02103naa a2200217 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001902400370006010000150009724500870011226000090019952013620020865000220157065000260159265300240161870000160164270000150165870000170167370000180169077301770170820971162018-10-31       2019    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d7 a10.1007/978-3-319-89644-1_12DOI1 aNEHREN, U.  aRio de Janeiroba state in socio-ecological transformation.h[electronic resource]  c2019  aWithin the period of about 500 years since the European colonization, today's state of Rio de Janeiro has been transformed from a sparsely populated forest area to an economic and cultural hub of Brazil and the whole continent of South America. This development process is on the one hand characterized by technological progress and economic and population growth but on the other hand also accompanied by overexploitation of natural resources, land and ecosystem degradation, uncontrolled urban sprawl, and increasing social disparities. In the past few years, some efforts have been made to counteract these negative trends, but many challenges remain to keep pace with the rapidly changing demands and needs in a globalized world. In this introductory chapter, we provide an overview of the recent developments in the environmental and agricultural sectors in the state of Rio de Janeiro. We focus on the rural areas of the state that provide essential goods and services for the urban agglomerations. In this context we briefly introduce the chapters of the book that are divided into five main sections: (a) Agricultural Management; (b) Ecosystem Management and Biodiversity; (c) Integrated Water Management; (d) Land Restoration, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Climate Change Adaptation; as well as (e) Environmental Governance and Economic Instruments.  aRural development  aDesenvolvimento Rural  aRio de Janeiro (RJ)1 aSATTLER, D.1 aRAEDIG, C.1 aHISSA, H. R.1 aSCHLÜTER, S.  tIn: NEHREN, U.; SCHLÜTER, S.; RAEDIG, C.; SATTLER, D.; HISSA, H. (Ed.). Strategies and tools for a sustainable rural Rio de Janeiro. Cham: Springer, 2019. cap. 1, p. 1-10.