ObjectivesResearch MethodsProject BudgetCorporate Watershed Sustainability in Brazil byJonah M. Smith: [email protected] M. Nelson: [email protected] Scotti: [email protected] proposal submittedin partial fulfillment of the requirementsfor the Master’s Project Course, NRE 701at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources & EnvironmentMarch, 2003Table of ContentsAbstract…………………………………………………………………………….…..3Introduction………………………………………………………………………..…..3- Definition of Sustainability……………………………………………..4Problem Satement……………………………………………………………………..5Background…………………………………………………………………..………..5- Regulatory Background…………...……………………………………5- Environmental Background…………………………………………….6 - Institutional Background………………………………………………..6Description of Proposed Research………………………………………….….……..7- Objectives………………………………………………….…….……...7- Research Methods………….……………………….………….……….8List of Project References…………………….………………………………….…..10Personnel…………………………………………………………………….………..11Budget…………………………………………………………………….……….…..12 2Abstract:Various abusive practices and consequent droughts and pollution have led to major compromises in water quality and availability. An examination of watershed use in Brazil reveals that large private users, especially corporations, seldom value sustainability. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of recent policy reform and its implementation on corporate water use. What factors, particularly governmental regulation, constrain or improve the ability of corporations to implement sustainable practices in their use of the watersheds? We will focus on the watershed area of Rio Paraiba Do Sul (in Rio, Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais) in order to distinguish detrimentalcorporate practices and determine how these new institutional arrangements have impacted their water use strategies. To achieve this we will 1) design surveys to interview corporate liaisons, community members, and government officials; 2) use content analysis of archived information with respect to corporate operations, watershed commissions, meetings and technical groups, and environmental data concerning the watersheds, in order to compare case studies of corporate sustainability in watershed management; 3) and we will compile our findings into one comprehensive document accompanied by a presentation. In the interests of setting project goals that do not overtax time, financial and human resource constraints, we anticipate formulating two to three corporate sustainability recommendations for review.Introduction: Purpose of Research: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of recent policy reform and its implementation on corporate water use. We will focus on the watershed area of Rio Paraiba Do Sul (including the states of Rio, Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais) in order to distinguish detrimental corporate practices and determine how these new institutional arrangements have impacted their water use strategies. From this analysis, we will examine the feasibility of sustainable water strategies to improve the long-term viability of sustainable corporate operations. We will also examine relevant governmentalregulations and how the use of scientific information is integrated into corporate decision-making. From these findings we will make sustainability recommendations to all parties. Possible modifications in water use strategy for one or two of these industries could drastically improve future and current interaction between the private and public sectors with regards to watershed management. Significance of Research: The Brazilian scholar Guimaraes describes the multi-disciplinary approach required to effectively address environmental issues in Brazil. “The environment cuts across all other sectors of public activities. To treat it separately, 3therefore, defeats the purpose of ecopolicies.”(175). He clarifies that effective environmental problem solving requires interventions that include, but go beyond exclusively policy based solutions. The recent restructuring of Brazilian water laws has created a framework of commissions that preside over the use of watershed resources at the basin level. This new institutional arrangement presents all watershed users an opportunity to reevaluate the sustainability of their relationships with the watershed. Our research project will shed light on key elements of these reforms and examine how these they create incentives for large private users to use water in a more efficient and sustainable manner. Definition of Sustainability: In what is widely referred to as the “Brundtland Report,” as it was presented when the Norwegian Prime Minister Brundtland chaired United Nations,the World Commission on Environment and Development published Our Common Future in 1987. From these pages the world focused more than it ever had previously on the term “sustainability.” The report emphasized the importance of integrating ecological, economical, and social concerns in development. Following the 1992 Rio de Janeiro “Earth Summit” (the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development), the UN Commission on Sustainable Development was created (UNCED 1992) in order to outline the equitable duties, obligations, privileges and rights of countries in pursuit of “sustainable development,” and pertaining to population, health, poverty, agriculture, security, biodiversity, energy, waste, transportation, conservation andpreservation, and so forth. The overall message taken today from the Brundtland Report that most equate with the term “sustainable development,” comes from its phrase which stipulates it as, “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." While the notion of
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