The Implementation of Connectivity Area in the Metropolitan Region of Campinas (São Paulo, Brazil): Biodiversity Integration Through Regional Environmental Planning

Abstract

AbstractHuman-driven biodiversity loss poses a major threat for the maintenance of life on earth. Land-use change is one of the major causes for that, as it profoundly reshapes ecosystems and its functions, especially due to landscape fragmentation. In order to face these challenges, Brazil has committed to global environmental agendas, presenting local and regional governments with an urgent call for action. To respond to this, local authorities are faced with several limitations and challenges of administrative, technical and budgetary nature. In addition to this, natural resources are not limited by geo-political municipal boundaries, requiring integrated regional management. In this sense, this paper aims to describe how the Municipality of Campinas and the 19 cities from its highly urbanized and industrialized metropolitan region have articulated the RECONECTA-RMC program, proposing a Connectivity Area that conjoins environmentally relevant areas of the region with the goal to protect fauna and flora, building environmental resilience and genetic flow between green areas. The methodology utilized for tracing the connectivity area included the use of geoprocessing tools with official databases and participatory methodologies, in an attempt to meet the demands of all stakeholders and define joint strategies for the involvement of political, institutional and technical organizations that could support the development of the work (with input of information, demands, technical cooperation and validation of results). Subsequently, a collaborative fine tuning and evaluation of the area was conducted, and an Ecosystem Services Assessment identified the major categories and intensity of provision over the Connectivity Area. As a result, this co-produced proposal has been included as a Strategic Area for Metropolitan Action at the Integrated Urban Development Plan of Campinas (Plano de Desenvolvimento Urbano Integrado – PDUI), a term of cooperation has been signed between the 20 municipalities of the Metropolitan Region to formalize the commitment with the RECONECTA-RMC program and working groups have been established to discuss issues especially relevant for the implementation of the Connectivity Area (urban green areas; linear parks; ecological corridors; local wild fauna; inspection, compensation and regulation; communication and articulation).KeywordsNature-Based SolutionsShared governanceCo-creationSpatial planningMetropolitan Region of Campinas