Anyone who passes through the bridge over Ribeirão das Anhumas, on the CPQD road, comes across an unusual scene: in the dry season the water level drops and exposes sandbanks, which end up attracting several species of water birds. Despite the pollution, it is a unique place in this region that is part of the territory of the International Hub for Sustainable Development (HIDS).
In addition to the diversity of birds, mammals such as wild dogs, graxinins, otters, marmosets, armadillos, capybaras and the mountain lion are some of the animals that inhabit this area. On the Unicamp campus alone there are more than 150 species of plants native to the Atlantic Forest, as well as exotic species. The territory has five springs, their respective streams and permanent protection areas (APP) and also ecological corridors that connect remnants of vegetation in the Metropolitan Region of Campinas.
According to data from Embrapa, there is a predominance of the Red Oxisol, a type of soil that was very important for the expansion of coffee in the region. One of the properties that took advantage of this characteristic was Fazenda Pau D'Alho, which produced coffee in the 1880th century. Part of the farmhouse was built using the rammed earth construction technique. In XNUMX, the architect Ramos de Azevedo was tasked with renovating some rooms in the house.
One of the objectives of HIDS is to develop a new urban project for this area that boosts the creation of innovation ecosystems and results in a smart and sustainable district. But, for this, it is essential to know the environmental and cultural heritage of the entire region. This is the objective of the working group “Patrimony”, from the HIDS master plan.
The team already includes researchers from the Institute of Biology, IFCH, IG, Cepagri, FCM, Faculty of Technology of Limeira, employees from DEPI and the Environment Division of Unicamp, researchers from PUC-Campinas and Facamp, as well as representatives from the City of Campinas, Embrapa, Cargill and CPQD, institutions that make up the consulting board of HIDS.
With this multidisciplinary team, the group began working with the objective of establishing a reference base for the territory's biodiversity and ecosystem services and evaluating the succession stage of current remnants, together with Permanent Preservation Areas (APP) and ecological corridors to establish the best restoration method to apply. According to Wesley Silva, professor at the Unicamp Biology Institute and coordinator of this work component, knowledge of heritage is fundamental for HIDS to achieve its sustainability objectives and this will be the basis for all other actions planned together for the project since the other components will build their respective projects based on this knowledge base about environmental and cultural heritage. “The term sustainability cannot become commonplace and, although it forms the name of the project itself, it cannot just be part of a marketing discourse. We want sustainability to be, in fact, the essence of our project,” he said.
The priority actions of this working group, which must be carried out by the end of the year, are: preparation of webmap from the HIDS territory; diagnosis of vegetation and fauna; mapping of ecosystem services; geological-climatic survey; geotechnical mapping, aquifer characterization and secondary data collection.
Biodiversity Laboratory at HIDS – Making this diagnosis represents a great challenge, due to the extension of the territory (the HIDS master plan will guide the occupation and development of an area of 11,3 million m2), and the diversity of themes, in the opinion of Silva, the big challenge will come post-diagnosis. And this is where the concept of a living laboratory should help the project. The expression living laboratory generally takes us to the area of innovation technologies and all their connections with powerful tools that seek to develop products in a very dynamic user interface. “It would be difficult for anyone to associate the term with the perception of the presence and importance of biodiversity. However, this is the challenge that HIDS intends to overcome, as there is no sustainable development without a real commitment to valuing biodiversity”, stated Silva.
According to him, this laboratory will be a tool to manage this heritage, with the participation of the HIDS community. “After the diagnosis phase, dynamic forms of interaction will be planned for HIDS users with the natural world around them, so that they have the experience of accessing nature and understanding its mechanisms, processes and agents from a perspective technology, expanding the limits that a simple reading or scientific documentary can achieve”, he explains.
Technology as an ally – The objective of HIDS is to provide concrete contributions to sustainable development by stimulating participatory processes and the use of disruptive technologies. Therefore, technology must be a tool to fulfill the SDGs proposed by the UN. “It is possible to develop a living laboratory in which the user perceives and values biodiversity through cutting-edge technologies, such as the use of IoT”, says Silva. He cites as examples the use of technology in recording animals and plants, their identification, their role in providing ecosystem services and how their presence can contribute to indicating the healthy conditions of an ecosystem, whether natural or innovative. “We may have to take the focus off the development of a product and place it on the citizen’s educational training. But there will certainly be a gain in the quality of life of the future HIDS user, which will be reflected not only in their professional performance but also in their relationships with people and nature”, he concludes.
