Núcleo de Apoio à Cultura e Extensão em Educação e Conservação Ambiental - São Paulo University

Piracicaba, Brasil

An Overview Of Our Solution

The Agroecological Settlements Project is coordinated by a centre of extension of the São Paulo University (Núcleo de Apoio a Atividades de Cultura e Extensão em Educação e Conservação Ambiental da Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz”), has its main scope of activities in the extreme South of the state of Bahia/Brazil. Evolve almost 2,500 families and impacts an area of 20,000 hectares directly and 80,000 hectares indirectly with healthy food production and biodiversity portability in the Atlantic Rainforest in relation to the university, government and social movements.The notion of Agroecological Rural Settlements, with technical and scientific foundation, is a powerful tool towards the consolidation of justice and social inclusion spaces, dignity and production, conservation and preservation of the Biodiversity and Agrobiodiversity

Who is this solution impacting?

Community Type

Rural

Organization type

Other

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Forests

Population impacted

2300 families or 7.000 people

Size of agricultural area

30000 ha

Production quantity

Immesurable and floating

People employed

Describe your solution

Shared management of the historical socioenvironmental and territorial conflict, where the involved parties are building a “territorial development pact” public assuming the past mistakes and cooperating towards the development of sustainable solutions, understanding that the viability of new rural settlements represents a solution for the socio-territorial conflicts; building and implementing productive biodiverse systems in planned batched in a technical and scientific way based on the environmental and the productive aptitude and in the outline of the families involved in the process; in the agroecology as a strategy of lives and landscape transformation; environmental restoration and readequation through Biodiverse Agroforestry Systems; formation of agroecological educators and the development of sustainable societies; cooperative agreements; eradication of illiteracy among the families involved in the process, understanding that rural agroecological settlements represent an efficient strategy on promoting connectivity in the regional landscape; settlements represent agrobiodiversity’s management and conservation strategies. Develops in 7 methodological axes: 1. Agroecological settlements: construction and implementation; 2. Biodiversity and Agrobiodiversity management and conservation; 3. Production and scientific knowledge adjustment; 4. Educational and Long-term learning processes; 5. Multipliers agents; 6. Influence on politic public; 7. Communication Strategies

Describe your implementation

The process of construction of settlements, faced, and still does so, two main bottlenecks: 1) Producing healthy foods without the use of agrochemicals and fertilizers with high solubility, in a context of damaged soil and low buying power from the families. 2) Restoring damaged landscapes and conserving the biodiversity, in a context of full agribusiness expansion. In order to face these main challenges, the project has developed a few cross-cutting strategies: a)Shared management among many key players involved in the conflict; b)Participative diagnostics and evaluation of the socioeconomical and environmental context; c)Development of an environmental and productive planning of all the farms destined to become rural settlements; d)Creation of an original model of Agroecological Nucleation, which consisted in the usage of technical/scientific criteria to determine the best way of occupying the farms, considering the capacity of environmental support of the areas and the productive and ethnological outline of the families, splitting the area into productive centers (Ray of Sunshine Model). e)Environmental and agroecological education for the families, technicians and educators of the territory, with both formal and informal courses of Environmentalist Agroecological Literacy, Field and Agroecological education; f)Creation of an Agroecological and Agroforestry Popular School, as a center that irradiates knowledge and forms people. g)The pact made among the involved parties (Social Movements, Governments, Enterprises and Partners) was only reached by taking the socioenvironmental matter as a conductor. Key Factors: articulation strategies with many social key players promotion of negotiation spaces; innovation on the settlements model, including local, social and environmental specificities; promotion of permanent and long-term learning processes; deepening on technologies compatible with the agroecological transition; and, incidence on public policies

External connections

Involved in this process are: Federal Government through the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA), Ministry of the Environment (ICMBIO, SFB), Ministry of Health (FIOCRUZ), public universities (USP, IFBA, UFSB), Enterprises of the Forestry Industry (FIBRIA and VERACEL), Social Movements (MST, APRUNVE, FETAG, FTL). The partnerships developed in different dimensions. The social movements fighting for the land in conflict with enterprises and with the government showed the need for innovative solutions. The agribusiness enterprises, the local governments and the federal government sought new initiatives for the solution of environmental and social conflicts and allowed the involvement of other social key players. The involvement of universities brought a technical and scientific look at the construction of more sustainable usage and occupation models and at people and institutions’ formation and training. These external connections articulate the health, education, production, social organization and environmental conservation issues to the concept of Agroecology. And yet, the usage of Agroforestry Systems, as the dominant productive arrangement, as strategy to improve the production and environmental conservation. This has only been possible to achieve because there is the common understanding that biodiversity and agrobiodiversity are critical components for the sustainability of rural settlements and of the area landscapes are as whole

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

The challenge is building sustainable solutions that preserve biodiversity, agrobiodiversity and promote social inclusion, as well as the improvement of the existing conditions, communicating and changing the logics of occupation of rural areas and of promoting local development. These areas contain high incidence of biodiversity, and are in process of industrial and agribusiness expansion (pasture and eucalyptus), alongside great social contrasts and historical of socioenvironmental conflicts. The replanning of conquered properties by the resistance and fight of the social movements of the countryside, with government and university mediation, committed to the implantation of the agribusiness models of production and territorial organization, and built in a participative and cooperative manner alongside peasants and an extensive chain of partnerships, which allowed the communication with enterprises of the forestry industry that held the nominal ownership of the lands.

Describe the context in which you are operating

The project is developed through several national and international partnerships, coordinated by a centre of extension of the São Paulo University, has its main scope of activities in the south of the state of Bahia/Brazil, it is one of the locations with the greatest diversity in the planet (hotspot), where it is found one of the largest productions of cellulose of the world, and where currently it is set one of the most intense socioenvironmental conflicts of the country. The project, resulting from the conflicts for land access, gathers 4 social movements in a universe of 9 movements found in the area, involving 2.500 families, 3 corporations of the Forestry Industry, state governments and of 11 municipal, federal government, 3 public universities, 28 thousand hectares mostly gripped by or destined to monocultures and 11 conservation units. These territory preserves parts of most significant forest fragments in Brazil, most of which in conservation units. The areas which are now being turned into Rural Settlements have one of the lowest HDI (Human Development Index) of the country, as well as many traditional populations, which have historically lived in conflict with the hegemonic development model in the country.

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

Biodiversity was and still has been enhanced at many levels and moments: 1)Initially, the families built a collaborative woodland in an area known as campsite, in the form of an agroforestry system that reaches over 100 species, with the most diverse roles (shade, food, medicine, ornamentation, woodworking); 2)The collective fields are other spaces of reproduction and maintenance of sociobiodiversity, sovereignty and food safety, because these productive areas have high diversity of species and varieties destined to feeding and commercialization. The management practices are agroecological and filled with popular peasant knowledge. 3)The Environmental Planning is being carried with the recovery of riparian forests and of legal reserves areas according to the Forest Code. 4)Each family is being technically and financially supported for the construction of a productive backyard in the form of an agroforestry system of 1 ha, thus promoting true changes on landscape.

Language(s)

portuguese

Water

It is a principle and outline of the project for working on the conservation and recovery of natural resources axis. The recovery and floristic reconstitution actions from the areas of environmental protection are being discussed and protocolled. Furthermore, the model of agroecological agriculture adopted for the past 5 years, furnished by soil conservationist practices, has been thought to ensure the water conservation on its respective microbasins.

Food Security/Nutrition

The productive backyard, in the form of an agroforestry system with fruit trees, native timbers, medicinal and yearly, with approximately 1 hectare per family, was thought to promote subsistence, safety, sovereignty and food self-sufficiency to the families. The floristic rearrangement and the redesign of the conventional agroecosystems in biodiverse environments also play the role of promoting ecosystem services in the agricultural areas of the peasants.

Economic/Sustainable Development

Thinking of another model of growth for the region, valuing family agriculture, the natural landscapes and the biological heritage is something crucial for increasing life quality of the local population. The project has some axes of action aimed to short selling food commercialization, supplying of local demand with healthy foods, once the current scenario of agribusiness advancements has provided another logic, whose focus is held on commodities, mainly coffee, eucalyptus and papaya.

Climate

The resiliency’s capacity broadening of the local communities has allowed better conditions of adaptation and mitigation regarding climate changes. The connections promoted and reached by the Project, between countryside and city, between producers and customers, between production of healthy foods and conservation of natural systems and the biodiversity, between citizen education and broadening of the society’s incidence of public policies.

Sustainability

Resources initially come from the forestry industries, as liabilities resources. And during the process the government has contributed indirectly, mainly in the matter of land regularization. The cooperative design of production and commercialization of agroecological production has the potential to generate family autonomy and independence of companies in a short period of time. In addition, other partnerships are in continuous activity in the territory, such as 3 corporations of the Forestry Industry, state governments and of 11 municipal, federal government, 3 public universities and 6 conservation units.

Return on investment

The investment costs approximately US $ 1,000,000 / year for 2,500 families. The results are greater than the investment due to the mobilization of other partners and the governmental disposition. That is, at the end of the process the social organization will have made a bigger gain than its initial investment.

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How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

The logistical reengineering of the occupation of the areas is 100% replicable, with a destination of 400US $ / year per family, as long as it has a network of mobilized partnerships. The replication is based on five key factors: investment in strategies of articulation with various social actors in the territory; promotion of inclusive and dialogic negotiation spaces; innovation in the settlement model, including local, social and environmental specificities; promotion of permanent and continuous educative processes; technologies compatible with the agroecological transition; and incidence on public policies. The partners of the territory must be mobilized from the municipal administration, enterprises, schools, health units and the peasant movements to create a force of transformation in the direction of the sustainability and increase of the quality of life.

Overview