Em tres paginas, esta resenha sintetiza o livro de Leonardo Boff, lancado poucos meses antes da Conferencia das Nacoes Unidas sobre Meio Ambiente, a Rio+20, que aconteceu em 2012. 
A obra traz uma discussao sobre o uso indevido do termo pelos governos, pelas empresas, pela diplomacia e pelos meios de comunicacao. 
Segundo este livro, a sustentabilidade e questao de vida ou morte pois somente com ela o futuro da especie humana no Planeta Terra estara assegurado. Portanto, faz-se necessario que se distinga verdadeiramente o que e e o que nao e sustentabilidade.

Sustentabilidade: O Que É, O Que Não É . Leonardo Boff. Petrópolis, RJ: Vozes, 2012. 200 p. ISBN 978-85-326-4298-1 .

This contribution examines how and with what effects the Movement of People Threatened by Dams (MOAB) in the Ribeira Valley, Brazil, works at various scales simultaneously. It is argued that MOAB was kicked off by mobilising Afro-descendants around livelihood issues, and that one of the first anti-dam strategies was to claim quilombola recognition and land rights at the state level. MOAB soon expanded its network and broadened its agenda to include procedural justice, targeting federal and international agencies for recourse. The paper concludes that MOAB has successfully used different scales for framing, mobilisation and action, which has contributed to the dam project being put on hold for almost three decades.

‘Land yes, dam no!’ Justice-seeking strategies by the anti-dam movement in the Ribeira Valley, Brazil

The Dynamics of Co-Management and Social Capital in Protected Area Management—The Cardoso Island State Park in Brazil

We investigated the knowledge and practices of local residents in Sao Francisco do Conde, Bahia, regarding the use of medicinal and mystical plants with the aim of proposing strategies for the incorporation of phytotherapies into the local Unified Health System through local Basic Health Clinics. This municipality was founded during the early colonization of Brazil, introducing the monoculture of sugarcane and slave labor to the region, resulting in a currently largely Afro-Brazilian population. Key informants and local specialists were interviewed and workshops were undertaken at the Basic Health Clinics to collect data and information. The interviewees made 254 references to 126 plant species distributed among 107 genera and 50 families. Among the species cited with medicinal or mystical uses, 51.6% were considered autochtonous, and 42.8% were cited in at least one document of the Brazilian Health Ministry; of these, 11.1% were mentioned in four to eight documents, indicating potential for introduction to the local Unified Health System. The valorization of local knowledge and practices concerning the use of medicinal plants represents an important approach to public health efforts.

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Species with medicinal and mystical-religious uses in São Francisco do Conde, Bahia, Brazil: a contribution to the selection of species for introduction into the local Unified Health System

Legislation governing strict-protection nature reserves in Brazil in principle precludes human habitation, but virtually all Amazon reserves are nonetheless inhabited. Historical ecology research reported herein assesses the impacts of occupation and resource use by beiradeiros (forest peasants) on the forests of a strictly designated nature reserve in the Iriri River basin (Brazilian Amazon). The hypothesis is that traditional beiradeiros activities are congruent with the aims of conservation of the reserve because their impacts are either neutral or enhance diversity of forest landscapes and biota. We designed the methodology underlying data collection to integrate forest inventory with archaeological techniques in two contrasting forest types (terra firme and seasonally inundated forest), faunal surveys, freelisting of tree terms by beiradeiros, and participant observation, in order to determine biological diversity indices, forest age and the parameters of traditional knowledge that encode such diversity in local vocabulary. Our research results lead us to reject the premise that traditional peasant activities lead to ecological degradation or impoverishment, and suggest that the rationale underpinning strictly protected nature reserves should be re-examined.

Ancient Transformation, Current Conservation: Traditional Forest Management on the Iriri River, Brazilian Amazonia

A sustentabilidade como paradigma de desenvolvimento foi sendo estabelecida ao longo da existência humana, a partir do momento em que se notou o impacto negativo desta na natureza quando associado apenas à lógica quantitativa do consumo e produção. Logo, a sustentabilidade surge como possível resposta à degradação humano-ambiental e como meio para assegurar recursos naturais tanto no presente, quanto no futuro, incorporando juridicamente o objetivo de assegurar o direito ao meio ambiente ecologicamente equilibrado. Esta previsão é então congregada pela Lei Maior brasileira, instante em que se define uma dimensão ecológica da dignidade humana. Assim, diante do Estado brasileiro caracterizado pela sociobiodiversidade – vínculo entre a diversidade natural e cultural –, a jurisdição constitucional deve tutelar o referido direito, em consonância com a importância humano-existencial da sociobiodiversidade, partindo da noção de um desenvolvimento sustentável que congregue as diversidades e não apenas em nome do crescimento econômico. Nesse sentido, o âmbito jurídico torna-se importante dimensão da sustentabilidade, caso as decisões tenham em vista a realidade humano-ambiental brasileira.

Jurisdição constitucional e sustentabilidade: a garantia do direito ao meio ambiente ecologicamente equilibrado ao encontro da sociobiodiversidade brasileira

Larissa Nunes Cavalheiro

Papers

Jurisdição constitucional e sustentabilidade: a garantia do direito ao meio ambiente ecologicamente equilibrado ao encontro da sociobiodiversidade brasileira