Social and ecological dimensions of climate change on the coast of São Paulo, Brazil

Ostrom (2009) argues that single policies adopted only at a global scale are unlikely to generate sufficient trust among citizens and firms so that collective action can take place in a comprehensive and transparent manner that will effectively reduce global warming. Furthermore, simply recommending a single governmental unit to solve global collective action problems is inherently weak because of free rider problems. It is considered that efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions are a classic collective action problem that is best addressed at multiple scales and levels. Given the slowness and conflict involved in achieving a global solution to climate change, recognizing the potential for building a more effective way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions at multiple levels is an important step forward. The key question is how can demographic and social dynamics interact with the ecological dynamics of forest cover to produce a region of high environmental vulnerability, in a context of global climate change along the Coast of São Paulo, Brazil? This study is broken up into four axes: the growth and morphology of cities and the vulnerability of their populations, infrastructures and locations; public policy at the local level; conflicts between urban expansion and forest cover and consequences for global environmental change; and : impacts on the biodiversity of the urban expansion and environmental changes. Quantitative socio-demographic data, public policies, use, and coverage of the land will be covered regionally. The Caraguatatuba Micro-region (Northern Coast) was chosen for in-depth studies by all of the components chosen. The main results are the role of local governments in study areas; political-institutional strategies on climate change; human occupation along the shoreline in urban areas; survey of social actors and institutional decision-making arenas, interaction patterns and action strategies; civil associations and  and impacts of the Caraguatatuba Gas Treatment Plant.