Following on the thoughts  that gave rise to the book Contributions of Brazilian postgraduate studies on sustainable development - Capes at Rio +20, in which it was possible to record the progress of Brazilian postgraduate programs on the subject of sustainable development,  the Revista Brasileira de Pós-Graduação devotes its 21^st number to offering  a sample of these advances, presenting thirteen articles which seek to address the theme of sustainable development through debates, experiments and case studies, especially with respect to its transversal and interdisciplinary characteristics.