Sustainability indicators (SIs) are important elements in Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) processes. By means of Content Analysis, the documentary study underlying this paper aimed to characterise and analyse the use of SIs in the final reports of 32 SEAs conducted in Brazil. The results are that 30 SEAs utilise SIs, aiming to make the baseline of the study (all of them), anticipate and monitor the effects of the plan or program (73.3%), compare scenarios (46.7%) and/or alternatives (26.7%). Reports have shortcomings in addressing the SIs, such as insufficient description of the selection process, no reference to the selection criteria adopted, and the use of vague and poorly formulated SIs, that are often expressed in the form of impact or objective. Other aspects related to SIs are analysed, with the quantification of their occurrence. The study also highlighted good practices identified in SEAs, which may improve the management of SIs in future processes.

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IntroduçãoAs avaliações ambientais -estudos que abordam as prováveis consequências ambientais e sociais das ações humanas (CASHMORE et al., 2008) -têm assumido crescente importância na sociedade contemporânea, sendo vistas como importantes mecanismos na busca e construção do desenvolvimento sustentável (DS). Um destes instrumentos é a Avaliação Ambiental Estratégica (AAE). Em uma das mais clássicas definições, Sadler e Verheem (1996, p.27) descrevem AAE como o "processo sistemático de avaliação das consequências ambientais de iniciativas propostas de política, plano ou programa, a fim de assegurar que elas sejam plenamente incluídas e apropriadamente tratadas no estágio adequado e mais antecipado da tomada de decisão, no mesmo nível que as considerações econômicas e sociais". Mais recentemente, Therivel (2010, p.3) afirma que a AAE constitui o "processo que visa integrar considerações ambientais e de sustentabilidade na tomada de decisão estratégica".Assim, a AAE é, fundamentalmente, uma ferramenta voltada à sustentabilidade de territórios e populações, isto é, ao DS (PARTIDÁRIO, 2007;DALAL-CLAYTON;SADLER, 2008;THERIVEL, 2010

The use of larger seeds may improve the initial development, plant stand, and mass productivity in forage crops. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of the size of seeds of Sudan grass (Sorghum sudanense L.), standardized on density, on parameters of physiological quality and crop productivity. Seeds were processed in a gravitational table in order to become uniform in terms of density and then submitted to sieves with apertures of 1.75 or 2.00 mm. Three different treatments (seeds without size classification, seeds with diameter between 1.75 mm and 1.99 mm, and seeds with diameter above 2.00 mm) were compared. This study consisted of a laboratory stage for the analysis of physiological variables of seed, and a stage in field plots under a randomized block design and 3 replicates. Larger seeds presented better physiological and productive performance and had a higher germination rate, seedling growth, and forage yield at the first cut. Both the sieve with opening of 1.75 mm and that of 2 mm were suitable for processing of seeds of this species.