This book examines Brazil's position in the global ecological crisis and how social, political, ethical, scientific and economic issues affect its environmental performance.

Climate change is increasingly a part of the human experience. As the problem worsens, the cooperative dilemma that the issue carries has become evident: climate change is a complex problem that systematically gets insufficient answers from the international system. This book offers an assessment of Brazil’s role in the global political economy of climate change. The authors, Eduardo Viola and Matías Franchini expertly review and answer the most common and widely cited questions on whether and in which way Brazil is aggravating or mitigating the climate crisis, including:?Is it the benign, cooperative, environmental power that the Brazilian government claims it is? Why was it possible to dramatically reduce deforestation in the Amazon (2005-2010) and, more recently, was there a partial reversion?? The book provides an accessible—and much needed—introduction to all those studying the challenges of the international system in the Anthropocene. Through a thorough analysis of Brazil in perspective vis a vis other emerging countries, this book provides an engaging introduction and up to date assessment of the climate reality of Brazil and a framework to analyze the climate performance of major economies, both on emission trajectory and policy profile: the climate commitment approach. Brazil and Climate Change is essential reading for all students of Environmental Studies, Latin American Studies, International Relations and Comparative Politics.

This book provides readers with in-depth insights into the changes in the Pantanal wetland from its formation to the actual and likely future states. It reveals that today’s Pantanal is an evolutionary consequence of geological, ecological and, more recently, man-made events taking place at distinct space-time intervals. Topics include geotectonics and sun-earth interactions, which largely dictate the rate of drastic changes that eventually disrupt ecological stability and radically rebuild the regional landscape. Furthermore, the biota-climate system is discussed as a major driver reshaping the ecohydrology functioning of the landscape on an intermediate timescale. Also covered are major changes in the landscape ecohydrology and biodiversity due to recent land-use and climate changes induced by humankind in the Anthropocene. The ability to recognize how those temporal scales impact the Pantanal wetland provides the opportunity for wise management approaches and the sustainable development of the region.

Greening Brazil challenges the claim that environmentalism came to Brazil from abroad. Two political scientists, Kathryn Hochstetler and Margaret E. Keck, retell the story of environmentalism in Brazil from the inside out, analyzing the extensive efforts within the country to save its natural environment, and the interplay of those efforts with transnational environmentalism. The authors trace Brazil’s complex environmental politics as they have unfolded over time, from their mid-twentieth-century conservationist beginnings to the contemporary development of a distinctive socio-environmentalism meant to address ecological destruction and social injustice simultaneously. Hochstetler and Keck argue that explanations of Brazilian environmentalism—and environmentalism in the global South generally—must take into account the way that domestic political processes shape environmental reform efforts. The authors present a multilevel analysis encompassing institutions and individuals within the government—at national, state, and local levels—as well as the activists, interest groups, and nongovernmental organizations that operate outside formal political channels. They emphasize the importance of networks linking committed actors in the government bureaucracy with activists in civil society. Portraying a gradual process marked by periods of rapid advance, Hochstetler and Keck show how political opportunities have arisen from major political transformations such as the transition to democracy and from critical events, including the well-publicized murders of environmental activists in 1988 and 2004. Rather than view foreign governments and organizations as the instigators of environmental policy change in Brazil, the authors point to their importance at key moments as sources of leverage and support.

Uses Brazil as a case study of how governments implement environmental policies despite urgent needs for economic development.

Making Law Matter presents the first book-length treatment of an innovative prosecutorial institution, the Brazilian Ministrio Publico, which refashioned itself in the 1980s into a powerful defender of citizen rights in environmental protection, as well as in other areas of public interest such as disability rights, consumer protection, and anti-corruption.

REDD+ is one of the leading near-term options for global climate change mitigation. More than 300 subnational REDD+ initiatives have been launched across the tropics, responding to both the call for demonstration activities in the Bali Action Plan and the market for voluntary carbon offset credits.