Project
The São Paulo (SP) in Natura Lab, in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, is an initiative within the scope of processes associated with urban sustainability and the transition to sustainable food systems (SFS). As an Urban Living Laboratory, its objectives are to map, understand, propose and address policy solutions supporting the FEW Nexus transition, aiming for technological and organizational innovations.
The dominant approach towards transition is technological, social and organizational innovation for sustainability. SP in Natura Lab is, in this context, an innovation-driven initiative. The interaction between new, sustainable and innovative solutions for food production, concerning water and energy nexus is deeply dependent on multiple actors – producers, stakeholders, policy makers, production agencies, etc – as well as on public policies, able to promote and facilitate innovative solutions. Higher household income or enterprises´ revenues for producers, less waste and environmental sustainability are essential factors of success. The Lab is located in the São Paulo metropolitan area, an agglomeration with a total population of ca. 20 million people living at the border of the Atlantic Rainforest. Collaborators |
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News
- New blog post (Jan 30, 2020): Sustainable food production in the rainforest in Brazil
- Waste FEW ULL in Brazil is organizing a "Sustainability Governance Forum" at the University of Campinas on November 26 2019. More information here
- Projects research visit to Sao Paulo, Brazil, 8-15 June, 2019 to visit agricultural cooperative; More information here; project visit report here
- Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Cities and Circular Economy for Food: São Paulo, Brasil (2019)
- Updates from the São Paulo Urban Living Lab
- First meeting and visit to Ibiuna, a green belt city in metropolitan area in Sao Paulo city in February 2019
Methods
The SP in Natura Lab approach is based on the creation of accountability scenarios and innovation foresight for SFS: the perceived need to justify one's behaviors to another party causes one to consider and feel accountable for the process by which decisions and judgments have been reached. Thus it is necessary to work with a robust framework – in theoretical and practical terms. The project assumes that a framework is needed to support scholars, stakeholders, production agentes and policymakers to accumulate knowledge from empirical studies and assessments of past efforts at reforms and to organize their analytical, diagnostic, and prescriptive capabilities – in this case, for the SFS production.
Three dimensions of analysis are adopted, as conceptual guides (Ostrom, 2007) to map, model and propose sustainability indicators and policies for FEW nexus.
Three dimensions of analysis are adopted, as conceptual guides (Ostrom, 2007) to map, model and propose sustainability indicators and policies for FEW nexus.
- “Physical and Material Conditions” of SFS, or the production systems comparative modeling – in order to appraise how sustainable different production and technological options are;
- “Attributes of Community” related to the SFS, or the kind of mindsets and future expectations (more or less sustainable conditions and personal benefits) that can or cannot contribute to the transition;
- “Rules in Use”, or the kind of effects that agreements, regulatory issues and environmental laws can have in terms of production systems and personal benefits – e. g. family revenues that are the result of increased SFS innovation diffusion - for producers and other members of the production chain, policy makers and final consumers.
This pipeline represents the framework of a foresight tool, in which stakeholders can have a support tool for decision making, enabling them to search, select and adopt new technologies and re-organize the production chains. It is based on a combination of indicators, for instance, the Physical and Material conditions performance (see green column, indicators of Carbon and Water Footprints and Eutrophication indicators - level III at the pipeline chart ) of an innovative production system (e.g. aquaponics - the integration of greens with fish production) can be evaluated by stakeholders, putting into account other performance indicators, as the “Rules in Use” indicator of “credit offer”, or “tax subsidies for innovation” (yellow column) adoption for new forms of sustainable production. Many factors to adopt (or not) sustainable systems can be evaluated in pairs or from a more broad set of factors.
This decision-making tool can support new forms of collective behavior fostering sustainable innovation. Nonetheless, policy structures, regulatory actions and the organization of production chains are still major factors to be taken into account by decision-makers.
According to adaptative economics (Ostrom, 2007), the diffusion of this kind of performance evaluation tool represents a powerful evolutionary path for sustainable transitions, since collective decisions - through time and collective learning - cause desired transformations. In the case of the present project, the expected transition is sustainable food production, in relation to water and energy uses.
This is a polycentric system of governance, in which stakeholders, authorities, policy-makers, and innovation funders interact – within action situations - to determine the conditions under which common purposes – such as sustainable conditions of food production - can have a higher chance to evolve. That is the goal of the FEW Urban Living Labs of the Belmont Forum Consortium.
This decision-making tool can support new forms of collective behavior fostering sustainable innovation. Nonetheless, policy structures, regulatory actions and the organization of production chains are still major factors to be taken into account by decision-makers.
According to adaptative economics (Ostrom, 2007), the diffusion of this kind of performance evaluation tool represents a powerful evolutionary path for sustainable transitions, since collective decisions - through time and collective learning - cause desired transformations. In the case of the present project, the expected transition is sustainable food production, in relation to water and energy uses.
This is a polycentric system of governance, in which stakeholders, authorities, policy-makers, and innovation funders interact – within action situations - to determine the conditions under which common purposes – such as sustainable conditions of food production - can have a higher chance to evolve. That is the goal of the FEW Urban Living Labs of the Belmont Forum Consortium.
More information
The transition into sustainable systems is possibly the major shift to be faced by current societies. Transition management - in the search for future SFS presents itself as the management of institutional change (Geels & Schot, 2010). The concept of Institutions refers to the commitments, rules, agreements and economic dynamics of complex social and political ensembles for food production, demanding water and energy resources.
Multiple initiatives to create and manage SFS have emerged recently as global efforts towards new sustainability standards in food production. Focus is given to the dynamics between food production, energy demands and water use, known as “FEW Nexus”. Urban food production – e.g. greens – aggregates more than five thousand small and medium landholders within this metropolitan area, and at least one thousand medium and large producers. The Lab´s action area is located in Parelheiros, Mogi Guaçu, Vargem Grande and Ibiúna, regions that have been treated as the “rainforest warriors”, as three protected areas within the Atlantic Rainforest and three autochthonous indigenous communities are located there. |
The transition to agroecological and integrated technologies for adaptative SFS demonstrates that rainforest preservation depends on more sustainable modes of land occupation and land use. SP in Natura Lab acts within this context, as shown in Picture 1.
The Atlantic Rainforest has currently 12% of its original area; the preservation of such a biodiversity pool – richer than the Amazonian region - demands an integrated set of policies and public initiatives. As examples, it is possible to point:
How to foster and develop urban food production as a powerful tool to preserve native forests? Clearly, social and economic development, as well as the environmental dimension, are essential parameters to be taken into account.
For instance, food losses at the production phase – e.g. lettuce under hot weather conditions - can be prevented by planting heat resistant varieties. Such action characterizes an innovation diffusion process: there are a lot of market substitution costs, market uncertainties and risks, production capabilities changes and agent’s new expectations also need to be addressed. If the loss problems are due to production chain dysfunctionalities, it is reasonable to say that production and process adjustments at production chains and management actions demand a higher level of effort. If you have food losses because there is a lack of contracts, and the transaction costs are very high, restructuring production chains demands not only technological innovation, but also organizational.
A profitable innovation process has shown to be the generation of accountability from stakeholders involved in new processes associated with FEW Nexus. Trust in public policies, and collective constructions of a desirable future – in which higher family revenues are linked to lower levels of food, water and energy waste – can be seen as a challenge for SFS.
The SP in Natura Lab is expected to be a complex public choice case, involving FEW adaptive processes with higher levels of SFS and rainforest preservation. Public choice theory considers that humans can make conscious choices as individuals or as members of collaborative groups, and that these individual and collective choices can, at least potentially, make a significant difference in outcomes.
In our case, the transition to a more sustainable food, water and energy nexus system is the object of public choice processes. These choice processes are not required to comport to any specific model of decision making or policymaking, nor are all outcomes observed required to have been intended by participants in that process.
[1] http://www.fapesp.br/biota/
[2] https://mapbiomas.org/en?cama_set_language=en
[3] https://legadodasaguas.com.br/
The Atlantic Rainforest has currently 12% of its original area; the preservation of such a biodiversity pool – richer than the Amazonian region - demands an integrated set of policies and public initiatives. As examples, it is possible to point:
- the Biota Fapesp (sponsored by the State of São Paulo Science and Technology Agency), a two decades network of scientific projects concerning knowledge production about this biomass[1],
- the State of São Paulo´s Institutional “bodies of law” and regulatory public agencies for land use and occupation,
- the State of São Paulo Water and Sanitation (SABESP), responsible for the preservation of water springs around the forest,
- multi-institutional initiatives, such as MapBiomass[2], which have come together to understand Brazilian land use and land cover,
- private environmental compensation for energy use, such as the Environmental Project[3] “Legado das Águas”, led by Votorantim Group (holding company with businesses of varied nature - including energy, finance and cement)
How to foster and develop urban food production as a powerful tool to preserve native forests? Clearly, social and economic development, as well as the environmental dimension, are essential parameters to be taken into account.
For instance, food losses at the production phase – e.g. lettuce under hot weather conditions - can be prevented by planting heat resistant varieties. Such action characterizes an innovation diffusion process: there are a lot of market substitution costs, market uncertainties and risks, production capabilities changes and agent’s new expectations also need to be addressed. If the loss problems are due to production chain dysfunctionalities, it is reasonable to say that production and process adjustments at production chains and management actions demand a higher level of effort. If you have food losses because there is a lack of contracts, and the transaction costs are very high, restructuring production chains demands not only technological innovation, but also organizational.
A profitable innovation process has shown to be the generation of accountability from stakeholders involved in new processes associated with FEW Nexus. Trust in public policies, and collective constructions of a desirable future – in which higher family revenues are linked to lower levels of food, water and energy waste – can be seen as a challenge for SFS.
The SP in Natura Lab is expected to be a complex public choice case, involving FEW adaptive processes with higher levels of SFS and rainforest preservation. Public choice theory considers that humans can make conscious choices as individuals or as members of collaborative groups, and that these individual and collective choices can, at least potentially, make a significant difference in outcomes.
In our case, the transition to a more sustainable food, water and energy nexus system is the object of public choice processes. These choice processes are not required to comport to any specific model of decision making or policymaking, nor are all outcomes observed required to have been intended by participants in that process.
[1] http://www.fapesp.br/biota/
[2] https://mapbiomas.org/en?cama_set_language=en
[3] https://legadodasaguas.com.br/
Updates
Education and Outreach
Water cycles and sustainable use: international books for children
- Clara: Uma gotinha d'Água (Portuguese version)
- Clara e as águas invisíveis (Portuguese version)
- Clara e a reciclagem (Portuguese version)
- Claire, the little water drop (English version)
- Clara: la gotita de agua (Spanish version)
- Clara: La gouttelette d'eau (French version)
Presentations & Publications
Workshops on replicable decision making tools (WP6) Feb 18 and Feb 23, 2021
Project meeting about ULL progress, Jan 19, 2021
Sustainability Forum, 26 November 2019, University of Campinas, Brazil.
Ester Dal-Poz, Carolina da Silveira Bueno, Marcos Rehder Batista, Camila Neubart Favero, Erika Cristina Francisco & Alessandro Piolli (2019) "The institutions for institutional transitions" World Interdisciplinary Network for Institutional Research Conference, September 19-22th 2019, Lund, Sweden.
Rocha, L. A., Dal Poz, M. E. S., Lima, P. V., Khan, A. S., & Silva, N. G. (2019). Corruption, bureaucracy and other institutional failures: the “cancer” of innovation and development''. Economics Bulletin, 39(3), 1740-1754.
São Paulo Urban Living Lab, workshop presentation, May, 2019
São Paulo Urban Living Lab Brazil, First International Conference of the Waste FEW ULL project, 12 October, Bath, UK.
Project meeting about ULL progress, Jan 19, 2021
Sustainability Forum, 26 November 2019, University of Campinas, Brazil.
Ester Dal-Poz, Carolina da Silveira Bueno, Marcos Rehder Batista, Camila Neubart Favero, Erika Cristina Francisco & Alessandro Piolli (2019) "The institutions for institutional transitions" World Interdisciplinary Network for Institutional Research Conference, September 19-22th 2019, Lund, Sweden.
Rocha, L. A., Dal Poz, M. E. S., Lima, P. V., Khan, A. S., & Silva, N. G. (2019). Corruption, bureaucracy and other institutional failures: the “cancer” of innovation and development''. Economics Bulletin, 39(3), 1740-1754.
São Paulo Urban Living Lab, workshop presentation, May, 2019
São Paulo Urban Living Lab Brazil, First International Conference of the Waste FEW ULL project, 12 October, Bath, UK.