Este trabalho teve como objetivo pesquisar, à luz do pensamento de Celso Furtado e de especialistas, como Bautista Vidal, as políticas substitutivas energéticas, em especial as relativas à produção de álcool. Nesse contexto, enfoca um estudo de caso na Região Noroeste do Rio Grande do Sul, sobre pequenas propriedades rurais que atuam de modo cooperado para produzir em sistemas integrados, alimentos, energias renováveis e serviços ambientais. Pretende-se mostrar a importância desse modelo, não só para os municípios onde atuam as cooperativas estudadas, como também sua aplicabilidade em outros municípios, de acordo com as suas especificidades regionais, para atender a crescente demanda por um combustível limpo e renovável, dentre eles o álcool, bem como para diminuir as desigualdades regionais, ampliar a produção de alimentos e ainda, para criar mecanismos que possibilitem ao pequeno produtor rural deixar de ser apenas fornecedor de matéria prima. / This work intends to research - according the views of Celso Furtado and Bauptista Vidal the alternative policies of energy particularly to alcohol output. Emphasis is put on the Northwest Region of Rio Grande do Sul where cooperative small-sized proprietors produce integrated activities with food, crops, renewable energies and environment services. It is an attempt to show the importance of this model to countries and cooperative activities. It respects their local particularities in order to satisfy a growing demand for clean and renewable combustible, specially alcohol, contributing to reduce regional inequalities. It allows to expand food output and engendering mechanisms to promote small rural producer beyond the condition of raw materials supplier.

Processos acelerados de globalização induzem a exploração intensiva de recursos naturais em grande escala e a construção de megaprojetos que muitas vezes transpassam as fronteiras dos países. Neste contexto, a Avaliação de Impacto Ambiental Transfronteiriça (AIA-T) se converte em uma ferramenta essencial da gestão ambiental, pois tem o potencial de apoiar a tomada de decisões que podem afetar mais de um país e assim contribuir para evitar conflitos internacionais. Contudo, a implementação desta ferramenta ainda encontra muitos desafios, por tratar de temas delicados e complexos como as relações internacionais ou a soberania dos estados. No contexto mundial, apenas a União Europeia apresenta um marco normativo claro e bem estabelecido para aplicação da AIA-T de projetos, restando às demais regiões um longo caminho a ser percorrido. A América do Sul passa atualmente por um intenso processo de integração física baseado em um amplo programa de investimentos denominado \"Iniciativa para a Integração da Infraestrutura Regional Sul-Americana\" (IIRSA), que vem promovendo alterações ambientais significativas em toda a região, sobretudo no âmbito dos países amazônicos, sem contar com um arcabouço institucional que assegure a avaliação dos impactos transfronteiriços e a sua incorporação aos procedimentos de aprovação e implantação dos projetos associados. Sendo assim, a presente pesquisa de Mestrado visou investigar a existência de marcos institucionais e metodológicos que pudessem fornecer suporte para a aplicação da AIA-T nos países amazônicos e avaliar sua proximidade com os princípios e boas práticas desta ferramenta em nível mundial. Através de revisão bibliográfica, documental e estudos de caso, os resultados encontrados indicam que a AIA-T deve integrar os procedimentos de tomada de decisão que envolvem os países amazônicos, de modo a assegurar o cumprimento dos compromissos internacionais já assumidos em torno da proteção do ecossistema amazônico e o gerenciamento adequado dos impactos ambientais transfronteiriços. / Intensive natural resources exploitation has been accelerated at large scale by globalization processes in the last years, and its impacts might overstep political boundaries. In this scenario, the transboundary environmental impact assessment (hereafter TEIA) has become an integrated approach and essential tool for international environmental management, supporting decision taking processes with the potential to prevent cross border conflicts. Nonetheless, the implementation is still challenging due to the political and social complexity of international relationships and sovereignty of the countries involved. Hitherto just the European Union has been consolidated a clear normative framework in the implementation of TEIA. Conversely in South America this framework is not clear, due to the lack of institutional structure to set up an appropriate environmental assessment scheme, despite that nowadays several megaprojects have been established under the denominated \"Iniciativa para la Integración de la Infraestructura Regional Sur-Americana\" (IIRSA) – the South-American regional integrative infrastructure initiative- and serious pervasive effects associated in the environment have been recorded, being more notorious in the Amazon region, due to the inherent vulnerability of this biome. In this context, the present master dissertation discussed from a comprehensive literature and policies review and study cases, the institutional and methodological framework as the normative base of the TEIA, as well as to assess good practices for environmental impact assessment of development projects in countries within the Amazon biome. In overall TEIA must integrate the decision taking procedures of countries with influence of the Amazon biome in order to guarantee fulfil previously undertaken international agreements that protect the Amazon ecosystem, and the suitable management of environmental impacts at frontiers, and consequently to prevent future scenarios of international dispute.

Orientador: Regina Celia de Oliveira / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociencias / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-11T23:16:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Machi_DeboraAparecida_M.pdf: 13426965 bytes, checksum: 3fa50b0680a712efd6070c98d78598d8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: Desde o surgimento do homem na superfície da Terra, este busca dominar o sistema ambiental. Sua forma de apropriação do espaço tem resultado em diversos níveis de impactos ao longo da historia. Para que haja um uso sustentável desse espaço, praticas de políticas de ordenamento e gerenciamento territorial são imprescindíveis. Hoje a gestão territorial, como mecanismo disciplinador das ações antrópicas no meio ambiente, tem no zoneamento ambiental, um instrumento de grande auxilio. O município de Saltinho esta inserido na porção central do estado de São Paulo. Apesar de estar numa região que tem uma longa historia de ocupação, somente vem a se tornar município em 1991, sendo que anteriormente constituía-se em distrito do município de Piracicaba. Este trabalho tem como objetivo realizar um estudo de Zoneamento Geoambiental do município de Saltinho (SP), de modo a apontar os impactos ambientais causados pela exploração humana e podendo servir de subsidio para um melhor planejamento territorial para o município. A orientação metodológica fundamentou-se na Teoria Geral dos Sistemas e na proposta de Mateo Rodriguez, Silva e Cavalcanti (2004), que realiza uma análise integrada dos componentes antrópicos e naturais que subsidia a delimitação das unidades geoambientais e do zoneamento ambiental. As características físicas do município quando combinadas ao uso agrícola intenso criam um cenário de elevada fragilidade ambiental. Isto sugere a necessidade de precaução quanto ao uso da terra para evitar problemas referentes à dinamização dos processos pluvio-erosivos, tais como erosão e assoreamento, que já estão atuando na área de estudo. Através da analise integrada dos componentes naturais e antrópicos, pode-se delimitar 13 unidades geoambientais em Saltinho. Como critério básico de definição e mapeamento dessas unidades foi considerado as bacias hidrográficas, já que estas individualizam as zonas com características similares dos elementos da paisagem. Estas unidades foram agrupadas em três classes: linha de cumeada, vertente e fundo de vale. A partir da caracterização das unidades geoambientais definiu-se o Zoneamento Geoambiental, ou seja, a aptidão do uso da terra. As unidades geoambientais de linha de cumeada e de vertente permitem usos compatíveis mais diversificados, tais como as culturas anuais, uso urbano, pecuária e cultivo da cana-de-açúcar, desde que utilizem medidas de conservação de solo e respeitem as características físicas das unidades e a legislação vigente. Por fim, as unidades geoambientais de fundo de vale são áreas de preservação permanente, sendo a mata, o único uso adequado. / Abstract: The human being aims for dominating the environmental system since the emergence of it on Earth's surface. Its way of appropriation of the space resulted in various impacts levels along its history. In order that there is a sustainable use of this space, practices of territorial management policies are indispensable. Nowadays, the territorial management as a disciplining mechanism of human actions in the environment is assisted by the environmental zoning. The municipality of Saltinho is located in the central region of Sao Paulo State, Brazil. Despite being in a region that has a long history of occupation, has become only municipality in 1991, which previously constituted themselves into district of the city of Piracicaba. The present work aims to undertake a geo-environmental study of the municipality of Environmental Zoning Saltinho (SP) in order to pointing out the environmental impacts caused by human exploration and may serve as a subsidy for a better territorial planning for this municipality. The methodological approach was based on the Theory of General Systems and the proposed Mateo Rodriguez, Silva and Cavalcanti (2004), which conducts an integrated analysis of the components and anthropic natural that subsidizes the division of geo-environmental units and environmental zoning. When combined, the physical characteristics of the municipality and the intense agricultural use create a high environmental scenario of fragility. This suggests the necessity of precaution regarding the use of the land to avoid problems concerning the increase of pluvial erosive processes, such as erosion and silting which already are occurring at the study area. It was possible determine 13 geo environmental units in Saltinho through the combined analysis of natural and social components. As a basic criterion for defining and mapping of these units was considered watersheds, since these singularize areas with similar characteristics of landscape elements. These units have been grouped into three classes: top, slope and valley bottom. From the characterization of geoenvironmental units, the Environmental Zoning was defined, in other words, the ability to land use. The appropriated land uses for the top and slopes permit more varied uses, such as annual crops, urban use, pastures, cultivation of sugar cane, forest and reforestation while using measures for the conservation of soil and respecting the physical characteristics of units and the legislation . Finally, the valley bottom units are areas of permanent preservation, where the forest is the unique appropriate land use. / Mestrado / Análise Ambiental e Dinâmica Territorial / Mestre em Geografia

Orientador: Edvaldo César Moretti / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociências / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-25T23:55:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Colombari_JulianaCristina_M.pdf: 3858885 bytes, checksum: cf59cd3375c9fb0046230dee329902ff (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: A geração de resíduos sólidos apresenta-se como um problema de graves proporções nas cidades. O modo de vida capitalista, característico de nossa sociedade, pautado no consumo exagerado, muitas vezes de itens supérfluos, favorece e intensifica a utilização de energia e matérias-primas, colaborando para o aumento na geração de resíduos. A criação de políticas públicas específicas pode contribuir para a melhoria do sistema atual de resíduos sólidos no Brasil. A Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos, sancionada no ano de 2010 e regulamentada pelo Decreto nº 7.404 de 23 de dezembro do mesmo ano é um exemplo. Essa política é considerada um marco regulatório na área, pois define as diretrizes relativas à gestão integrada e ao gerenciamento de resíduos sólidos, que até então dava margens a grandes distorções. O município de Paulínia-SP foi selecionado como cenário de estudo e desenvolvimento do tema proposto por apresentar uma serie de características de análises pertinentes ao tema de estudo, como alta taxa de urbanização, PIB elevado o que promove o acelerado crescimento demográfico. O município possui capacidade de arrecadação acima da média dos municípios brasileiros, o que possibilita a gestão dos resíduos utilizando técnicas consideradas avançadas, a um custo elevado pago pelo poder público municipal. Apesar do alto custo o sistema não apresenta melhorias diretas nas condições sociais e ambientais / Abstract: The solid waste generation has been presented as a serious problem in cities. Capitalist way of life, a characteristic of our society, which is based on conspicuous consumerism, most of times of superfluous items, foments and increases the energy and raw material consumerism. This process contributes for the increase of waste generation. The development of specific public politics could contribute to improve the actual system of solid waste in Brazil. The National Politics for Solid Waste sanctioned in 2010 and regulated by Decree n. 7.404 of December 23th 2010 is an example of such specifics laws. These politics are considered a regulated pattern in the area because it defines the policies related to integrated management of solid waste, which until then allowed many misstatements. Paulinia, a country city of São Paulo State, was selected as a study case and the development of this theme presents interesting characteristics of analyzes to the theme, as a high urbanization rate and GDP, which influences the high population growth. The city has the capacity of tax revenues above Brazilian average, which allows the management of waste by using advanced techniques and having a high cost paid by municipal government. Thought this high cost the system does not present direct benefits in social and environmental conditions / Mestrado / Análise Ambiental e Dinâmica Territorial / Mestra em Geografia

Orientadores: Maria Conceição da Costa, Maria Priscilla Kreitlon / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociências / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-19T03:11:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gayard_NicoleAguilar_M.pdf: 1181884 bytes, checksum: 329e53f926b01c3a9ffb9c47ea593eb7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: No contexto de crescentes preocupações com a dimensão ambiental na agenda política global, tem havido um aumento de iniciativas de cooperação internacional para esta temática. O Fundo para o Meio Ambiente Mundial (GEF), criado em 1991, constitui um organismo multilateral, cujo financiamento se destina a projetos para a proteção do meio ambiente global, realizados em países em desenvolvimento. A proposta do GEF se enquadra no âmbito das assimetrias Norte-Sul para gerir os problemas ambientais, consistindo em um instrumento de auxílio aos países com menos recursos para participar na prevenção de problemas ambientais globais. A presente dissertação examina as dinâmicas de conhecimento envolvidas neste padrão de cooperação. Com base no referencial teórico do neofuncionalismo nas relações internacionais, discute-se o papel central que formas de expertise adquiriram na realização da cooperação internacional em geral, e mais especificamente, nas iniciativas voltadas ao meio ambiente, tendo sido incorporadas na estrutura das principais agências multilaterais de cooperação. A importância da expertise no estabelecimento de padrões e políticas ambientais é contraposta por abordagens - como os Estudos Sociais da Ciência e Tecnologia e a Teoria Cultural do Risco - que questionam a aparente neutralidade do conhecimento científico neste processo. Assim, argumenta-se que o maior nível de capacidades científicas e tecnológicas no Norte permite que este tenha uma posição privilegiada no momento de definir as políticas e opções de cooperação para o meio ambiente. Este referencial é utilizado para analisar um projeto de cooperação realizado no Brasil com recursos do GEF, para o desenvolvimento e teste de um protótipo de ônibus movido a hidrogênio. Foi possível concluir, com base neste projeto, que alternativas tecnológicas constituem um dos focos da cooperação internacional para o meio ambiente, e que a realização dos projetos permanece fortemente centrada na participação de experts. Por outro lado, promove-se a disseminação do uso de tecnologias e de conhecimentos associados a modelos de gestão ambiental, mas perpetua-se a dependência de tecnologias dos países em desenvolvimento em relação aos países desenvolvidos. Além disso, a participação do Sul na definição de agendas ambientais permanece prejudicada / Abstract: In the context of growing concerns about the environment in the global political agenda, there has been an increase in international environmental cooperation. The Global Environmental Facility (GEF) was established in 1991 as a multilateral organization, to fund projects aiming to protect the global environment, carried out in developing countries. This format is a response to international demands to consider North-South asymmetries in the promotion of environmental policies and projects. The present dissertation examines the dynamics of knowledge involved in this pattern of cooperation. Based on the theoretical framework of neo-functionalism from the field of International Relations, this work discusses the central role of expertise in conducting international aid, having been incorporated into the work and structure of the main multilateral agencies for cooperation. The importance of expertise in setting standards and policies for environment management is countered by scholars within the Social Studies of Science and Technology and Cultural Theory of Risk that challenge the apparent neutrality of scientific knowledge in this process. Thus, it is argued that the highest level of scientific and technological capacities in the North allows it to have a privileged position in defining environmental policies and international cooperation. These approaches are applied to analyze a project of cooperation carried out in Brazil and funded by the GEF, aimed to develop and test a prototype of hydrogen-powered bus. Based on this project, we concluded that alternative technologies are one of the main focus of international cooperation for the environment, and that the implementation of projects remains strongly based on participation of experts. On the other hand, environmental cooperation may promote the widespread use of technology and knowledge associated with environmental management, but it also perpetrates the technology dependence from South to North. In addition, the participation of developing countries in setting the global environmental agenda setting remains impaired towards the developed world / Mestrado / Politica Cientifica e Tecnologica / Mestre em Política Científica e Tecnológica

O objetivo desta tese é realizar uma etnografia histórica comparada dos processos de criação e gestão do Parque Nacional do Jaú e da Estação Ecológica das Anavilhanas, situados na micro-região do baixo rio Negro, estado do Amazonas, contextualizando-os no âmbito do desenvolvimento e das sucessivas mudanças de enfoque da política ambiental no Brasil. Baseio a reconstituição histórica e a descrição etnográfica em fontes documentais e na observação direta de processos sociais em curso. O estudo de duas categorias de manejo de unidades de conservação distintas, situadas em uma mesma bacia hidrográfica - o rio Negro, com as características comuns de um sistema de águas pretas -, abarcando cerca de 60% da área do município de Novo Airão-AM - o que justifica uma análise do efeito da sua criação ao nível local -, criadas à mesma época e geridas sucessivamente por distintas agências do governo federal - o IBDF, a SEMA e o IBAMA -, permitirá: (a) interpelar etnograficamente a relação entre diferentes agências e instituições, locais, regionais, nacionais e internacionais, na criação e gestão de unidades de conservação de proteção integral na Amazônia brasileira; e (b) identificar os recursos sociais, políticos, econômicos, normativos, institucionais e técnicos, que permitiram avanços e retrocessos na implantação destas unidades, enquanto instrumentos da política ambiental. O estudo de caso comparado é empregado como um procedimento recursivo cujo propósito final é construir uma compreensão propriamente antropológica das unidades de conservação de proteção integral - definidas hoje como instrumentos de política ambiental. Faço-o explorando o conceito antropológico de artefato cultural, enfatizando o caráter de construto socionatural histórico instável e indeterminado das unidades de conservação dimensão dissimulada pelas formulações anacrônicas e a históricas hegemônicas nas análises normativas sobre a matéria. / This thesis is a comparative ethnographic history of the creation and management of the Jaú National Park and the Anavilhanas Ecological Station in the lower Rio Negro micro-region. The process whereby these territories were created and management policies devised is placed within the context of successive environmental policy changes within Brazil. The historical account and the ethnographic description of this process are based both on written sources and direct field observation. Presenting a comparison of local level consequences of two distinct approaches to conservation management, the study focuses on conservation units of indirect use based in the same hydrographic basin - the Negro River - with common characteristics of a black water ecosystem, encompassing approximately 60% of Novo Airão county, State of Amazonas. The study of these two different conservation units of total protection created during the same period and overseen by a succession of federal government agencies (IBDF, SEMA, IBAMA) focuses on two key issues: a) ethnographic description of the relation between different agencies and institutions on the local, regional, national and international level involved in the creation and management of conservation units of indirect use within the Brazilian Amazon; b) the analysis of the way that implementation of these units as instruments of environmental policy was complexly shaped by the possibility of drawing on different social, political, economic, normative, institutional and technical resources by different actors at different times. It is hoped that this comparative case study will itself contribute to ongoing discussions regarding conservation policies and will ultimately contribute to a properly anthropological understanding of conservation units, as these are currently deployed within environmental policies. I use the anthropological concept of cultural artifact to analyze the unstable and indeterminate nature of conservation units as socio-natural historic constructions. I show how the socio-cultural-natural constructedness of conservation units is disguised by the ahistorical hegemonic formulas employed in technical discourses about the environment.

Sweden has through its membership of the EU, an obligation to strive that the wolf population should be both long and short time viability. The signed Convention on Biological Diversity means that the wolf population must meet a favorable conservation status, which has required a great need for scientific facts about what a sustainable status is. The relationship between science and decision making can be difficult, especially in complex environmental problems with many uncertainties. The purpose of this study is to examine the various scientific uncertainties and find out how they influence decision-making within the Swedish wolf policy. The focus is on the impact of the scientific advice for decision-makers. The study is a case study in which the results are based on five interviews with experts in the field as well as a deeper text analysis of the reports and regulations used in the decision-making process. In conclusion, the study indicates that research and scientific findings have had a major role in the decision-makers in wolf management. To some extent, it has also complicated the issue because of the lack of consensus among researchers. The attitude around Sweden's wolves extends far back in time and the conflict today is a contentious question that seems to act much about values ​​and not just scientific contradictions. / Sverige har genom sitt medlemskap i EU en skyldighet att sträva efter att vargens population ska vara både kortsiktigt och långsiktigt livskraftig. Den undertecknade konventionen om biologisk mångfald medför att vargstammen måste uppfylla en gynnsam bevarandestatus, vilket har krävt ett stort behov av vetenskapliga fakta kring vad en hållbar status är. Sambandet mellan vetenskap och beslutsfattande kan vara svår, särskilt i komplicerade miljöproblem med många osäkerhetsfaktorer. Syftet med studien är att granska de olika vetenskapliga osäkerheterna och ta reda på hur de påverkar beslutsprocessen inom svensk vargpolitik. Fokus ligger på den inverkan de vetenskapliga råden har för beslutsfattarna. Studien är en fallstudie där resultatet bygger på fem intervjuer med experter inom området, samt en djupare textanalys av de rapporter och förordningar som använts i beslutsprocessen. Sammanfattningsvis tyder studiens resultat på att forskning och vetenskapliga resultat har haft en stor roll för beslutsfattarna inom vargförvaltningen. Till viss del har den också försvårat frågan på grund av avsaknaden av konsensus bland forskarna. Attityden kring Sveriges vargar sträcker sig långt bak i tiden och konflikten är idag en laddad fråga som inte bara handlar om vetenskapliga motsättningar, utan även om värderingar.

Ongoing modification and change is core to how domestic and built environments function. Thus occupants domestication and development of home heating practices around low-carbon technologies is likely to exceed what building engineering sciences have the ability to plan ahead for. Yet, environmental policies and low -carbon industry approaches to sustainable energy consumption are characterised by a high degree of technological determinism. Disciplinary approaches to sustainable energy consumption tend to separate home heating into stable, routine interaction with control points, environmental factors and socio-demographic drivers. Framing low-carbon technical change in isolation from domestic environments often leads to a gap between intended and actual use of technologies. By focusing on TRVs (thermostatic radiators valve) and radiators, this thesis takes an interdisciplinary turn to jointly examine the social and environmental elements of households energy use. A turn to sensory ethnography and practice-place relationships offers a way to better understand how people use energy for space heating in relation to the buildings they live in and how improvisatory uses of technologies emerge from flows of material, domestic, sensory and physical contingencies of the home. Combining home video tours with building energy monitoring in eight homes, the thesis demonstrates that home heating is a place-event of the home because heating systems and energy consumption are woven into the fabric of everyday life. Environmental elements show that the social and technical are inseparable in energy used for space heating and individual elements imply that the domestication of technologies is highly unpredictable. The thesis synthesises findings into a taxonomy table of irregular radiator and TRV use. On the one hand, irregularities indicate that improvisatory uses of technologies are productive sources of sustainable change because they can be potential sites for co-design. On the other hand, the interwoven character of the social and technical in households energy use critically challenges how environmental policy, low-carbon industry and disciplinary approaches frame intervention into sustainable energy consumption. The thesis argues for the value of logic of intervention and sustainable change that is collaborative, system-focused and gradually uncovers interrelationships.

The valuation of ecosystem services requires first and foremost, that the current level or stock of a service first be estimated. Here, I investigate the relationship between the fields of environmental science and ecological economics in their research effort of ecosystem services and the implications this may have on the ecosystem valuation research program. I investigate two ecological functions described as ecosystem services within specific ecosystem types: the flood control provisioning services of wetlands and pollination service provisioning by pollinator populations in agroecosystems. I examined the environmental literature to provide quantitative estimates of a) the distribution of the level of service delivered as well as b) the ability of environmental scientists to predict this level of service. The results presented here suggest a moderately strong correlation between research efforts in environmental science and ecological economics at the pooled level of ecosystem types and services. I suggest however, an integrated research enterprise between social and environmental scientists may provide greater efficiency by means of a global ecosystem service research network and repository. I found that, on average, consistent with conventional wisdom, wetlands do indeed have a positive effect by reducing the frequency and magnitude of floods, increasing low flows, and increasing water storage. In the same vein, I found on average and consistent with conventional wisdom, there is a consistent and comparatively strong association between pollinator abundance and agroecosystem productivity as inferred from measures of plant fertilization success. In both investigations however, metaregression analysis indicated that our current ability to predict either pollination or flood control services is poor to modest at best. The low predictive power combined with the observed heterogeneity in effect size in both investigations suggest that flood control service delivered by wetlands or pollination services delivered by natural pollinator populations in agroecosystems and the expected changes in the level of services delivered under a candidate management scenario, will have a large uncertainty. Such uncertainty should be explicitly incorporated into estimates of both the current economic value of ecosystem services, as well as estimates of how these values are likely to change under alternative management scenarios. Given these, I suggest that the implications for the development of Market-based instruments (MBIs) or any payment of ecosystem services to conserve ecosystem services: that the associated ecological function(s) must be few and well characterized, and we must agree on what endpoints ought to properly be used to characterize these functions. If this condition is not met, an ordinal ranking is the best we can do and in the absence of obvious enthusiasm for more detailed scientific research which leads to the conclusion that perhaps alternate strategies like command and control may be the better alternative to protect ecosystem services.

This thesis explores the role played by the state at the provincial level in the planning of hydro-electric power development in British Columbia. The electric power industry has been a primary focus for government intervention in the economic affairs of most western industrialized countries. Not only has the structure and scope of the state's regulatory activity in the industry been more extensive than most others, but governments have often gone beyond such regulatory supervision to assume a more direct role in the production of the commodity itself. In British Columbia, however, the direct entrepreneurial role played by successive provincial governments led to major planning failures. Serious social and environmental costs were ignored in development decisions, economically dubious projects were constructed, and the electric power system as a whole was seriously overbuilt. This thesis argues that the problems associated with state-directed hydro-electric power development were institutional rather than technical in nature. Two types of institutional factors are shown to have played a key role. First, the scope of power planning has been limited by the role played by the provincial state in the broader political economy of British Columbia. This role has been basically non-interventionist in nature, with the exceptional interventions in economic affairs being associated with the removal of barriers to the private exploitation of the natural resource base. This broad economic role has conflicted with the state's central position as arbiter among opposing societal interests and has biased subsequent government planning activities toward facilitating the supply of electric power rather than evaluating the demand for it. Second, rigidities within the institutions employed by the state to undertake power planning activities inhibited the adaptation of these activities to a changing economic environment. Organized structures were created to implement particular power policy initiatives, and these organizations developed their own set of interests and priorities. Hence, a bias against the re-evaluation of previous policy and planning approaches was created, even in the face of clear evidence of their failings. In Chapter 2, the conceptual and theoretical groundwork for the study is laid with an examination of four alternative approaches to the economic role of the state in western capitalist societies. The key questions explored are the rationale for state intervention, the choice of policy instruments employed, and the effectiveness of these instruments in undertaking goal oriented planning. In Chapter 3, the stage for the analysis of power policy is set with an overview of the economic context of electric power production in British Columbia. This chapter establishes the staple-based nature of the B.C. economy and analyses the changing role played by electric power in this economy. Chapters 4 through 8 detail the historical evolution of power planning and policy in British Columbia. Chapter 4 documents the predominantly laissez-faire approach to power policy during the pre-World War II period and the gradual emergence of demands for a more active regulatory role by government. Chapter 5 documents both the implementation of electric power regulation during the 1950s and the emerging policy preoccupation with underwriting the development of British Columbia's large-scale hydro resources. The chapter focuses on the links between this overall role, the creation of a dominant Crown corporation in the power industry, the decision to undertake an economically dubious sequence of hydro development, and the lack of attention given to environmental issues. In Chapter 6, the focus is on the use of the Crown hydro corporation as an economic policy instrument during the 1960s. The preoccupation with initiating large-scale hydro developments shifted to a concern with producing power at the lowest possible direct cost to the consumer. Chapters 7 and 8 focus on the shift from power policy to power planning. From the late 1960s through the 1970s, policy making at the provincial level was largely replaced by an institutionalized, formally rational decision making process dominated by technical experts. This shift, by creating a powerful set of established interests within the provincial power utility, gave added momentum to the expansionary power policies of the 1950s and '60s during a period when their underlying justification was being increasingly questioned. Finally, Chapter 8 concludes by examining the re-assertion of regulatory control by the provincial state over the now publicly-owned power industry. The conclusion summarizes and interprets the evidence presented in Chapters 4 through 8 in light of the theoretical concepts introduced in Chapter 2. The central problem of state involvement in the electric power industry is shown to be the representativeness and adaptability of policy and planning institutions. A number of recommendations are made to overcome the deficiencies identified in the study. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate