Hello  I am interested in studying the change from Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), if that is what occurs, in 2015.  My goal is also to develop a publication.  I am a sociologist at Indiana University Purdue University in Fort Wayne Indiana.

Dear Madam Steiner, good afternoon.

This is a subject that also interests me, although I am not expert. I believe that as the theoretical sustainability there is much to discuss today, we know where we should go. My interest is to find out the reasons why the distance is great between theory and practice. I'm an engineer so I like numbers to discuss theories. I've done some studies on Brazilian environmental policy and the our environment. If you think I can contribute with their subject, or you with me, we can try to implement some form of partnership. Thank you.

Dear Dr. Faria,

I agree that we know where we should go, but I believe the potential for collapse is in the dynamics of the transition.  I think the gap between theory and practice is related to lack of transitional theory.  That is when most collapses occur:  during the 'getting there' phase.  I have written a theoretical piece about this describing the environmental fluctuations increasing under conditions of environmental degradation and how this impacts choices about how to use surplus wealth in societies.  Societies that rely mostly on social control tend to run out of resources at critical junctures:  https://www.academia.edu/3507371/Transitional_Adaptation

I am interested what is expected from us in thsi colloborative study?

You can start by having a look, as for OECD countries, at the OECD Environmental Perfomance Reviews (http://www.oecd.org/env/country-reviews/)

Dear Luiz,

thanks for the initiative.

Our mission at the Joint Research Centre (European Commission) is indeed to develop scientifically robust analysis/approaches/methods that can be used in policy making. We work in particular on products/systems/services life-cycle related activties (LCA, end-of-life, etc.) and related policies. If you want to give a life-cycle perspective to the research work, we are happy to study the possbility to contribute to it.

Regards from Italy!

Fabrice

I am interested in environmental policy analysis though  i am not yet an expert in field but it would be an interesting collaboration. It should be noted that there is a gap between theory and practice. Policy failures are among factors which underlie change and degradation of ecosystems.  

This is an interesting initiative indeed to study the comparative analysis of environmental policies across countries, especially in the context of developing countries. I would be interested to have collaborative studies.

Environmental policy will include a very wide range of things.  So it would be helpful to consider how focus might be given to a collaborative effort.  I look at environmental impact assessment and in particular at how public participation is involved in EA.  We have looked at cases in several countries including Brazil.

Devlin, J. F., & Yap, N. T. (2008). Contentious politics in environmental assessment: blocked projects and winning coalitions. Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 26(1), 17.

Devlin, J., & Tubino, D. I. (2012). Contention, participation, and mobilization in environmental assessment follow-up: the Itabira experience. Sustainability, 8(1), 106–115.

Sectoral policies (water, forestry, energy, land use, industry, agriculture) would be one way to focus.   Using sustainability as a overarching framework is possible but it is so slippery conceptually that it would be necessary to put some effort into narrowing it down.

Dear Dr. Faria,

I am interested in such a research and even I am not in the university field (but very soon) I collected a lot of practical experience in several countries (through international projects), amoung them projects on environmental legislation. I like to support the scientific experience with practical experience.

Regards from Germany !

Petra

Dear colleagues, good afternoon

Thanks for the replies, I hope to answer all individually. I'm starting to use ResearchGATE and I believe it has a tool for this.

As many have reported this is just an initiative of a subject that interests me. The type of research that I imagine would result in a collaborative scientific article, as so many others have already been published on the subject. Environmental Laws to which I refer are those that directly affect agricultural production. In the year 2012 here in Brazil great changes took place in one of our major laws that directly affect the agricultural, forestry and livestock production. In general, the law became more permissive. One of the reasons for this was the placement in the press that our law was very restrictive when compared to other countries. However, for most countries I found no article that effectively could suport it. I am interested in analyzing it. For this it is necessary to interpret the laws in a political and socioeconomic context of each country. I can do this in the case of Brazil, but it certainly would not be able to other countries even if I read them.

Thanks

Dear Colleague,

I agree to parcticipate in your survey for D R Congo (Africa). I will collaborate.

Best regards and good luck,

Dieudonne

I am interested in this research and can cover Romania and Switzerland. Up to now I studied the renewable energy policies in the two countries. 

Regards

Ramona

Dear Prof Faria,

I would be happy to collaborate with you and others in your research, either directly or through my colleagues at the University of Malta

best regards

Anton

Dear Dr. Devlin

I read your article and I congratulate you for the realistic description of the case of Vale in Itabira. I have not followed the case closely but a friend of mine works in the company at the time and talked about it several times. In Brazil the effective popular participation in the environmental assessment is recent, although our law have already some time. I am part of the municipal council of the environment as a representative of our university and recently participated in the environmental assessment of an industry of cars in our city. And I can say that your article could just as well describe this process. On this issue I can say that even popular participation may be subject to interests that are not always the best in environmental or social terms, but this is a process and I think that tends to improve. Our most recent case is that of hydroelectric project on indigenous lands of the hydroelectric plant of Belo Monte that I believe will follow the same example of company Vale in Itabira with many future projects that will not be continued.

Best  regards, Luiz Faria

I have been involved in some work in this area in Nigeria and I am interested in a comparative review

Yes Include me.

This sounds very interesting. I am working in Canada and Costa Rica.

Yes, I am interested in working on environmental policy in other countries......

I'd like to know more about this research, and then see what I can do. I am working in Beijing, China.

Dear Drs. Li He, Williams and Livingston, and others who have an interest

My initiative emerged from the discussions of the latest changes (2012) from our main federal law that affects agricultural production throughout the country, our Forest Code, which despite the name is not just about forests. According to it, among other things, some places within private properties should be allocated for environmental preservation (such as around rivers). With the changes of the Forest Code  these local of environmental protection were reduced with the excuse that they limits the income generation in the farms and that this limitation is less in other countries. With my initiative I would like to address the issue in a context of economic and sociopolitical other countries. I believe it would be very interesting discussion between countries like Brazil, USA, Canada and China. Best regards, Luiz Faria

Yes, I think it is an interesting research. I'd like to join. 

Very good idea. I major in geoenvironment management and protection and I'd like to join.

This is an interesting idea but we have to find a frame to support this activity.

I have specialization in econometric modelling which can be used in the investigation of the impact of environmental policies on the economic growth across the countries in different continents but at similar level of economic development .Brazil is a country where there is trade off between agriculture and environmental protection.

Yes, that would be an interesting study. For some countries including Barbados, West Indies, despite efforts of environmental protectionism, a number of gaps exist including opportunities to orient and align international development assistance and partnerships in support of the Barbados’ development goals in a sustainable manner.