohydrological processes in the drainage basin such as carbon sink and water regulation. The Brazilian Federal Program for Low Carbon Agriculture (ABC Program) intends to reduce carbon emissions by stimulating technological processes that neutralize emissions or enhance the sinking of greenhouse gases. A pilot farm has been established to assess an intensive animal-plant farming system that incorporates anaerobic digestion for biogas, power generation and organic fertilizer production. Emergy Synthesis was chosen as a methodological tool to assess and to diagnosis the farm system design. The modified emergy assessment including externalities (greenhouse gas emissions) improves the understanding of integrated crop-livestock systems efficiency in internal recycling of nutrients and power conversion. The adoption of manure treatment in intensified agricultural systems can effectively contribute to enhance environmental and economic performances.
Proceedings of IV Biennial International Workshop …, 2004
Almost a decade ago (1996) Argentina released the commercial use of transgenic seed. Thereafter, ... more Almost a decade ago (1996) Argentina released the commercial use of transgenic seed. Thereafter, the characteristics of Argentinean Agriculture changed drastically. The "Transgenic Revolution" involves soybean, corn and cotton. The process occurred during the last decade and it is considered an intensification of the "external inputs technology" that is considered as the "input decade". Soybean production became a relevant crop for Argentina, with a planted surface that rose to 12 100 000 hectares and a production of almost 35 000 000 metric tons. Nowadays, soybean represented more than 50 percent of the whole agricultural exports of the country. During the nineties, for big farmers, roundup-ready soybeans came "to solve" one of the main problems for the farm management: weed control, obtaining a virtual simplification of control and cost reduction in the herbicide price. For companies of pesticides and seeds, a unique opportunity to concentrate and rearrange the business focuses on genetic engineering. The expansion of this model occurred not only in the Pampas but and also in new areas with high biodiversity, opening a new agricultural borders in important ecosystems like Yungas, Great Chaco and the Mesopotamian Forest. Landscape transformation in the rural sector is evident and there is a new critical issue: the appearance of weeds with tolerance to glyphosate. Besides that, new important phenomena appear: nutrients depletion, soil structure degradation, initial desertification and lost of species. Transgenic cropping is a powerful technology, that could produce transformations on environment and society. Some of the consequences are migration, concentration of richness by agribusiness, lost of food diversity and food sovereignty; therefore there is a urgent need of studies on risk assessments integrating ecological and socioeconomic analysis. GMO expansion in Argentina has been facilitated by a very strong pressure of big companies, developed countries involved in trade of GMOO seeds and herbicides, big farmers' organizations and part of scientific sector of local government, but there is not a real social discussion and the implantation occurs without law obeisance, and it is necessary to complete legislation and regulations. Other South American countries are at this time facing similar pressures during the releasing of transgenic crops. Big infrastructure projects for extensive production of soybean as the "Paraguay-Paraná Hidroway" will pass through floodplain wetlands, a complex set of different preserved ecosystems. The ecological economics approach, under the post-normal science focus, is used to discuss the confirmed impacts of release of GMO soybean technology.
El análisis emergético como herramienta para evaluar la sustentabilidad en dos sistemas productivos
Ecological Modelling, 2007
The study of the water quality in natural or artificial reservoirs has utmost importance to hinde... more The study of the water quality in natural or artificial reservoirs has utmost importance to hinder eutrophication and develop projects for multiple uses. Through the knowledge of reservoir energy diagrams and the hierarchy of factors that act on reservoir energy dynamics, management systems can be proposed with the objective of maintaining the quality of water. The symbolic language of energy flows provides not only ways to compare diverse ecosystems, but also enables a relative evaluation of the behavior of each component of the ecosystem. Thus this study utilizes the energy systems language developed by Odum [12] to represent a reservoir as a dynamic system. Two models have been evaluated and simulated to evaluate eutrophication in Broa Reservoir. The models were aggregated, macroscopic mini-models of the reservoir that retained the most important components and relationships. The first mini-model simulates the reservoir daily metabolism and the second considers long-term phosphorus inflow. The models were tested with data from the Broa Reservoir. Results show that the use of energy flow language makes possible the construction of models to represent adequately structures and important functions of the Broa Reservoir. In this manner understanding of the real ecosystem is facilitated.
The emergetic analysis is a valuable tool for the integral and systematic evaluation of ecosystem... more The emergetic analysis is a valuable tool for the integral and systematic evaluation of ecosystems. It estimates the values of emergy incorporated to products, as well as the impact of human activities on ecosystems. In this work an evaluation of the rate of use of the resources in the agroecosystems and sustainability on two systems of banana (Musa spp.) production was carried out. Those systems were Conventional and Agroforestry Systems at Valle de la Ribeira, SP Brazil. The emergetic indexes calculated were: Renewability (% R), Emer- getic Yield Ratio (EYR), Emergy Inversion Ratio (EIR) and Emergy Exchange Ratio (EER). The obtained results indicate that conventional system is highly dependent on external inputs and all indexes of evaluated emergetic analysis demonstrate that the agroforestry system has higher renewability (68% vs. 29% R), higher potential of utilization of resources per consumed emergy (3,2 vs. 2,8 EYR), smaller pressure on the environment (0,46 vs. 2,41 ELR) and...
In the commerce of food products there is an urgent need for a certification procedure to make it... more In the commerce of food products there is an urgent need for a certification procedure to make it possible to distinguish products according to the different technical, environmental and social characteristics of their production systems. Food products can be grouped into three main types, according to their origin: ecological, organic and agrochemical. Up to now, ecological farmers have obtained a better price for their products but, as the number of agrochemical farmers that adopt organic techniques increases, the price paid for ecological products may decrease, jeopardizing ecological family managed farms. The ecological farm is quite different from other kinds of farm. It is a farm with a small or medium area (10-30 ha), managed by a family group who lives there, usually obeying environmental laws, preserving and using properly the natural resources. It is not fully oriented to the market, it produces for self consumption and exchanges many things without the use of money. The m...
Modelos sistêmicos que contemplam variáveis bioquímicas indicativas da qualidade da água de rios ... more Modelos sistêmicos que contemplam variáveis bioquímicas indicativas da qualidade da água de rios são ferramentas com grande potencial para auxiliar na gestão de bacias hidrográficas por possibilitar a elaboração de cenários e proporcionar a antecipação de possíveis impactos sofridos pelos rios. Através destes pode-se propor soluções e medidas mitigadoras dos mais diversos problemas relacionados à qualidade de um rio. Este trabalho propõe um modelo sistêmico da qualidade de rios fundamentado na diagramação de sistemas de energia desenvolvida por H. T. ODUM. A partir dos Diagramas de Sistemas de Energia, foi realizada a modelagem matemática, a obtenção dos dados de equilíbrio e dos coeficientes de fluxo e a simulação dinâmica dos principais elementos do Rio Mogi-Guaçu. O modelo proposto foi validado mediante a comparação dos resultados obtidos na simulação com dados empíricos disponíveis na literatura. Os resultados do modelo apresentaram boa concordância com os dados experimentais. Foram criados cenários para visualização de possíveis condições futuras do rio Mogi-Guaçu, os quais foram orientados de acordo com alternativas de políticas públicas ambientais, uso das terras, crescimento populacional e industrial. Os cenários têm a capacidade de mostrar o quanto cada parâmetro relacionado às alterações antrópicas pode alterar as variáveis de qualidade do rio. Cenários de interações entre diferentes variáveis foram avaliados e mostraram que, com os crescimentos aparentemente inevitáveis, da indústria e populacional aliados a mudanças climáticas, o tratamento do esgoto doméstico se apresenta como um elemento chave para a manutenção da qualidade do rio Mogi-Guaçu.
To develop more objective and more efficient criteria for judging sustainable development, the in... more To develop more objective and more efficient criteria for judging sustainable development, the interactions between human activities and the environment are being simulated using various forms of systemic modeling. H.T. Odum was a pioneer in applying modeling concepts from electrical circuitry and irreversible thermodynamics to systems ecology. The Emergy Simulator (EmSim) project is a computer implementation of the main concepts of H.T. Odum’s Energy Systems Language. First, with EmSim it is possible to share models through the Internet or export them as drawings. Second, EmSim is able to translate Odum’s Energy Systems diagrams directly into a set of ordinary differential equations that can be integrated and plotted. EmSim also can correctly compute emergies and transformities in energy networks. Finally, EmSim is an open source project that can be improved by other people interested in these kinds of calculations. Everybody is welcome to try it, learn more about it and participat...
The political project organized five hundred years ago by Eastern European Civilization for conqu... more The political project organized five hundred years ago by Eastern European Civilization for conquest, dominance and exploration of external territories, is now under deep crisis. It achieved its climax and gives signals of a climatic, ecological, and monetary collapse. It is time to gather forces and promote a change in a democratic and conscious way. Howard and Elizabeth Odum, in their book “The Prosperous Way Down: Principles and Policy”, suggested the organization of “task forces” to help people to face-up the next global change. The constitution of such kind of groups demands the identification, integration and organization of people with different life experiences and knowledges in open-minded groups that need to choose a research and extension project to concentrate their work efforts during some years. The integration and mobilization of this kind of groups is possible if the members have awareness of humankind extinction risks raised by the metropolis growth that depletes the ecological reserves mainly in the peripheral area. The success of a task force depends on public recognition of the existence of a serious ecological-economical problem in a region, which demands actions for its solution. The task force demands a continuous feedback approach to improve its organization. It will be described the case of a transdisciplinary task force organized to make a critical study of a water basin system that is suffering with climate change phenomena derived from wrong philosophical and ethical attitudes at different human scales along time. DOI:10.13140/RG.2.1.4638.1843