Library on Governance in Social-Ecological Systems

The Cantareira Water Supply System and Local Efforts for Sustainable Agriculture in Nazaré Paulista, State of São Paulo, Brazil

Resource System
Atibainha Watershed
Resource Units
Water for Irrigation
Location
Nazaré Paulista, State of São Paulo, Brazil

This case is based on field work done as part of ASU's Global Development Research Program, in alignment with local organizations active in capacitating local small to medium-scale agriculturalists, as well as mitigate biodiversity and water shortages. Research took place mostly in the municapity of Nazaré Paulista, but extends to the adjacent municipalities that fall under the Bragança area of São Paulo State which encompass the connected watershed. Between 2014-2016, the region experienced a major drought that brought reservoir levels dropped to record low levels. Local NGOs and governmental organizations have since been collaborating and investing in community outreach to promote water conservation, sustainable land-use, and ecologically sound agricultural practices. A commons dilemma arises in conflicting uses between traditional agriculture, water supply to the major urban areas, and demographic change due to local tourism. Due to difficulties in monitoring and sanctioning mal-compliance to federal restoration mandates, and systematic threats to traditional collective action, this system's robustness is at risk.

Nazaré Paulista
Resource System

Watersheds in the Atlantic Forest ecoregion of Southeast Brazil that lie within the Cantareira System (engineered system for water distribution to high-demand urban areas). Resource units: water for irrigation and supply to urban populations.

Resource Users

There are two key resource users:

  • Small and medium-scale agricultural producers
  • Leisure landowners
Public Infrastructure Providers

Public infrastructure providers are a mix of governmental organizations and an NGO that provide an organizational framework toward sustainable rural agriculture, but also includes resource users at a smaller scale:

  • Institute for Ecological Research, IPÊ (Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas) provides knowledge of ecological practices, training for sustainable agriculture practices, and collaborative spaces and organizational structure for workshops between different types of stakeholders.
  • State and municipal level offices that provide spaces and incentives for workshops between stakeholders. Namely, Coordinator of Integrated Technical Assistance, CATI (Coordenadoria de Assistência Técnica Integral) is a state-level office that supports programs related to IPÊ and stakeholder collaborations.
  • At times, traditional agricultural producers (Resource Users) engage in collective action to provide hard human-made infrastructure and informal social infrastructure to manage common pool resources.
Public Infrastructure

Hard Human-made Infrastructure

  • The Cantareira System is one of the world's largest engineered water distribution systems. It was constructed in the 1970s with the flooding of dredged valleys for the reservoirs beginning in 1973. The system consists of 5 open-air reservoirs interconnected by ducts.
  • Agricultural producers construct water management systems with banks reinforced with rocks, earth, and wood along with gatekeeping devices that manage stream flow and affect water appropriation downstream.

Soft Infrastructure

  • NGOs and governmental institutions provide structure, tools, and resources for collaborative efforts toward sustaining rural agriculture in the form of workshop spaces, knowledge transfer, and material to capacitate traditional rural producers.
  • Remnants of traditionally informal cooperatives for CPR management exist but are increasingly weakened by demographic and landownership changes.
Relationship 1

RU to RS

  • Producers use water for irrigation of crops and sustenance of livestock, modify the resource system to manage water flows, and make land-use decisions that affect water quality and quantity.
  • Leisure landowners are largely absent and detached from the resource system, often renting rural spaces for tourists.

RS to RU

  • Changes in landscape properties can induce cascading effects that lead to soil erosion that impacts agricultural productivity.
Relationship 2

RU to PIP

  • Rural producers agree to participate in agrobusiness workshops and provide input in participant engagement process in efforts to collaboratively create sustainable agriculture strategies and test practices.
  • Governmental institutions are supported by taxes that support local munipalities and state-level offices. The latter implies support from water users in urban areas that are exogenous to the specific system in this context.

PIP to RU

  • Workshops provide training and resources for rural producers that can enhance productivity while working toward more ecologically sound agricultural practices.
  • Governmental organizations can sanction users in the form of fees for vialating mandates for protected areas.
Relationship 3

PIPs dedicate scheduled spaces for workshopping, seedlings, knowledge-based resources, and somtimes transportation to and from workshops. Additionally, PIPs sometimes make site visits to evaluate and provide feedback on agricultural practices and infrastructure related to collaborations.

Relationship 4

Hard Infrastructure

  • Construction of the Cantareira System dramatically changed the ecological landscape as large areas were converted into reservoirs and flooded in. Many of these areas were highly productive lands both in terms of native Atlantic Forest species and in terms of agricultural production. Water in the reservoirs is distributed from the hinterlands to dense urban areas with high demand.

Soft Infrastructure

  • Collaborative organizations implement novel strategies that attempt to conserve water, biodiversity, and restore native species and forested areas.
Relationship 5
  • The National Water Law of 1997 provides payments for ecosystem services as an incentive for "water producers" in the region to participate in restoration efforts.
  • The Forest Code of 1965 mandates conservation and restoration of certain environmental areas that are categorized as Legal Reserves (a minimum percentage of farm area must be maintained with native vegetation). Some LRs may also be designated as Areas of Permanent Preservation (fragile areas that must be protected).
  • Collbarative workshops transfer knowledge and strategies for "agro-ecology" that aims to increase agricultural productivity while supporting restoration of the Atlantic Forest biome (e.g. Permaculture, Voisin cattle ranching methods).
Relationship 6
  • Due to demographic changes as land is increasingly captured by developers and leisure landowners, classically self-organized and informal collective efforts by family farmers and small-scale producers (resource users) to manage the resource system is breaking down.
  • Some producers are engaging in participant engagement activities in collaboration with PIPs in the NGO and governmental sectors, but participation is systematically waning and the current system for payments for watershed services is insufficiently effective.
Exogenous Drivers 7 (Resource System)

Southeastern Brazil is becoming a region at risk for water scarcity as impacts from droughts have been getting worse. As the climate warms and urban areas expand, water demand has been increasing while droughts have been lasting longer.

Exogenous Drivers 7 (Public Infrastructure)

Local tourism and demographic change (younger generations moving to urban areas instead of continuing traditional agriculture) are challenging collective action for sustainable infrastructure provision. Several of the smaller municipalities encompassed in the system, such as Atibaia. are rapidly developing which presents the potential for new roads.

Exogenous Drivers 8 (Resource Users)

Real estate development and speculation are further fragmenting the ecosystem and driving conflicts of resource use (e.g. Resorts by the banks of the reservoir rent jet skis). As the rural areas become increasingly inhabited by absentee landowners and local tourists, resource use patterns transition from agricultural (whether ecologically responsible or not) to ranch-like "sitios" that sometimes contain pools, manicured lawns, non-native fruit trees, and other land-uses.

Exogenous Drivers 8 (Public Infrastructure Providers)

Specific drivers of changes to PIPs are unclear, but many research participants cited economic concerns and both the need and threat of tourism to economically sustain small rural municipalities.

Human Infrastructure, Private and Human-Made (Resource Users)
(none specified)
Human Infrastructure, Private and Human-Made (Public Infrastructure Providers)
(none specified)