In Global
Peace Through The Global University System
2003 Ed. by T. Varis, T. Utsumi, and W. R. Klemm
University of Tampere, Hameenlinna, Finland
Information
and Communication Technologies for Sustainable Development in Amazon, Brazil
Federal
University of Amazonas, Brazil
Introduction
Electronic means of
communication are taking an ever greater role in our societies. Internet business, for instance, is
expected to consume on the order of billions of dollars every day. Access to databases scattered around
the world via Internet enhances scientific progress at universities. Personal computers and medical
equipment now make it as routine to transit data via Internet, or process
it. In essence, anyone not capable
of accessing Internet in one way or another will be at a great disadvantage
with respect to his or her peers.
Viewed from this
perspective, we can envision that one important, if not the most important, way
to narrow the gap between the developed and the less developed world is through
education. Many economic studies
show that uneven income distribution is a serious problem for both developed
and less developed countries.
At first glance, it
is easy, and perhaps naive, to think that these inequalities are only a matter
of attitude of governments or lack of ability of people to move towards better
standards of life by their own means.
In fact, the problem goes deeper.
The vicious cycle of poverty is something closely tied to education,
health and the environment.
Without education people lack the means to understand how to build a
better world. Without health
people give less thought to education and, therefore, and even less interest in
the health of the environment. A degraded environment makes people's lives worse at both the local and the global levels, in the short and in the long run. A degraded environment closes a cycle making life more
difficult by forcing people to think more in terms of survivorship and less or
not at all of education and the future.
For Hilty (2002),
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), are acting as drivers of
globalization. ICT is changing the division of labor and society's mobility habits. These changes show how relevant ICT is to the
environment. It is high time that
the direct and indirect effects of ICT on the environment be systematically
assessed. This is only going to
happen in the same way that great research questions have always been dealt
with; in many little steps, the results of which do not become evident until
they are put together like mosaic stones into a total picture. Society has also to take into account
the interactions among ecological, economic and social issues. In other words, society needs new
insights into the opportunities and risks of the emerging information society
as regards to the goal of sustainable development.
Brazil is one of
the largest countries in the world, and it is the tenth biggest economy. It is a country of many countries and
home of the largest portion of the Amazon rain forest. The latter covers about 54% of the 8.5 million of square kilometers of the country's area. Amazonia is no longer an empty space as was thought in the
past. Rather, it is home of almost
13 million people who are responsible for
its conservation (IBGE, 2003). Following the national trend, most of
its habitants are now located in urban areas. The biggest challenge for Brazilians is to promote
sustainable development in Amazonia with the lowest possible damage to it.
This chapter has
the objective to explain how modern information technology can contribute to
sustainable development in Amazonia through the presentation of some
initiatives of distance education.
The following section presents a brief concept of sustainable
development and makes a first approach on how technology can contribute to its
sustainability. In the subsequent
sections we present some Brazilian initiatives as well as the main experience
in Amazonia. Finally, a brief discussion
on institutional efforts is presented in the last part.
Sustainable Development
and Technology
In each era,
economic growth is continuously fuelled by organizational and technical
innovations that ensure resource, labor, and capital productivity improvements. The general-purpose technologies, such
as steam engines, electricity, or telegraphy always had strong economic and
lifestyle impacts.
Today, a similar
role is played by information and communication technologies (ICTs). A large part of economic growth is
attributed to their innovative applications in manufacturing and service
sectors. It is expected that ICTs
are capable of de-linking the economic growth from environmental degradation
primarily due to their potential to increase productivity and create
value-added in the form of manipulating ideas and information rather than
energy and materials (Plepys, 2003).
There are some
several definitions of sustainable development. The World Commission
on Environment and Development (1987) defined it as a process by which
the current generation can meet its needs without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their needs.
A more rigorous definition from Atkinson (1997) says that it is a non-declining
human well being over time. The
latter authors continue by stating that any society wishing to pursue
intergenerational justice defined in these terms must develop in such a way as
to minimize those activities whose costs are borne by future generations.
There currently is
a debate on how ICT contributes to sustainable development. Plepys (2003)
argues that information and communication technologies have a profound impact
on economy and environment. The
performance improvements in ICT leads to increased consumption of ICT products
and services, which has numerous environmental implications on different
levels. The other side of the
debate argues that only through democratization of communication information
can the world be improved. For Greenstein and Spiller (1996), infrastructure
investment is responsible for a substantial fraction of the recent growth in
consumer surplus and business revenue in local telecommunication services.
Sustainable
development requires a combination of growth in physical, human and
environmental capital. To achieve
sustainable development is much more difficult than to define it. Aside from this debate, occurring
mainly in developed countries, developing nations need to place more attention
on the latter two forms of capital.
One reason for this is because these developing nations are responsible
for the maintenance of important natural resources and also have to deal with
ever expanding pressures to increase their gross domestic product at the
expense of these same resources.
Brazil has its
population living mostly in coastal zones, which is a very important type of
environment. However, a growing
portion of its population lives in inner ecosystems like fragments of the
Atlantic rainforest, Pantanal and the Amazonian rainforest. We believe that one important way to
contribute to sustainable development and conservation of important resources
is through the enhancement of human capital. This can only be done through education. For Amazonia, an immense territory,
ICTs have the potential to deliver knowledge that will contribute to
conservation of its natural resources and environmental assets; and ultimately,
to sustainability.
ICTs to Foster Sustainable
Development in Brazil
Brazil has taken
many important steps to give its people more access to knowledge and pursue a
sustainable path. Through the
Ministry of Education (MEC), the government has designed and implemented
alternatives to foster distance education in the country. MEC
(2003) has identified the main initiatives in Brazil to be: School TV, Proformação, Proinfo and Radio School.
School TV has the objectives to train and to promote valorization of teachers of primary and secondary public
schools using a conventional TV system, videotapes and printed material. In 2002 the program reached 57,395
schools in the country out of a total of 61,958.
Proformacao is another program that uses distance education
tools and has the objective to promote valorization of teachers of the public
Brazilian schools system. This
program directly benefits teachers of primary schools who have incomplete or no
previous training for teaching activities. This program is implemented in the poorest regions of the
country, namely Northern, Northeastern and Center-Western, covering 13
states. As of 2000, 27,372 teachers
have benefited from the program.
Another program is Proinfo.
This program has the objective of contributing to the improvement of the
learning process in public schools through the use of telematics. In this program, computers are given to
public primary and secondary schools as a way to induce their use and make them
effective part of the teaching-learning process. As of July of 2002, 2,863 schools have received about 51,000
PCs.
Finally, Radio
School is another distance
education initiative that has the objective to supply inputs for teachers of
youth and adults. These inputs are
necessary due to the lack of didactical material necessary for this type of
teaching. So far, 10 radio
programs have been produced and distributed to almost 1,500 municipalities
throughout the country. RadioSchool has already benefited over thirty thousand
teachers of the public school system, seven hundred thousand students, and
almost four hundred universities.
See more in "Implementation of Amazonian Core of Technologies for Distance Education and Healthcare (NATESD)" at:
http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Manaus Workshop/Tinker Foundation/Application
Form/Tinker_Proposal_Web/Appendices/Appendix-II_NATESD/NATESD.htm
Brazil is a huge
country with many regional inequalities.
Government alone is not able to fill all the gaps and supply all the
needs. An initiative of Brazilians
Federal Universities called Unirede
has been working to augment current the efforts and promote and disseminate
distance education throughout the country. The Virtual Public University of Brazil was founded in 2000
and today constitutes a consortium of 70 public high education institutions
with the objective to democratize access to quality education through distance
education learning (Unirede).
Amazonian Initiatives for
Sustainable Development
South America is
the home of one of the world's unique environments, the Amazon rain
forest. The region was long
considered as an empty area in terms of human population, particularly in the
Brazilian side. In recent years,
the media has called the world's attention to the deforestation and
biodiversity loss problems that were happening in the region. The world was also concerned about the
increasing problems associated with drugs. Those problems were clear indications that the empty area
was starting to suffer the adverse consequences of human activities.
Those problems can
be substantially minimized if human isolation is addressed. Isolation makes people unaware of their
importance as citizens contributing to impoverishment and degradation of the
environment and economic system.
In situations like this, people will not understand the importance of
conserving the environment or how they might benefit from it without
compromising their own future as well as the future of future generations. Ultimately, such unawareness can
perpetuate a cycle of economic and social poverty and environmental
degradation, as described above.
The implementation
of modern ICTs can drastically reduce the environmental risks threatening the
region. A broadband or faster and more reliable communication network linking people and institutions within and between Amazonian communities will contribute to the understanding of people's role and the importance of the use of the forest in a sustainable manner and, at the same time, improving their quality of life while avoiding the costs of the destruction of the natural environment.
With this view in
perspective federal public universities located in Amazonia have undertaken two
important initiatives: CampusNet Amazonia and Smart Community Development.
CampusNet Amazonia
To pursue this
goal, six federal universities of the Brazilian Amazon created in May of 2001 a
consortium called CampusNet Amazonia[1]. The purpose of the consortium is to make public school more
accessible as well as to contribute to the improvement of the teaching/learning
process in the fields of Education, Science, Technology and Arts in the associated
institutions.
CampusNet Amazonia
has four major objectives. First,
it aims to give pedagogical support for undergraduate and graduate conventional
courses. Second, it helps to expand
access to university courses by means of flexible on-line educational systems
through the use of ICTs. Students
with difficulty to access centers of high education will benefit most. Third, CampusNet will promote
overcoming of geographical distances, and social and economic barriers to high
education access. Finally, the
consortium aims to create opportunities to incentive initiatives already in
place and help in the establishment of appropriated ICT infrastructure, e.g., broadband satellite
Internet, which will interconnect member universities of CampusNet consortium
(see Utsumi et al. 2003).
CampusNet
is now part of Unirede and has
had an important role in promoting distance education in Amazonia. Coordinated with all levels of
governments, the consortium has developed many activities and stimulated
integration of institutions.
Broadband wireless
and satellite Internet, available to universities, elementary, primary and
secondary schools and hospitals, should promote the interaction among young
people from different areas of the Amazon Region with young people from the
rest of the world.
As the
infrastructure becomes a reality, there will be a need for development of
contents (e-learning on environmental education, rational use of the forest,
techniques and methods for implementation of suitable agroforestry activities,
e-healthcare, etc.) and of new uses of the technology (Internet telephony,
distance medical diagnose, access to information, etc.).
In this process, we believe that communities from the capitals of the Brazilian Amazonian states have important role in the identification and indication of solutions to the Amazon region's needs and problems.
This is an action to be replicated throughout the region. The replication and expansion will
happen through strong partnership with other institutions. CampusNet Amazonia consortium will play
major role in this initiative because it constitutes the main federal
universities network in the Brazilian Amazonia and it is also an active member
of Unirede.
In a second phase,
this effort will help establish the necessary conditions for private
initiatives such that more resources will become available to more needy
communities elsewhere in the region.
So, this project is
a community development approach, firstly connecting non-profit organizations
(elementary, secondary and higher education institutions, libraries, hospitals,
local governmental agencies, and non-profit organizations, etc.) and secondly
with for-profit organizations to have global E-Rate, thus all applicable groups
are inclusive. The more
participants can share the cost of expensive digital satellite trunk line the
better. The use of broadband wireless Internet for the Community Development Network (which will be constructed in the cities of main campuses of CampusNet participating universities) will make their participation easy so that the so-called "last-mile" problem to reach individual end-users and learners can more effectively be solved - (see Utsumi et al. 2003).
The community
approach follows that defined by Prof. Eger (2003) of San Diego State University, that is, a
geographical area ranging in size from a neighborhood to a multi-county region
is identified where residents, organizations, and governing institutions use
information technology to transform their region in significant, even
fundamental ways.[2]
The community
development approach will include all interested parties in the cities of the
main campuses of CampusNet universities.
This will not only contribute to addressing the problem of digital
literacy among the poor, but also create new job opportunities for the
graduates of the universities, and even E-Rate with the involvement of
profit-oriented organizations in the later stage.
Community based
programs in Amazonia embody the premise that exercises in the deployment and
use of technology are not the core for sustainable development in
Amazonia. Rather, the focus is on
the promotion of economic development, job creation, and increasing quality of
life as the goal. Technological
propagation is not an end in itself, but only a means to a larger end with
clear and compelling community benefits.
The development of such networks will benefit communities living in
remote areas of other Amazonian countries in the future.
Institutional
Efforts and Opportunities
Distance education
is an initiative that is becoming more and more a reality. But the road to travel is still too
long. More coordination and
resources are necessary to move faster towards desired goals. Despite the Brazilian efforts, a lot still
needs to be done for the conservation of Amazonia. At the international level much more contributions are
necessary. Even though there are
short-term needs, sustainability is only attained if one looks to the future
and acts accordingly.
It is because of
this view of the future that institutions like Federal University of Amazonas
(UFAM) through CampusNet have joined GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation
Association in the U.S.A. (GLOSAS/USA)[3] as cooperatively conducting "Global Lecture Hall (GLH)" videoconferencing in Manaus, Amazon in 1996 and 2000. Both were broadcast around
the world via satellite and Internet (Utsumi et al, 2003). The GLOSAS/USA consortium is an organization dedicated to
the use of evolving telecommunications and information technologies to further
advance world peace through global communications. It fosters science and technology based economic development
to improve the quality of life.
In
addition to the Global University System (GUS) (Utsumi, et al, 2003), CampusNet Amazonia has also pursued
association with other organizations and institutions interested in sustainable
development in Amazonia. This is
the case of the Association of Amazonian Universities (Unamaz[4]). This organization aims at essentially educative and cultural
objectives, through scientific, technological and cultural cooperation as mean
of integration of the universities and institutions of eight Amazonian
countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Equator, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and
Venezuela. In 2000, Unamaz decided to have CampusNet
Amazonia model as a reference for the organization.
Cooperation
with the Amazonia Protection System (Sipam)
has opened another excellent opportunity for CampusNet. The System is a telecommunication
apparatus network used primarily for surveillance and monitoring of
Amazonia. With this capability, Sipam can also be thought of as a huge
computerized network for large data transit, imagery and the like in the
region. These characteristics are
what allow it also to serve as an effective infrastructure to facilitate
distance education and e-healthcare.
Final Considerations
Brazil has the
responsibility to protect Amazonia from inappropriate use and conserve it for
future generations. According to
sustainable development principles, it is fundamental for societies to invest
in intellectual and/or human capital formation. A just world requires adequate access to education for all
as a mean to understand the complex relationships between our social, economic
and environmental systems.
In this chapter we
have highlighted the role of distance education and e-health as an important
tools to promote sustainable development in Amazonia. Valuable initiatives have now begun, but we are convinced that
only through coordinated efforts will we be able to promote a better quality of
life for people living in this critical and mostly intact environment. Glosas/USA, GUS and CampusNet
Amazonia are playing important roles in this process.
References
Atkinson,
G, Richard D., Kirk H., Mohan M., David P. and Carlos Y. (1999). Measuring Sustainable Development:
Macroeconomics and the Environment.
Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.
Colares da Silva, J., A. Tobias, A. Aparecida, C. Simoes, M. Antonio, (no date) "Multimedia InfoWay for the Development of Distance Education and Health by Amazonian Universities," Retrieved on May 23, 2003 at;http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Manaus Workshop/Tinker
Foundation/Application Form/Tinker_Proposal_Web/Appendices/Appendix-I_CampusNet/A_1_CampusNet.html
Eger,
J. (2003), "Athens in the Information Age" in this book.
Greenstein, S. M and Pablo T. S. (1996). Estimating the welfare effects of digital
infrastructure. National Bureau of
Economic Research Series. Working
paper 5770.
Hilty,
L.M. (2002). Sustainable
development and information technology in Environmental Impact Assessment
Review. 22:445-447.
IBGE
(2003). Retrieved on May, 01 2003
at www.ibge.gov.br.
MEC - Ministerio da Educacao/Seed. Relat - rio de atividades de 2001. Retrieved on May, 04 2003 at
www.mec.gov.br.
Plepys,
A. (2002). The grey side of ICT in
Environmental Impact Assessment Review.
22:509-523.
Unirede - Universidade Virtual Pœblica do Brasil. Retrieved on May, 02 2003 at www.unirede.org.
Utsumi, T., T. Varis, W. Klemm (2003), "Creating Global University System," in this book.
World Commission on
Environment and Development (1987).
Our common future: The Brundtland report.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Author Biographical Sketches
|
Alexandre Rivas, Ph.D. Environmental Science Center, Director Federal
University of Amazonas CP 4208 Manaus - AM - Brazil
69053-150 Tel: +55 92
647.4065 Fax: +55 92
647.4065 E-mail: alex@ufam.edu.br |
|
Alexandre
Rivas is the director of the Center for Environmental Sciences at the Federal
University of Amazonas (FUA). He
coordinated the Nucleus for Public Finance and Environmental Policies at
Fundacao Getulio Vargas/ISAE in Manaus.
He coordinated the Workshop on Distance Education and Telemedicine in
May/June of 2000, and in 1998 he also organized an international teleconference
about new technologies for e-learning, both of which were in cooperation with
GLOSAS/USA. Both events were
broadcasted from Manaus around the world via satellite and Internet with the
support from Fundacao Rede Amazonica and Fundacao Getulio Vargas. In 1992, he coordinated in Brazil an
educational bilateral project between FUA and the University of Tennessee. He was FUA's representative during his
stay in the USA. He graduated in
1988 from the Federal University Ceara.
In May of 1997, he received a Master of Arts in Economics from the
University of Tennessee. In May
1998, he received the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Economics from the
University of Tennessee.
|
Dr. Jackson Colares da Silva Coordinator of CampusNet Amazonia Campus Universitario Centro de
Ciencias do Ambiente Environmental Science Center Federal University of Amazonas Manaus - AM -
Brasil 69000-000 Tel/fax:+ 55 92
647.4066 / 647.4063 jcolares@fua.br jcolares@hotmail.com http://www.fua.br/~cna/ -- CampusNet |
|
CampusNet Amazonia
is coordinated by Prof. Jackson Colares.
Prof. Colares is finishing his Ph.D. in Education at the Universitat de
les Illes Baleares, Spain and his field of specialization is development of
learning environments in telematics network. Prof. Colares is the Director of the Infrastructure Division
at the Environmental Sciences Center.
He also has many publications in his field and is the director of the
Info via Multimedia North Info via Telematics Network of the Virtual Campuses
of Federal Universities of the Brazilian Northern Region for the Development of
Programs in Distance Health and Education. As a result of his effort and leadership, all seven
universities in Amazonia have constantly looked for his technical support and
consulting. He has been
responsible for the establishment and strength of the relationship with key
private companies willing to participate in this project. He is also the representative of the
Northern region of Brazil in the Unirede's management committee.