Extensão do Centro de Ecologia Funcional da Universidade de Coimbra na Universidade Aberta | Artigos em revistas internacionais / Papers in international journals
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- The human-nature relationship at the heart of the green transitionPublication . Alves, Fátima; Vidal, Diogo GuedesO texto apresenta uma leitura crítica da relação humano-natureza como eixo estruturante da transição ecológica, enquadrando-a num cenário de fenómenos socioecológicos interligados (perda de biodiversidade, insegurança alimentar, secas, incêndios, aumento de temperaturas, entre outros), com riscos sistémicos para a vida humana e não humana. Defende-se que o desafio central consiste em articular dinâmicas biofísicas e sistemas socioculturais de forma interdependente, sob o princípio de “não deixar ninguém para trás”, incluindo os elementos não humanos. É valorizado o papel de mecanismos democráticos de inovação e participação para lidar com a complexidade, ilustrando-se esta abordagem através do projeto PHOENIX, com pilotos em sete países europeus e um conjunto de tarefas orientadas para (re)significar natureza/ambiente, problematizar desigualdades e clima, e desenhar método e de monitorização do impacto.
- Public participation and climate change governance: between political approach and local actors’ perspective in two Macaronesian territoriesPublication . Mendonça, Ana Bijóias; Leal Filho, Walter; Alves, FátimaClimate change (CC) is the major current environmental challenge influencing the balance of ecosystems, livelihoods, social organization, public health, and well-being. The Autonomous Region of Madeira and the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, considered outermost regions (ORs), form part of continental countries (Portugal and Spain, respectively) and integrate Macaronesia. Due to their location and idiosyncratic characteristics, they are also particularly vulnerable to CC. Regional and local mitigation and adaptation plans and strategies are in force, but policies still do not respond to CC challenges or fully recognize or integrate public participation in their definition and implementation. This article investigates the relevance of public participation in CC policies and how it has been carried out by decision-makers. Thereby, it intends to understand the evolution of CC policies in the archipelagos of Madeira and the Canary Islands, as they have met the interests of relevant scientific, administrative, and economic actors, often underestimating the contributions of other actors, and how public involvement and participation is key to resolve socio-environmental issues in the territories. With this aim in mind, we have conducted a document analysis of the legislation, programs, and strategies on CC, complemented by 20 in-depth interviews, 10 in Madeira and 10 in Las Palmas of Gran Canaria, to a group of local actors, including scientists, technicians, and politicians. Our study shows that despite the efforts leveraged by European and national guidelines, the status quo prevails, with political and institutional arenas systematically keeping their distance from concrete realities of quotidian life. The results show evidence that at international, supranational, and national levels, and at regional/local levels, CC policies often perpetuate domain ties, sectoral and private interests, and are outlined according to narratives not accessible to all actors. Therefore, discourses—political, academic, and corporate—prolong power relations and knowledge that express an institutionalised truth. Thus, we argue that proximity governance is crucial to raise awareness of socio-environmental problems, complement existing knowledge, incite action, and empower local communities. This means that without a collaborative endeavor to boost the required changes, individually and collectively, CC policies might be difficult to implement.
- Promover territórios resilientes e saudáveis num clima em mudança: impactos das alterações climáticas na saúde humana numa região vulnerável do sul da EuropaPublication . Alves, Fátima; Leal, Cátia; Vidal, Diogo GuedesCom o objetivo de analisar os impactos das alterações climáticas sobre a mortalidade humana numa das regiões do sul da europa com os cenários projeções e projeções socioecológicas mais pessimistas, a região de Coimbra, no Centro de Portugal, o estudo considerou os dados relativos às ondas de calor e de frio extremo, disponibilizados no IPMA, no Portal do Clima e no IPCC, e os dados de morbilidade e de mortalidade, disponíveis no INE, ocorridos na mesma região durante um período de 35 anos (entre 1982-2017). Os resultados revelam que a mortalidade aumenta com a intensidade ou maior duração das ondas de calor ou de frio extremo, sendo exacerbadas em ambientes urbanos pelo chamado efeito de ilha de calor, no caso das ondas de calor, afetando especialmente grupos vulnerabilizados. O agravamento das consequências expressas ao nível da morbilidade e mortalidade resultam deste agravamento e instabilidade das condições biofísicas em resultado das alterações climáticas, bem como das condições de vida, das privações socioeconómicas e das desigualdades no acesso aos serviços de saúde. As alterações climáticas apresentam-se como uma questão de saúde pública, inadiável e que exigem políticas que tenham em conta todos estes fatores e seus impactos exacerbados nos grupos de risco.
- Doenças transmitidas por vetores num contexto de alterações climáticas: antecipando riscos para uma melhor preparação dos territórios: estudo de caso da região de Coimbra, PortugalPublication . Alves, Fátima; Leal, Cátia; Vidal, Diogo GuedesOs crescentes impactos das alterações climáticas irão resultar, num futuro próximo, num aumento na morbilidade associada a algumas doenças sensíveis ao clima, como as doenças vetoriais. As temperaturas mais elevadas, as mudanças na precipitação e as mudanças na variabilidade climática podem alterar as fronteiras ou os limites geográficos e a sazonalidade da transmissão das doenças infeciosas transmitidas por vetores. Este artigo avalia o impacto que a alterações climáticas terão no aumento das doenças transmitidas por vetores na região de Coimbra, no centro de Portugal. Os dados obtidos apontam para um aumento de morbilidade de determinadas doenças sensíveis ao clima, como por exemplo as doenças infeciosas transmitidas por vetores, em particular, as doenças transmitidas por mosquitos, flebótomos e carraças, bem como a malária, o dengue, a doença de Lyme, com potencial importância na região de Coimbra. A Malária é uma doença endémica do passado na região, e associada aos campos de arroz e à área estuarina da bacia do Mondego, sendo a temperaturas elevadas muito favorável para a sua propagação, constituindo-se um risco futuro. Neste contexto, são necessárias medidas de adaptação, de carácter essencialmente preventivo e intersetorial.
- O diagnóstico psiquiátrico como racionalização da classificação ontológica negativa dos sujeitos sem-abrigoPublication . Aldeia, JoãoDesde o final do século XX, a intervenção sobre a vida na rua é crescentemente medicalizada. Com base num trabalho de mais de 500 horas de observação direta, realizado numa cidade portuguesa de média dimensão entre 2010 e 2014, discuto como assistentes sociais, psicólogos, psiquiatras, entre outros atores da intervenção, compreendem a vida na rua como um problema de insuficiência ontológico-psiquiátrica de cada sujeito sem-abrigo. Nesse contexto medicalizado, o diagnóstico psiquiátrico é uma técnica de intervenção importante pois é através dela que o julgamento coletivo sobre a anormalidade de cada sujeito sem-abrigo é validado. Não sendo um momento de descoberta médico-científica dessa anormalidade, o diagnóstico oficial pronunciado por um psiquiatra é um instante em que a classificação ontológica negativa apriorística é racionalizada em termos médico-científicos. Através de procedimentos como o diagnóstico psiquiátrico, a medicalização invisibiliza as características estruturais da vida na rua, legitimando um modelo societal desigual e injusto que torna alguns sujeitos sem-abrigo.
- Opposing mastery, claiming the future: life and death beyond capitalist modernityPublication . Aldeia, JoãoCapitalist modernity accelerates the extinction of non-human species and leads to the contraction of human vital possibilities. Extinction has been the outcome of what Deborah Bird Rose called double death, i.e., a disruption of multispecies bonds that makes the death of individuals stop nourishing other individuals of other species, which results in a cascade of death. Double death stems from attempts of dominant classes to exercise mastery over other humans, non-humans and things, which has historically led to the establishment of hierarchical forms of socio-ecological organization. Although not all empirical hierarchies lead to death, the potential to kill is inherent to the principle of hierarchy because it is based on domination. In capitalist modernity, mastery has Cartesian and Utilitarian qualities that make double death particularly severe. However, since mastery is what causes the problem, opposing capitalist modernity is a crucial but insufficient step in the fight against double death, which requires ending the principle of hierarchy itself.
- Bridging the gap between field experiments and machine learning: the EC H2020 B-GOOD Project as a case study towards automated predictive health monitoring of honey bee coloniesPublication . Van Dooremalen, Coby; Ulgezen, Zeynep N.; Dall’Olio, Raffaele; Godeau, Ugoline; Duan, Xiaodong; Sousa, José Paulo; Schäfer, Marc O.; Beaurepaire, Alexi; Van Gennip, Pim; Schoonman, Marten; Flener, Claude; Matthijs, Severine; Claeys Boúúaert, David; Verbeke, Wim; Freshley, Dana; Valkenburg, Dirk-Jan; Van Den Bosch, Trudy; Schaafsma, Famke; Peters, Jeroen; Xu, Mang; Le Conte, Yyes; Alaux, Cedric; Dalmon, Anne; Paxton, Robert J.; Tehel, Anja; Streicher, Tabea; Dezmirean, Daniel S.; Giurgiu, Alexandru I.; Topping, Christopher J.; Williams, James Henty; Capela, Nuno; Lopes, Sara; Alves, Fátima; Alves, Joana; et al.; Alves, FátimaHoney bee colonies have great societal and economic importance. The main challenge that beekeepers face is keeping bee colonies healthy under ever-changing environmental conditions. In the past two decades, beekeepers that manage colonies of Western honey bees (Apis mellifera) have become increasingly concerned by the presence of parasites and pathogens affecting the bees, the reduction in pollen and nectar availability, and the colonies’ exposure to pesticides, among others. Hence, beekeepers need to know the health condition of their colonies and how to keep them alive and thriving, which creates a need for a new holistic data collection method to harmonize the flow of information from various sources that can be linked at the colony level for different health determinants, such as bee colony, environmental, socioeconomic, and genetic statuses. For this purpose, we have developed and implemented the B-GOOD (Giving Beekeeping Guidance by computational-assisted Decision Making) project as a case study to categorize the colony’s health condition and find a Health Status Index (HSI). Using a 3-tier setup guided by work plans and standardized protocols, we have collected data from inside the colonies (amount of brood, disease load, honey harvest, etc.) and from their environment (floral resource availability). Most of the project’s data was automatically collected by the BEEP Base Sensor System. This continuous stream of data served as the basis to determine and validate an algorithm to calculate the HSI using machine learning. In this article, we share our insights on this holistic methodology and also highlight the importance of using a standardized data language to increase the compatibility between different current and future studies. We argue that the combined management of big data will be an essential building block in the development of targeted guidance for beekeepers and for the future of sustainable beekeeping.
- Sustainable futures: from causes of environmental degradation to solutionsPublication . Fernandes, Carla Sofia Ferreira; Alves, FátimaThe impacts of climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution influence the living experiences of the various members of communities that rely on agriculture, shaping the adaptation responses to those phenomena and actions towards sustainable development. This study aims to understand how members of rural communities in Morocco perceive the causes of environmental degradation and the solutions meant to support the reduction of the vulnerabilities by applying a sustainable development lens. To achieve those objectives, this empirical study collects qualitative data by conducting semi-structured interviews on the local population’s perceptions of environmental degradation causes and impacts, vulnerabilities, and solutions to adapt or cope with those impacts. The study includes a critical analysis of the proposals presented by the community members by addressing the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of their implications for development. The most common issue identified was water management, underscoring the water stress affecting several regions. However, several solutions presented would lead to further depletion of non-renewable water sources, which endangers the pursuit of genuinely sustainable development. The study’s conclusions highlight the importance of contextualising the communication and adaptation responses that address local perceptions, namely the low prevalence of perceptions attributing anthropogenic causes to environmental degradation, leading to sentiments of helplessness among members of the rural communities.
- Natures instead of nature—plural perceptions and representations of nature and its challenges for ecological transition: a systematic review of the scientific productionPublication . Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Alves, Fátima; Valentim, Cristina Sá; Freitas, HelenaBackground Recognizing nature and the environment as sociocultural constructions is critical to enhancing a transformational ecological change. This involves understanding their diverse sociocultural meanings and societal approaches and how these understandings affect equitable ecological transitions. We reviewed empirical studies and essays, categorizing 161 studies into three main categories: opposition, domination, and interdependencies, reflecting varying knowledge, power dynamics, cultures, and contexts. These studies aim to uncover how societies conceptualize, explain, and engage with nature and the environment, shaping society–nature relationships and influencing ecological transitions. Results This study underscores the diverse perceptions and representations of nature, from a controllable resource to an integrated web of life. Three main categories emerged: (i) nature against society, in a logic of opposition; (ii) nature subordinated to society, in a logic of domination, although integrated into society; and (iii) nature united with society, in a logic of interdependence. Thus, this study advocates discussing “natures” as sociocultural constructs, highlighting the plurality of social perceptions and representations, which can inform policies and challenge socio-political and socio-economic systems. Conclusions This review may pave the way to, first, give visibility and value that diversity and plurality as an instrument that can enrich policies and defy socio-political and socio-economic systems to change and, second, identify the main drivers and resistances that the implementation of an ecological transformation change may face in different sociocultural contexts.
- Voices of the absent: the agency of nature and future in climate regenerationPublication . Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Alves, FátimaThis paper contends that conventional participatory approaches are increasingly insufficient to address the complexity of the climate crisis and advocates for expanding climate deliberation to include, in addition to marginalized groups, representatives of Nature and Future Generations. It asserts that recognizing these “absent” stakeholders necessitates a departure from anthropocentric governance, facilitated by legal and ethical innovations such as Rights of Nature frameworks and intergenerational equity. Drawing on insights from the EU H2020 Phoenix project and its proposed Territorial Commissions for Co-Design, the analysis demonstrates that while actors may express willingness in principle, they frequently lack practical mechanisms for selection and representation. For Nature, obstacles encompass the lack of legal personhood, challenges in communication and representation, and conflicts between ecological integrity and economic interests. For Future Generations, impediments include short-term political horizons, limited voice and representation, and the difficulty of equitably balancing present and future needs. The paper advances a flexible, context-sensitive model that integrates institutional reform with sociocultural transformation, including adaptive communication strategies and the incorporation of local, traditional, and ancestral knowledge. It concludes that regenerative climate governance relies on ongoing reflection, culturally responsive decision-making spaces, and sustained collaborative action that accommodates historically excluded interests.
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