Luiz Carlos Busato

In this landscape of Atlantic Rain Forest crossed by countless hilly streams, “developed” areas are marked by poverty and lack of opportunity. In this context a cement company decided to take action for the sustainable development of the region.

The initiative included a set of “sustainability projects” on ecotourism, education, forest conservation and socio-economic enhancement, always having water as essential element. The following pages depict the process of constructing and sharing knowledge at a local level, and the benefits resulting from such an initiative.

One context, many demands: a big challenge for an IHE alumnus

Exactly ten years ago I was a student at IHE in the Environmental Science and Technology (EST; now ES) course. For my MSc research period I attended EAWAG (the Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Science and Technology) in Kastanienbaum as part of IHE-EAWAG partnership programme.

The multidisciplinary approach of the EST course, and the multicultural environment that one imbibes at IHE, give to alumni much more than technical expertise: we learn the importance of coexistence, and it makes the difference when dealing at the local level, as this story illustrates.

Back in Brazil, I soon became the Environmental Coordinator of a company in the mining and building materials sector, Cimento Ribeirão. The company has a cement production mill at the city of Ribeirão Grande, São Paulo state.

The challenge there was to develop the “Limeira” limestone quarry project. Limeira quarry is located at the foothills of Paranapiacaba mountain range. Spring waters leaving the mountains form the Paranapanema river, an important tributary of the Paraná river with a catchment area of 105,828 km2 and 4.5 million inhabitants. These waters flow for thousands of kilometers crossing four countries before reaching the sea by the La Plata river.

The cities directly affected by the project, Ribeirão Grande and Capão Bonito, have a population of 60,000. These cities share one of the lowest Human Development Indexes (HDI) of the state and constitute an example of the Brazilian economic and social gap, characterized by low educational level, poor average income rates, lack of opportunities, and the sort of environmental services that don’t translate into local benefits.

In addition, the Paranapiacaba mountain range hosts the largest contiguity of the Atlantic Rain Forest, known as one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots where forests containing myriad endemic and threatened species remain on only 7% of the original covered area (CCRG, 2003a).

..read further in the PDF file..