Changing Our Ways
Family Planning Decisions Affected by Climate Change: Potential Impacts on Families and Society
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Mindy Engle-Friedman, Jenna Tipaldo
The results of the assessment of the recent cohort in our prospective climate and behavior survey of multi-ethnic students at an urban college in the United States found that one in eleven are considering not having children because of climate change. The unpredictability of the environment and the impact an additional life will have on the planet are the primary reasons given for the climate-related decision not to have children. To be discussed are other climate-related decision-making influences including the possibility that Zika may become more of a presence in southern climes and may move northward as global temperatures rise. The risk Zika might pose on a pregnancy are considered. Ongoing analyses provide specifics concerning who within the college sample believes climate is a critical issue in family planning. Societal impacts are considered.
Food Production and Land Use Change in South America: Are Current Food Systems Leading Us Towards a Sustainable Future?
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Magdalena Jensen
Food systems have significantly changed in the last 60 years, transitioning from traditional patterns towards modern ones. These changes have many drivers; the most significant are urbanization, dietary changes, commerce, trade, logistics, and agricultural intensification. This research analyzes production and trade patterns, especially in South America, during the last six decades through a sustainable food system framework. South America currently produces more than enough calories to feed its population and has positioned itself as an important food-exporting region. If in the 1980s the region represented around 8% of global agricultural trade, by recent years its share had grown to around 12%. This growth has been closely linked with land-use changes; total land dedicated to growing crops in the region has grown more than 2.5 times in the last six decades, while soybean production occupies today more than 43% of the total land used to grow crops. As production patterns have changed, so have dietary outcomes. Since the beginning of the new millennium, the rates of undernourishment have significantly decreased; however, the rates of obesity and overweight have increased. Additionally, global food production is the largest pressure threatening biodiversity and one of the highest emitters of greenhouse gases. Food systems could potentially support both environmental sustainability and human health; however, current trends and developing patterns are harming both. Furthermore, food systems are closely linked with the achievement of the sustainable development goals, as they are the nexus that joins nutrition, food security, human and ecological health, and climate change.
Caiçara Representativity and Environmental Conservation : Extractive Reserve Conservation Unit Tumba Island - Lower Ribeira Valley
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Maria Tereza Duarte Paes, Fabio Luís Campos
The creation of Conservation Units (CUs) has been one of the most important tools for nature conservation, with the objective of preserving important natural areas. The use of this conservation model in Brazil however has raised serious socio-environmental contradictions, affecting the permanence of traditional populations in its territories, such as the caiçaras in the Lower Ribeira Valley. This paper reports on a study of the use of the category of Extractive Reserve Conservation Unit (RESEX) with the case of the RESEX Tumba Island, located in Cardoso Island in the city of Cananéia (São Paulo State). This area was created to help preserve the area associated with the permanence of the caiçaras in the territory in order to conserve its economy and its culture. This culture constitutes the Brazilian socio-spatial formation, and thus should be valued as cultural heritage. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the formation of the Caiçara territorialities of the Lower Ribeira Valley and how the use of the Extractive Reserve category reaches (or not) its social and environmental objectives. In order to achieve this, a literature review was completed using the keywords; consultation with the Tumba Island Extractive Reserve Utilization Plan and the Conservation Units System Law document; fieldwork was conducted with interviews with residents and members of the collective organization of residents of Marujá, with presentation and approval of the research at a meeting of the RESEX deliberative council; and data analysis by comparative analysis in comparison with the literature review.
