Ecoefficiencies and territorial development in the Brazilian Amazon – ECOTERA

The project focuses on an emblematic territory, Paragominas in the state of Para, the first Green Municipality («municipio«) of the Brazilian Amazon. This municipality is now a reference for all Amazonian territories. The production of an operational database of eco-efficiencies indicators is based on the combination of methods from microeconomics (cost-benefit analysis, bio-economic modelling), remote sensing (SPOT imagery analysis, MODIS), geography (spatial analysis, cartography), agronomy (soil-plant model) and ecology (spatial analysis of ecosystem services). The economy of proximity and systemic agronomy will be mobilized to analyse the elaboration and appropriation of technical and institutional models related to eco-efficiency and adaptation to global change. The knowledge and tools developed during the project will be integrated in a process of co-building prospective scenarios of territorial development with local actors. This approach relies on companion modelling process (Commod).

Midway, the first eco-efficiency indicators assessed highlight the importance of soil texture and proximity of paved roads in the process of pasture intensification. Moreover, eco-efficiency of cattle ranching in energy varies between different types of farming systems, but, for entrepreneurial systems, meat production is much more eco-efficient in energy than in other countries of the world. This is explained by production systems in the Amazon using very low quantities of input, benefiting from high amounts of solar energy and rainfall.
Moreover, our first results show that, in Paragominas, the changes of farming practices in family farming are rather determined by economic factors (new markets, sanitary requirements ...) than by environmental concerns or regulations .
Finally, a new project was successfully submitted in partnership with CIFOR and funded by the Challenge Program CCAFS. It will enhance some of the results of ECOTERA as it aims at building a territorial certification system based on monitoring indicators of some eco-efficiencies in the territory.

A major expected outcome of this project is the identification of public and private strategies at different scales (property, landscape, territory) allowing to reconcile the search for eco-efficiencies and a sustainable territorial development, especially in its social dimension. The project will identify the options for institutions of territorial development to include most of the actors in improving eco-efficiencies and respond to the new constraints and opportunities linked with global changes.

Midway, the first results and innovative methods used to assess eco-efficiencies in the territory are presented in 3 international scientific seminars (Envibras 2014: Meio ambiente e Geomática: abordagens comparadas França-Brasil«, 12-15 nov. 2014, Rennes (França); 7th International Congress for Conservation Biology, 2-6 august 2015, Montpellier; 5th International Symposium for Farming Systems Design 7-10 September 2015, Montpellier, France)

The ECOTERA project aims at producing multidisciplinary knowledge and develop tools to allow local actors to explore under what conditions the eco-efficiency of agricultural production systems can lead to sustainable development trajectories of their territory.
It will be carried out in the Brazilian Amazon, in the municipality of Paragominas. Indeed, global changes particularly affect the Amazon region, redefining the relations between agricultural and forest production and the environment. In the Brazilian Amazon, agricultural expansion over forest areas, which was the « engine of development » during five decades, is no longer possible. This breaking point imposed by strong interventions of the federal state, led to a drastic reduction of deforestation. In this now limited space, Amazonian territories need to plan and promote a rapid land transition while meeting increasing social and productive demands. Faced with this challenge, a new political discourse emerges, driven by agricultural leaders and elected officials. They want to promote the eco-efficiency of production systems, to become more competitive and increase value of products through a green image, allowing a new type of development of territories. In this context, Paragominas is emblematic, as it has implemented a "Green Municipality" model. However, a territorial diagnostic study carried out in 2012 shows that although the objectives of reducing deforestation are met, the knowledge and tools to promote ecoefficiency throughout the territory remain limited and the risk of segregation within the territory are high.
The project is organized around a coordination task (task 1) and three scientific tasks which link the farm and territory levels. Task 2 evaluates the ecoefficiencies of production systems and landscapes with spatial indicators and mapping tools. Task 3 analyzes the geographical and organized proximities (groups of actors, networks) and how they influence the territorial innovation dynamics (construction and appropriation of technical and organizational models) related to eco-efficiency and adaptation to global changes. Task 4 will incorporate the results of the previous two tasks by building territorial development scenarios and linking them to farm level scenarios. In order to build operational knowledge, this process involves Companion Modeling (Commod), in which actors consider various options of public policies and development constraints and opportunities related to global change. This approach will build and explore strategies for territorial and individual action which can inspire other municipalities to reconcile the search for ecoefficiency and sustainable territorial development.
The EcoTera project relies on a multidisciplinary group of fifteen French and Brazilian researchers who have been working and collaborating for most of a decade in the Amazon. To this main team, have been added French institutions of references on key approaches for the project: eco-efficiency (UMR ESO) and proximity (UMR SADAPT). This team also benefits from the strategic relay of CIFOR and of different scientific networks.