Geografares is affiliated with the Graduate Program in Geography and the Department of Geography at the Federal University of Espírito Santo. In 2025, the journal marked its 25th anniversary, publishing 40 issues. Up to issue 7, it appeared only in print, although all issues are now available in PDF format on the journal’s website. Beginning with issue 8, it became a digital journal. Full automation of the submission system, however, was only implemented with issue 9, published in the second half of 2010. From that point on, journal management and publication were conducted digitally via the Open Journal Systems platform. The journal publishes two issues per year. It accepts individual articles and may also organize dossiers on specific themes. Geografares includes sections for articles, interviews, research notes, reviews, and translations. The topics it covers span both “physical” and “human” geography. It also welcomes texts from other fields that engage with geography, especially through territorial and spatial approaches. The journal’s main geographical focus is Brazil and Latin America. Its primary language is Portuguese, but it also accepts submissions in English, Spanish, and French. All published articles are assigned a DOI.
Departamento e Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geografia da UFES
Copyrights Declaration Authors who publish in the journal agree with the following terms: Authors will keep their copyrights and grant the journal the right to their first publishing, simultaneously licenced under Creative Commons Attribution License which allows sharing their work with authorship recognition and initial release through this journal. Authors may sign additional contracts separately diffusing a non-exclusively version of the paper published in this journal (i.g. publishing in institutional repository or as a book chapter), once citing the authorship and initial release through this journal. Authors are encouraged to publicize and diffuse their paper online, for example onto institutional repositories or on their personal websites.
Review of the book “Historical Journey to Brazil”
Review of the book “Historical Journey to Brazil”, by the French painter, artist and professor Jean-Baptiste Debret (1768–1848). Debret was part of the French Artistic Mission, led by Joaquim Lebreton and conceived during the reign of Dom João VI. He arrived in Brazil in 1816 and remained in the country until 1831. His works depict enslaved people, ethnographic themes, indigenous populations, clothing, urban landscapes, monarchs, utensils, religious ceremonies, natural areas, political events, fauna and flora, among other aspects of Brazilian daily life. His production constitutes a contemporary look at an ancestral Brazil, allowing the visualization of the past and reflection on the historical formation and current society.
Copyright (c) 2026 Geografares https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Editorial of the thematic dossie "Energy transition and extractive dependence: Latin America’s dilemmas in the age of critical minerals"
Editorial of the thematic dossie.
Dossier Energy transition and extractive dependence — Latin America’s dilemmas in the era of critical minerals
Market territories and urban centralities: a comparative analysis of public food markets in São Paulo (Brazil) and Santiago (Chile)
This article analyzes, from a comparative perspective, the public markets of São Paulo (Brazil) and Santiago (Chile) as mercantile territories and resilient urban centralities in Latin America. Based on a historical-cultural and territorial approach (period from 1850 to 2021), supported by qualitative research using documentary analysis, field observation, and spatial mapping, it investigates how these spaces articulate traditional trade practices, circulation networks, power relations, and local identities. The results show that public markets are spaces of social production of territory, mediating tensions between tradition and modernity, public and private, local and global. The analysis reinforces their role as social institutions that resist contemporary urban transformations, contribute to the consolidation of local food supply networks, and structure urban centralities in their surroundings.
The geography of rail freight transport and the flows of mineral-based raw materials in Brazil
In spatial interactions, railways play a strategic role in the (re)organization of freight flows, which require connections and intersections of infrastructure, as well as the provision of transport services in the movement of mineral products across the Brazilian territory. The purpose of this article was to analyze the socio-spatial dynamics of the rail transport system in the circulation of mineral-based raw material shipments in Brazil, considering the flows on the routes between the origin and destination rail stations of the transported products, in the period from 2006 to 2025. The methodological procedures were structured in the literature review, collection, tabulation, and analysis of data provided by the National Land Transport Agency of Brazil (ANTT). Mineral product shipments were concentrated in the states of Minas Gerais and Pará, being predominantly transported via the Carajás Railway, the Vitória-Minas Railway, and MRS Logística, connecting the port complexes of São Luís, Vitória, and Itaguaí.
Spatial analysis of solar panel imports in the state of Minas Gerais (2010-2024)
Solar energy is one of the renewable energy sources in which the country has great potential for its dissemination throughout the national territory. Therefore, one of the aspects contributing to this process is solar panels, whose characteristics, linked to high costs and accessibility, are one of the determining factors for their development. Thus, this article aims to understand the dynamics of solar panel imports in the state of Minas Gerais from 2010 to 2024, adding geoprocessing and decision-making techniques. It concludes that the increase was significant, since 78.57% of the years analyzed showed average annual growth rates of 200,28%.
Territory use and mineral exploitation: mobilization and popular consultation in Mercaderes, Cauca (Colombia)
The legitimate mining popular consultation of Mercaderes, Cauca (Colombia), held in 2019, emerged as a process of community reaffirmation within the framework of an environmental conflict. This process consolidated dynamics of defense and resistance, accompanied by the radicalization of horizontal solidarities. This article demonstrates the existence of a dialectical movement in the configuration of political geography in Mercaderes, Cauca, with social mobilization and territorial conflicts at its core, arising from the threat of appropriation of the territory for its feasibility as a mineral resource. The emergence of hydrocarbon and mining exploitation processes contrasts with the loss of river springs in the municipality, hydric stress, and the arrival of illegal mining activity that profoundly affected the Sambingo River and the social dynamics associated with it. The legitimate popular consultation on mining, within an adverse social context, upheld the community’s plans and its conception of its territory.
Mexican lithium: from its “nationalization” to the dispute with China
This article analyzes the growing global demand for lithium, emphasizing its use in electric batteries, which account for nearly 90% of consumption. It examines strategic territories, including Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, and Peru, which collectively hold the world’s largest lithium resources. Specifically, the study focuses on Mexico. Given its lithium wealth—ranking tenth globally—former President López Obrador declared lithium a strategic element and national heritage. This measure sought to protect the resource by preventing the granting of mining concessions to private companies, which had previously seized more than half of the national territory. Nevertheless, a Chinese company has sued the Mexican government to exploit Mexico’s lithium. The corporation had proposed exporting the raw clay to Asia without domestic processing. Such practices perpetuate permanent primary accumulation, accumulation by dispossession, the primary-export model, and necroeconomics.
Smart agriculture: new impulses to the financialization of the agricultural business. Some notes on Argentina and Brazil
Significant transformations are underway in agriculture. These shifts are driving new strategies and alliances among leading global business conglomerates. From this perspective, the article explores the characteristics of the biological-digital paradigm. It examines the diffusion of its productive, commercial, and spatial dynamics, which interact with the so-called “China effect,” particularly in the Southern Cone of Latin America, especially in Argentina and Brazil. Special analytical attention is paid to land grabbing amid a deepening climate crisis. Finally, the study addresses new regulatory pressures that, among other aspects, result in eco-financialization through the development of so-called green businesses.
The open-pit metallic extraction dilemma in Panama concerning “Minera Panamá”: between life’s sustainability and nature’s exploitation
The present article analyzes the sociopolitical crisis in Panama caused by the approval of Law 406 and its implications for the contract with Minera Panamá, S.A. Throughout 2023, the controversy over the lack of transparency and citizen participation in decision-making triggered massive social mobilizations, highlighting the involvement of social movements, trade unions, and young activists who demanded the defense of the environment and national sovereignty. The government’s response was to repeal the law and issue a landmark Supreme Court ruling declaring the mining contract unconstitutional for violating fundamental rights and constitutional provisions that protect natural resources and social welfare. We highlight the diverse positions that arise from the convulsive reality of open-pit metallic mining extractivism in Panama.
The Port of Chancay, the Belt and Road Initiative, and Peru’s economic developmen
This article examines the Port of Chancay’s role in China-Peru relations, arguing that it deepens Peru’s extractivist economy and dependence. Peru is a dependent capitalist economy mainly supplying resources to advanced countries and China. While the port promises GDP growth, jobs, and logistical integration, these benefits largely exclude most people, reinforcing an exclusionary, super-exploitative model with high informality. The study highlights that Chinese investment is part of a geoeconomic strategy to secure resources, cut costs, and increase China’s influence over Peru and Latin America.
South America amid hegemonic narratives of critical minerals and the corporate energy transition
From a critical South American perspective, this article analyzes how global actors contest and control hegemonic narratives about critical minerals and the so-called Corporate Energy Transition. Using an exploratory, mixed-methods approach, this study examines the geopolitical dimensions of these minerals in the global energy transition. The methodology draws on international organization reports, a comprehensive literature review, and my previous research. Results demonstrate that the corporate energy transition reproduces a framework of “green neocolonialism” under the guise of decarbonization. This process shifts structural dependence from fossil fuels to a multi-dependency on critical minerals, thereby deepening neo-extractivism across the Global South. In this context, I argue that South America faces the urgent challenge of redefining how its strategic resources are used and controlled. The region must overcome its subordinate global position and realign the energy transition with its own sovereign development priorities.
This text reflects on the thinking of sociologist Abdelmalek Sayad, highlighting the relationship between migration, state thinking, and work. We highlight the interdependence between these categories and also the stages of emigration, namely: temporariness and return. Throughout the text, we appreciate the importance of his work for the analysis of migration in the contemporary world, especially when we consider the political and methodological perspectives of this production.
From land conflicts to the consolidation of lasting peace in Aboisso (south-eastern ivory coast)
Ivory Coast’s development is based on agriculture. This sector currently represents 22% of GDP, and more than two-thirds of the working population earn their living from farming. However, the challenges of agriculture face several problems, including the land issue. Nearly all regions of Côte d’Ivoire are affected by land conflicts (OASIS, 2017, p.12). This land situation is strongly marked by intense agrarian migration supported by the state since the 1960s. In the department of Aboisso, in the face of land conflicts, strategies are adopted for maintaining peace. This study therefore aims to understand, in the face of land conflicts, the strategies adopted for maintaining peace in Aboisso. Based on a mixed survey (qualitative and quantitative), it emerges that the absence of land titles, multiple sales of the same land and poor administrative management are the main causes of conflicts in Aboisso. The study also reveals that land conflicts in Aboisso pit indigenous peoples themselves against agricultural land exploitation rights, indigenous peoples against migrants, and village communities against large agro-industrial companies. Faced with these conflicts, victims resort to customary, judicial, and administrative settlement methods to consolidate peace in Aboisso.
Sand extraction and coastal degradation in San-Pedro (south-west Ivory Coast)
Public policies regarding environmental preservation in the coastal city of San-Pedro face a crucial development in sand extraction activities. This activity, which has an economic dimension along the beach, bears the dual impacts of intense coastal urbanization and coastline erosion. Given the urgency of this situation, this study aims to understand the extent to which sand extraction can be practiced while reducing impacts on the coastline. To achieve this objective, this contribution analyzes the forces at play that embody the emergence of this activity through a mixed-method approach primarily focused on creating qualitative scenarios. Data was collected from 52 stakeholders, including workers, truck drivers, members of the village community, NGOs, private organizations, and local elected officials. Based on the results obtained, it is important to note that sand extraction, due to its economic and social productivity, exacerbates environmental degradation, particularly along the coastline. However, it is evident that there is currently a lack of local policies or strategies capable of integrating this activity within an ecological framework. That being said, awareness-raising, ecological transition, and corporate social responsibility prove to be key tools for simultaneously reducing coastal destruction and safeguarding this profession that sustains many in the city of San-Pedro.
Organisation and structural constraints of the catfish supply chain in Côte d’Ivoire
In Côte d’Ivoire, catfish remains marginal in aquaculture despite real consumption potential and strong dependence on fish imports. This article examines the organisation and structural constraints of its supply chain. The study combines a quantitative survey of 200 fish farmers and 38 fishers with semi-structured interviews conducted with 128 actors across the chain. Results show a triply fragmented structure: weak and poorly specialised local aquaculture production, continental catches that remain largely invisible in official statistics, and growing dependence on imported Asian siluriforms. The sector operates mainly through informal relations, with no contractualisation or vertical coordination. Catfish is also constrained by persistent food taboos. Together, these factors maintain a structural lock-in. The article argues for integrated governance linking input provision, market structuring and the sociocultural revalorisation of the product.
Use of plastic bags in street food and environmental degradation in Bonon (Central-western Côte d’Ivoire)
Street food vendors, who occupy public spaces in Bonon in an unregulated manner, use plastic bags, even though these are prohibited by the legal provisions in force in Côte d’Ivoire. The research aims to analyse the factors and environmental implications of the use of plastic bags in street food vending in the city. It involved semi-structured interviews with the authorities responsible for waste management, participatory observation and surveys of 100 vendors, 200 consumers and 160 households. The study showed that plastic bags are used excessively in street food vendors because they are easy to handle and accessible. However, poor management of plastic bags after use is a source of visual pollution, unsanitary conditions and degradation of the sanitation network, in a context of ignorance of legal provisions prohibiting the use of plastic bags and the inefficiency of the urban waste management system.
The desire to migrate: constructing a theory of migrationfrom multiplicity
Migration, as part of reality, has highly particular and plural dimensions and viewpoints. If we consider the expectations of migrants themselves, we find one set of interpretations; if we examine it through the lens of the state, the media, or society, new perspectives and gazes emerge. This study aims to contribute new interpretations to the field of migration studies, framed first through a geographical lens, second through the perspective of multiplicity, and third through a critical social theory of the desire to migrate. Here, the desire to migrate is approached as an inherently political construct that drives strategies of both mobility and permanence. Thus, through a spatial perspective, this paper seeks to understand and advance the debate within the geographies of migration, overcoming traditional theoretical and methodological limitations.
Risk perception in coastal tourist destinations: a case study in Serrote da Pedra Furada, Jericoacoara, Ceará, Brazil
High visitation coastal destinations, such as Jericoacoara, on the west coast of Ceará, Brazil, present natural risks that are often underestimated by visitors. This study analyzed risk perception at Serrote da Pedra Furada, in Jericoacoara National Park, through the application of questionnaires given to 107 tourists. The results revealed an important contradiction: although 58.9% claim to know the concept of cliffs, only 34.9% identify the spot as such. Risk perception proved to be predominantly sensory, based on immediate elements such as the slope of the land and the difficulty of access, rather than understanding of geomorphological instability processes. Factors such as first visit, age, and origin significantly influenced that perception. Furthermore, 74.8% of participants highlighted the lack of proper signage, indicating that communication about the risks is insufficient at the spot. The results indicate the necessity to implement risk communication strategies and educational signage as essential measures to mitigate visitors’ vulnerability.
Copyright (c) 2025 Geografares https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The production of social space in Lefebvre: a “socionatural” critique
Based on the works of the French thinker Henri Lefebvre, especially "La producción del espacio", it is identified that, in his attempt to elaborate a unitary theory of space, "ecology" and "environment" are refuted. Dominating these works are the division between nature and society, the bipartition of nature, the primal view of nature as "raw material," the social-human collage, and a single urban world. In an anthropocentric vision, the hegemonic option is for the "development of productive forces" as a path to "another mode of production," while simultaneously acknowledging the subordinate nature of "risks," "threats," and even the "destruction of man." Faced with these conceptions, another possibility is to revisit the Earth within a world of worlds.
Review of the work "Atlas comentado da escala de trabalho 6 x 1 no Brasil"
Review of the work “Atlas comentado da escala de trabalho 6 x 1 no Brasil,” edited by Tadeu Alencar Arrais, Rodrigo Lopes Cavalcanti Ribeiro, and Márcio Ayer Correia Andrade.
Review of the book "Geografias do capital: estudos sobre a reestruturação territorial-produtiva e ecologia política"
Review of the book “Geografias do capital: estudos sobre a reestruturação territorial-produtiva e ecologia política,” edited by Leandro Dias de Oliveira.
Review of the book “A representação ideal de um território periférico. Dinâmicas econômicas e políticas na Baixada Fluminense no início do século XXI”
Review of the book “A representação ideal de um território periférico. Dinâmicas econômicas e políticas na Baixada Fluminense no início do século XXI,” by André Santos da Rocha.
Review of the book “Reestruturação do espaço e do capital. Movimentos contemporâneos na perspectiva da economia política e da produção do espaço”
Review of the book “Reestruturação do espaço e do capital. Movimentos contemporâneos na perspectiva da economia política e da produção do espaço”, edited by Regina Tunes, Floriano Godinho de Oliveira, Leandro Dias de Oliveira, and Denis Castilho.
Review of the book “Redes técnicas e urbanas no centro-norte brasileiro”
Review of the book "Redes técnicas e urbanas no centro-norte brasileiro", edited by Denis Castilho, Kelly Bessa, Fernando Oliveira, and Dallys Dantas.
Review of the book "Terre, États et communautés en Amérique Latine. Droits de propriété et construction politique dans la longue durée"
Review of the book "Terre, États et communautés en Amérique Latine. Droits de propriété et construction politique dans la longue durée", edited by Éric Léonard, director of research at the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD).
Artificial intelligence for visualizing land cover changes in central China
Remote sensing (RS) data are essential sources of information for mapping landscape dynamics in urban areas. Algorithms of artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning (ML), provide robust methods for processing RS data. This study used ML methods of GRASS GIS software for processing satellite images to analyse landscape changes in central China. The aim is to analyse landscape dynamics through detected land cover changes during 10 years with 2-year time gap. The workflow included Random Forest ML algorithm of image classification. Data included six Landsat 8-9 OLI/TIRS images taken in autumn in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023. The results indicated the expansion of the area of Wuhan city, which indicates the processes of urbanization and intensive land development. This article demonstrated the application of AI-enhanced approach in cartography to image analysis for analysis of landscape dynamics in central China.
Geomorphological mapping of a conservation unit: experience in northeastern Brazil
Geomorphological mapping, in turn, is a crucial tool for land use planning and management. Considering recent advances in remote sensing, new dimensions of mapping the structural characteristics of the relief have been addressed. This research sought to conduct a geomorphological mapping of a Conservation Unit in the municipality of Areia, Paraíba. The mapping was based on bibliographic and cartographic surveys, as well as geoprocessing techniques and remote sensing products. After the procedures, the CU is located within the morphostructural domains of the Borborema Plateau and Piedmont, evidenced by distinct structural and topographic characteristics. The area also presents morphostructural subunits. Therefore, the results obtained can assist in the park's environmental management and planning, constituting an important tool for solving socio-environmental problems.
Co-production of knowledge and reconfiguration of the environmental struggles in Córdoba province, Argentina (2000 – 2025)
This study analyses the nature of the links between the scientific and academic sector and collective actors against a backdrop of growing socio-territorial conflict in the province of Córdoba over the last 25 years, with a focus on processes of knowledge co-production. It is based on the authors’ doctoral research and adopts a qualitative approach combining interviews, documentary analysis, participant observation, participatory mapping and participation in assembly-based forums. The results reveal a recent reconfiguration of these links, marked by tensions between territorialised co-production practices and more institutionalised forms of scientific production, as well as by disputes surrounding the legitimacy of academic knowledge. It is concluded that co-production constitutes a contested field, but is key to the defence of territories and the commons, which requires strengthening situated and horizontal links between science and communities.
Interview with Antonio Carlos Robert Moraes
Interview with the Brazilian geographer and professor Antonio Carlos Robert Moraes (Tônico), conducted on September 2, 2000 by Paulo Cesar Scarim, and which is part of his master's thesis, defended at University of São Paulo (USP) in 2000, under the guidance of Professor Ani Fani Alessandri Carlos. This interview is unpublished and has never been released before.
Climate variability and malaria trends among children under five in the department of Daloa, Ivory Coast
This article examined the relationship between malaria and climate. The underlying objective was to address the problem of high malaria prevalence among children under five in Daloa. The Nicholson index method was used to characterize interannual variations in climate parameters. Pearson’s matrix was applied to assess the correlation between climate and malaria. Fluctuations in climate parameters were recorded between 1981 and 2021. The correlation test differed from one parameter to another. These parameters were: rainfall (r=0.66), temperature (r=0.18), and relative humidity (r=0.26). The correlation test concluded that all climate parameters influence malaria morbidity. However, rainfall is the climate factor that most influences malaria prevalence. This situation calls for the adoption of appropriate measures to address it.