Collective action for ecosystem services in the Paraiba Valley from Sao Paulo state, Brazil: a multilevel panorama

Land use and management decisions in rural areas ultimately lead either to the erosion or to conservation of natural resources and ecosystem services on which agricultural production and tourism depend. The degradation of these resources may cause shocks and disturbances as the flood from 2010 in Sao Luiz do Paraitinga, in the state of Sao Paulo, that highlights the need to adopt new practices and development of trajectories. This work is aimed at providing the panorama of projects focusing on conserving and restoring the ecosystem services that entails the Chapeu River Watershed, in the rural area of Sao Luiz do Paraitinga, between 2013 and 2017. We observed 16 technical and 15 community meetings, performed 9 non-structured interviews and bibliographic research. Data were coded, categorized, and triangulated. We found that different projects were implemented by governmental agencies and local non-governmental organizations focusing on managing and restoring ecosystem services (e.g., erosion control, maintenance of native species, water). Income generation by local smallholders was also considered. Stakeholder networks for collective action were formed and enabled the implementation of the projects, by connecting governmental agencies, organizations, and individuals from different institutional levels. Individual and community-based environmental initiatives were also developed and focused mainly on cultural ecosystem services, despite being more limited in space and time. Half of them were developed by a group of rural inhabitants. Co-occurring government-led projects and community-based initiatives characterized local-level management of ecosystem services. We discuss that the alignment between the projects and initiatives, as well as the connections among individuals working on different levels (in a local - regional perspective) may contribute to increase the synergy among actions that favor the conservation of ecosystem services in the local level.