Reconecta Plan for the Metropolitan Area of Campinas

https://www.britannica.com/place/Campinas

The "Reconecta AMC" (Campinas Metropolitan Area) plan is an urban planning tool through which green corridors are being designed to connect green areas in the urban space. Also, through the green corridors, the spaces along the riverbanks are being protected, preventing illegal constructions and protecting water quality. The plan has been ratified by 20 of the municipalities that make up the metropolitan area and identifies sites to be restored, generally on the banks of watercourses.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Legislative, regulatory and strategic instruments›Urban planning mechanisms

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Drought and fire risk
Flood risk: pluvial and fluvial / soil permeability
Heat stress and heat island effect
Air quality
Social cohesion

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

The Campina Metropolitan Area plans to create 49 linear parks, mainly along channeled streams. These are intended to be spaces for recreation and active mobility to improve the quality of life in densely populated areas. This initiative aims to reduce the deficit of green areas with social functions in the city and reduce illegal construction along rivers.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Parks and (semi)natural urban green areas

Good practice characteristics:

Effective

Locally appropriate

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Governance

Government body/bodies

Initiating body:

Secretariat of Green, Environment and Sustainable Development

Instrument design:

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The Secretariat of Green, Environment and Sustainable Development (Secretaria do Verde, Meio Ambiente e Desenvolvimento Sustentável) is the national government office most directly involved in these interventions. This Secretariat was also involved in the development of the Municipal Green Plan, which frames the Campinas Metropolitan Area 'Reconecta' initiative. Other groups involved in the initiative are the Campinas Metropolitan Region Agency, Agemcamp, PCJ Watershed Agency (Agência das Bacias PCJ), José Pedro de Oliveira Foundation, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, São Paulo State Public Ministry - Environmental Defense Group (Gaema) and the São Paulo State Environmental Council. The Municipal Green Plan (Municipal Decree No. 19,167/16) established the Connectivity Line and its Area of Influence as a way to connect green areas of predominantly ecological function, maintaining or restoring landscape connectivity and facilitating the genetic flow between populations.

Instrument implementation:

Type of involvement:

The municipalities of the Campinas Metropolitan Area (AMC) are working together to develop strategies for the conservation and restoration of green areas. The objective is to create an implementation process that allows collaborative work between the administrations of all the municipalities that make up the city. As part of the implementation of the Reconecta AMC plan, workshops, meetings and surveys have been organized with public servants from the environmental secretariats of the municipalities and data collection with other entities, such as the Watershed Committees. Connectivity areas have been defined throughout the metropolitan region with the objective of guaranteeing the connection between natural forest fragments and Protected Areas and the protection of water courses, improving water quantity and quality.

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Financing

Sources of funding:

Public regional budget

Budget:

Unknown

Details about instrument financing:

The financing for the interventions comes partially from government funds. Some sections will be financed by instruments of retribution for environmental services such as Compensation and Environmental Regularization Compliance Term (Termo de Compensação e Regularização Ambiental). This research did not find a specific budget for the intervention.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Did an evaluation take place?:

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

Reconecta AMC has successfully engaged 20 municipalities in the Campinas Metropolitan Area to collaborate to protect and connect areas of high biodiversity; and rivers to maintain and improve water quantity and quality.

Success factors and lessons learned:

The Reconecta AMC intervention has faced several challenges. The biggest limiting factor is the lack of education about the potential that Nature-Based Solutions have to solve water management problems by other municipal departments that are channeling rivers and streams, and even burying some underground to make room for urbanization. In addition, at the metropolitan level there are differences in the political priorities of the administrations of each municipality. Currently, there is no instrument for transferring technical and financial resources between municipalities, which complicates teamwork. Finally, it has not been feasible to expropriate some private land along the areas defined to implement the ecological corridors. There is also a lack of public ownership and/or the consent of private landowners to convert areas into green corridors.

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

https://oppla.eu/casestudy/20065 https://una.city/nbs/campinas/connecting-parks-campinas

Photos

https://www.britannica.com/place/Campinas