SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL RESILIENCE AT CÉU DO PATRIARCA ECOVILAGE - SOUTH BRAZIL Leopoldo Cavaleri Gerhardingera,b; Gustavo C.M. Martinsc; Alexandre Paulo Teixeira

Moreirac,d; Cristian Curtic; Cristiana Simão Seixasa a) Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas Ambientais (NEPAM) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas

(UNICAMP), Campinas (São Paulo), Brasil. b) Associação de Estudos Costeiros e Marinhos (ECOMAR), Caravelas (Bahia), Brasil. c) Associação Ambientalista Comunitária e Espiritualista Patriarca São José (ACEPSJ), Florianópolis

(Santa Catarina), Brasil. d) Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) – Departamento de Ecologia, Laboratório de

Bioacústica ABSTRACT

This manuscript analyses the social-ecological resilience of Céu do Patriarca

ecovillage (Florianópolis city, Santa Catarina state, Brazil). Initially, we describe the

motivation and main events guiding the intentional self-organization process of the

community in the past 23 years. We then provide a descriptive analysis of the main

attributes - technological, knowledge and skills, social structures and relations,

behavioural, psychological and belief systems, adaptive policies and management –

related to its capacity to manage social and ecological disturbance in the present, past

and future. We have also analysed the response measures demonstrated by the

ecovillage to 8 of the main local socio-ecological disturbances. The analysis enabled the

identification of 33 characteristics within the ecovillage that are indicative of its

resilience. We also illustrate the presence of adaptive co-management features, and

argue they have shown a high level of transformability across their 23-year trajectory.

Before all the advancements and experiences accumulated by the Céu do Patriarca

ecovillage, we conclude that it does not only offer an outstanding and insightful case

study to think about the various facets of social-ecological systems resilience. Above all,

it may well serve as a reference to other communities and people in search of concrete

social-ecological systems trajectories that have shown significant progress in pursuing

sustainable development.

INTRODUCTION

This manuscript analyses the social-ecological resilience of a human settlement

located at Florianópolis city (Santa Catarina state, south Brazil), on the light of 23 years

of intentional self-organization. In 2007, the community started to identify themselves

under the concept of ‘ecovillage’, following an evaluative assessment made by Martins

(2007) using the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) criteria. The evaluation revealed that

‘Céu do Patriarca’ community fits well into the concept and had accumulated ‘good

knowledge towards sustainability’ (GEN criteria).

An ecovillage is an intentional human settlement with the purpose and effort to

minimize environmental impact throughout its development according to local realities.

Local practices are harmonically integrated to the natural world, and care is taken

towards healthy human development (Christian, 2003). With a novel socioeconomic

structure, ecovillages move ahead from current dichotomy between rural and urban

settlements. They represent an alternative model for the design and reorganization of

human settlements in the 21th century (Walker, 2005), and were incorporated by the

United Nations in the Sustainable Communities Development Program.

This study is part of the ‘New EcoCultures: Resilience for the Future of Social-

Ecological Systems’1 programme at the University of Essex (United Kingdom), which is

run under the university's Global Challenges Programme. This innitiative is looking at

community resilience in ‘exemplary’ cultures/communities from around the world which

have retained their connection to their local environment, and subsequently this is

helping them become more resilient to global challenges (e.g. such as food and energy

crises and climate change). Céu do Patriarca Ecovillage is an Intentional community within the New EcoCultures’ framework, one that has made a specific choice to

implement a programme or way of living that connects it to its land and resources in a

'sustainable' way, such as the Transition towns of the UK. Besides this connection with

the local environment, this manuscript also explores the hypothesis that ‘an intentional

construction of a community with foundational values and principles strongly based on

ecological sustainability, spirituality and solidarity favours the emergence of social-

1 Consortium from the Interdisciplinary Centre for Environment and Society. Principal investigator: Dr. Jules Pretty (University of Essex).

ecological resilience attributes’.

The resilience concept was born in the ecological theory (Holling, 1973) and is

since employed by a variety of disciplines approaching environmental sustainability

(Brand and Jax, 2007). More recently it has become a key concept in the analysis of

social-ecological systems (Berkes and Folke, 1998; Gunderson and Holling, 2002;

Berkes et al., 2003; Folke, 2006). In this paper we follow the Resilience Alliance2

concept of social-ecological resilience as: the amount of change the system can

undergo and still retain the same controls on function and structure; the degree to which

the system is capable of self-organization and; the ability to build and increase the

capacity for learning and adaptation.

We initially describe the main biophysical aspects, principles and series of events

determining the historical intentional community self-organization process as

experienced by the Céu do Patriarca ecovillage. On the light of this trajectory, we

describe and analyse the attributes increasing and limiting resilience in the present, past

and future.

METHODS

The information presented here gathers several sources. In 2006, semi-

structured interviews were done with people from 14 out of the 17 homes present at that

time. The interviews were part of a participatory assessment to evaluate the level of

community sustainability according to GEN3 criteria (Martins, 2007). We have also

assessed the information contained at the Community Development Plan (CDP) and the

Institutional Development Plan (IDP), both developed in 2006 through participatory

assessment methods. Five complimentary semi-structured interviews were done in

September 2010 and April 2011 with local informants that have fully accompanied the

self-organization process of the settlement. These interviews specifically explored the

community resilience, and were guided by questions posed by the EcoCultures project

framework. Some of the co-authors have also experienced the dynamics of the

ecovillage and accumulate a significant body of knowledge on differing aspects of the

2 http://www.resalliance.org 3 http://gen.ecovillage.org

studied social-ecological system. The analysis of attributes that confers social-

ecological resilience to the ecovillage is organized according the framework posed by

the EcoCultures project.

HISTORY AND MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF CÉU DO PATRIARCA ECOVILLAGE

Biophysical aspects The ecovillage is located at the Ratones river basin, within an Atlantic Tropical

Rainforest ecological corridor in the island and city of Florianópolis (Figures 1 and 2).

The island has well defined climate with average temperature around 20.4°C (min. 7.5-

12°C and max. 28-31°C). The average precipitation is around 1521mm/year, with no dry

season but increased raining in summer.

The ‘Associação Ambientalista Comunitária Espiritualista Patriarca São José’

(ACEPSJ) possess around eighty hectares of land, seven of which are currently

occupied by 25 buildings and 80 inhabitants. The territory is thus mostly a collectively

shared space, but every inhabitant has an ‘assignment of use’ (cessão de uso)

corresponding to an ideal circle of 20metres of ray which is occupied accordingly to a

Land Use and Occupation Director Plan. Despite encompassing several permanently

protected areas following Brazilian environmental legislation (e.g. small water streams,

forest in advanced state of regeneration and vegetated high slopes) the land under

ACEPSJ control was substantially transformed when the ecovillage was built. In the

80s, the area was mainly used for manioc plantations.

Today, the ecovilage’s vicinities holds ecological conditions similar to those found

in most preserved areas of the island (e.g. mountain slopes sourrouding coastal

lagoons present in the island). Within the community it is possible to observe the

recurrent presence of the capuchin monkey (Cebus apella), agoutis (Dasyprocta

azarae), nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), lowland paca (Cuniculus

paca), pampas fox (Pseudalopex gymnocercus), toucans (Rhamphastos dicolorus and

R. Vitelinus), brown tinamou (Crypturellus obsoletus), slaty-breasted wood-rail

(Aramides saracura), and other wild fauna.

Figure 1: Location of the Céu do Patriarca ecovillage.

Figure 2: Panoramic view of the landscape at Céu do Patriarca ecovillage (photo by Rafael Gué Martini).

Community self-organization The historical evolution of Céu do Patriarca ecovillage is intimately related to the

trajectory, vision, motivations and values of a group of four people that triggered the

self-organization process around 1987. This history becomes evident by the relevance it

assumes in the groups’ identity and the recurrent presence in the oral and written

communication amongst people in the community (e.g. institutional video4 and director

plan available at the ecovillages’ website5). The initial phase of 1987-1992 was marked

by the initiation of the group in the Santo Daime religion6 and the emerging interaction

with another community known as ‘Céu do Mapiá’ (Amazon state, Brazil), where the

main church is located. In this period, they have also obtained authorization to conduct

Santo Daime ceremonies in Florianópolis and gradually more people joined the group.

In 1991, fourteen members of the group jointly went to Amazon state searching

to deepen understanding on the Santo Daime doctrine and the community lifestyle.

They became sensitized with the initiative lead by Sebastião Mota de Melo, or Padrinho

Sebastião (1920-1990) for the past five years in constructing an intentional community

and were therefore inspired by him to gather in community back in Santa Catarina state.

In 1992, ceremonies that were initially conducted at Ênio Staub’s (Padrinho Ênio7)

home at ‘Praia do Santinho (Florianópolis city) were transferred to a church built at the

land (current Convivial Centre) bought to hold the construction of the desired

settlement.

In 1996, the group founded the ‘Spiritualistic Communitarian Association

Patriarca São José’, which ever since function as the formal organization coordinating

residents and associates. Environmental activities soon started to outstand and the

association name changed to ‘Environmental and Spiritualistic Communitarian

Association Patriarca São José’ (ACEPSJ). The association gathers today around 93

associates (58 local ecovillage residents, plus 27 children summing up 85 residents)

that frequently participate in activities such as: spiritual ceremonies; voluntary task

4 www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0fAXeNQLRM 5 www.acepsj.org.br 6 See next section. 7 Padrinho Ênio is the main leader and visionary of the spiritual trajectory and the community project. He is also the current president of the ACEPSJ.

forces to maintain common areas and plantations; courses; self-knowledge workshops

(e.g. Enneagram); native seedling production; environmental recovery and permaculture

activities, amongst others.

An outstanding characteristic of the community is the multicultural atmosphere

stimulated. There was an estimated 6,000 signatures of participations in ceremonies

and other events in 2009. Throughout its trajectory, ACEPSJ members approached and

incorporated other spiritual practices in the official routine of the ecovillage by exchange

with local (Guarani ethnicity) and Acre state (Huni Kuin ethnicity) Amerindians,

Umbanda (afro-brazilian religion), Yoga, Sacred Fire (American Native Church of the

Sacred Fire of Itzachilatlan), Zulu Sangoma healers (South Africa), amongst others.

More recently, the associates of ACEPSJ have also started to participate in Enneagram

activities guided by the Uruguay Center of Gestalt Studies8.

The Santo Daime doctrine remains in central importance at the ecovillage, with

ceremonies scheduled accordingly to what was proposed by Master Irineu and

Padrinho Sebastião. However, a strong stimulus is given towards an exchange with

spiritual leaders of other cultural backgrounds as an intentional pursue to the study of

spirituality.

Santo Daime religion and the community of Céu do Mapiá The physical construction of the Céu do Patriarca ecovillage at Florianópolis

(started in 1992) was and continues to be highly influenced by the interaction

maintained with the community Céu do Mapiá at Amazonas state: the ethics and

practices are grounded in Santo Daime doctrine. Intimate symbolic relationships with

nature and community lifestyle are central features of this religion (Goulart, 2004). The

doctrine emerged in Acre state during the 1920s’ after the contact and transcendental

experiences of the rubber-tapper Raimundo Irineu Serra (widely known as Master

Irineu, 1892-1971) with the tea Nixi Pae (Ayahuasca, Cãapi or Santo Daime). The tea is

made out of the cooking of the vine known as ‘jagube’ (Banisteriopsis caapi) brewed

with ‘chacrona’ leafs (Psychotria viridis). An oral tale held by the Huni-Kuin argues that

8 http://www.gestalturuguay.com - The Enneagram is an ancient self-knowledge system, which was disseminated and adapted for westernized cultures mainly by the Greek-Armenian philosopher Georgii Ivanovich Gurdzhiev and the Chilean psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo.

this sacred brew was introduced to Mestre Irineu in their shamanic rituals. However, this

brew is also traditionally used by several Amerindian groups for a very long time

(Labate and Araújo, 2004).

The Santo Daime religion is centred in the collective experimentation of chants

that incorporate a conceptual field, principles and values syncretising the ritualistic and

symbolic cultural matrix of christianity, indigenous, esoteric, kardecist and african

spiritism (Figure 3). To the followers of this doctrine, the tea reveals ones divinity and

consequently the necessity of adjusting inadequate behaviours so the spirit can evolve.

The main chants of the hundreds existent were revealed to master Irineu through

transcendental experimentation of the tea, and are ever since the pillars of Santo Daime

religion.

Padrinho Sebastião (1920-1990) was one of the important spiritual leaders of the

Santo Daime, which gave continuity to one of the spiritual lines originated from the work

of master Irineu. He is particularly known for opening and expanding the doctrine to

other Brazilian regions and countries. His leadership led to the creation in 1974 of an

association named ‘Eclectic Centre of the Fluent Universal Light Raimundo Irineu Serra’

(CEFLURIS). By 1997, spiritual/religious issues started to be dealt in separation from

the social/economic/administrative, through the design of two institutions: ICEFLU

(Church of the Eclectic Cult of the Fluent Universal Light) and CEFLURIS Institute

(Institute of Environmental Development Raimundo Irineu Serra). Today, these

organizations encompass dozens of other churches in Brazil and other countries

(Japan, Holland, United States, Germany and South Africa, amongst others).

In 1980, Padrinho Sebastião mobilized a group of approximately 200 people that

were living in a community called ‘Colônia Cinco Mil’, in the outskirts of Rio Branco city

(Acre state), to build another community within the Amazon forest. A phrase attributed

to Padrinho Sebastião by one of our informants at Céu do Patriarca captures well the

motivations and principles that inspired this movement:

“New life, new people, new system!”

Figure 3: Santo Daime ceremony at Céu do Patriarca (photo by Rafael Gué Martini).

Padrinho Sebastião and the families that accompanied him first attempted to

settle in a community at Seringal Rio do Ouro, in an very remote area accessible only

by small canoes, following the recommendation of a governmental agency. After two

years facing many difficulties, including the death of many by malaria, they had to

abandon the area because they were informed it was someone else’s property. They

transferred and re-settled the community at the margins of Mapiá Igarapé, an affluent of

the Purus River (Amazon state), more than 100km away of where they were.

The ACEPSJ is also affiliated to the Environmental Development Institute

Raimundo Irineu Serra (IDACEFLURIS), another association legally created to

coordinate in national and international levels, the directives referred to environmental

and communitarian development of all centres affiliated to Santo Daime.

SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM RESILIENCE ANALYSIS Resilience in the present: new, traditional or alternative ways of living Technologies, knowledge and skills bases that contribute to social-ecological

resilience and sustainability

Amongst the technologies that contribute to resilience to water provision we

outline the presence of private and collective compostable dry toilets (no water use) and

banana circles to treat grey domestic wastewater (water from sinks, showers and

washing tanks) and to fertilize the land. Many of the community residents have the habit

of aerobically composting domestic organic waste.

Drinking water comes from two local river streams and rainwater (only a few

households). Recently, the ACEPSJ bought the land where the water springs are

located and are articulating the establishment of a local private protected area (to be

designated under federal environmental legislation) as a safety measure to secure

water provision on the long run.

Besides that care with food quality and provision is common amongst local

residents – as seen on the preference for organics – local production is limited and seen

as an explicit challenge in the Communitarian Development Plan (CDP). However, a

few mechanisms to increase autonomy and improve the production and provision of

food are under implementation. For instance, the native palm tree (Euterpe edulis) is

being planted across the ecovillage and some residents have productive fruit trees

around their homes. Some residents also produce vegetables, spices and teas for

medicinal or feeding purposes. Nevertheless, food production is prejudiced by the

tension with wild fauna such as monkeys (eat fruits, manioc and sugar cane) and birds

(eat corn sprouts). There is recognition on the necessity of enhanced community

capacity building and financial resources towards the implementation of more effective

agroforestry systems for food production.

Native honeybees (Apidae: Meliponinae)9 cultivation and repopulation started in

2010. The project, which is developed in partnership with a local university, is seen as a

way to augment forest pollination and to produce honey for feeding and medicinal

purposes.

9 Mandaçaia Melipona quadrifasciata; Manduri Melipona marginata; Mirim Pebeia sp.

There is a Health House in the ecovillage and a health team that includes a

physical doctor and natural therapists that are pursuing a greater autonomy in relation

to the public health service and the capacity to deal with several ills without reliance on

conventional medicine. Some natural remedies are already locally produced (e.g.

phytotherapy, floral medicine). For local residents and most visitors, the shamanic or

native ceremonies are seen as a space/time of spiritual benefits10 for healing the mind,

psyche and the body. However, it does not appear to exist excessive restrictive

behaviours towards conventional treatments and remedies.

The plants used in the preparation of the tea consumed during some of the

ceremonies are locally cultivated as a commons. The making of the tea takes place

every year during the ‘feitios’, occasions where the practice of collective work (task

forces) are closely associated to the religious practice (some procedures and dynamics

are ritualized). The ecovillage is autonomous in the production of the tea since 2002.

Almost all homes are fully dependent on electric energy provided by the public

service. Nowadays, the ACEPSJ has given a scholarship to a resident student to

undertake a distance-learning course in solar energy technology. There is also the

search for knowledge and intention to install small hydroelectric energy generators in

one of the river streams with New Zealand technology (Rafael Gué Martini, pers.obs.).

The intentional and strategic search for new technologies and knowledge is an

embedded characteristic of those involved with the ecovillage. For instance, at least two

courses on Permaculture techniques were already held, and exchange with researchers

working on clean technologies is stimulated. Although not every home uses all

technologies described above, there is a wide range of technologies, knowledge and

skills available and accessible to residents. The ecovillage is not only open to new

knowledge; people act in a prospective manner for new key partnerships with

institutions (e.g. NGOs, universities) and key-people (e.g. indigenous, scientists,

extensionists) holding modern or traditional sustainable technologies and practices.

When looking at the historical evolution of the community, becomes clear that there was

significant learning accumulated individually or collectively along their 25-year trajectory.

10 Nowadays, there is a ongoing legal conflict in Brazil regarding the use of the word ‘cure’, leaded by the National Council of Medicine. Thus, the word ‘benefit’ is commonly employed as a synonym.

Social structures and relations that contributes to social-ecological resilience

One of the main characteristics of the emergence of the Céu do Patriarca

ecovillage is its origin linked to a search for both rupture and reconciliation.

The rupture relates to an economic development model considered inadequate,

that drives them (individually and collectively) in the search for the effective practice of

an alternative lifestyle. The search of alternative development models continues to be

pursued by local community inhabitants, motivated by the continuous tension with the

status quo, experienced in the adjacent urban and rural areas; the socialization with

outside professional or familiar networks and; the contact and exchange with visitors

from many places of Brazil and other countries.

The communities’ internal economy is diverse and apparently growths within

solidarity principles. Several productive initiatives or services are under development at

different levels of success and implementation, such as: communitarian kitchen and

restaurant, camping and dormitory for visitors, dry fruit production, cereal processing,

jewellery, clothing manufactory, web design, development of information systems,

professional audio studio, woodworking, handcrafts and herbal medicines, amongst

others. In the last decade, external consultancy has also dealt wit the topics of social-

environmental responsibility and environmental education in the ecovillage.

In 1998, a cooperative was created by some of the residents (ECOOPERAR) in

order to incentive initiatives of production and consumption. In 2007 it was created the

Solidary Social-Environmental Credit Portfolio (SSCP), initially promoted by the

Communitarian Development Commission within a trial and demonstrative regime. This

fund provides microcredit opportunities to ACEPSJ associates, promoting development

and entrepreneurship, education and health in the ecovillage. The fund resources

derives from the surplus of land transactions and selling of individual land titles. Since

its creation, the fund mobilized more than 43,000.00 euros in loans. Following the

success of the SSCP, they have started to formalize and institutionalize it within

ECOOPERAR. This new step requires statutory reforms at the cooperative, which will

them contemplate, besides the cooperation on production and consumption, that on

credit and services.

It is also worth citing the existence of an informal ride scheme amongst local

residents, who communicate actively in search or to offer transportation to other areas

of Florianópolis city.

The other movement is of reconciliation of values and practice, for instance, of a

communitarian lifestyle integrated to environmental sustainability, solidarity and

spirituality. The values and principles of the ACEPSJ are made explicitly visible in

several official and social communication documents, thus present in the normative

(formal and informal) strategy and in the construction of a collective communitarian

identity (Table I). Table I: Strategic principles of the ‘Environmental and Spiritualistic Communitarian Association Patriarca São José’ (ACEPSJ) as publicized in official (e.g. communitarian development plan, director plan) and social communication documents (e.g. banners, folders, website). Strategic principles Description MISSION

To enable integral human development through self-knowledge and practice of a solidary community lifestyle in harmony with the environment

VISION

Sustainable human settlement in an Atlantic Rainforest, integrating spirituality, education and health

VALUES

Equality, fraternity, solidarity, cooperation, multiculturalism, social-environmental responsibility

Communitarian lifestyle favour opportunities for interaction and share of

knowledge amongst associate members. The knowledge and wisdom shared by the

elders are transmitted to young people in an informal basis during ceremonies and more

intimate rituals, communitarian task forces and other daily social interaction. Formal

knowledge transfer is stimulated through lectures and courses on various topics of

interest.

While a common basis of values, principles and motivations linked to nature,

spirituality and community life are present, we find a great diversity of preferences

among the members of the ACEPSJ. For instance, not everybody participate in all

ceremonies and knowledge networks. In our perception, respect for cultural diversity is

key to enable such an interaction atmosphere.

It is not possible to enlist here all social support networks present at the study

site. However, they vary in spatial scale and topics related to the settlements’ efficiency.

Some of these networks are listed in Figure 4 (see section on “administrative practices”)

and are mirrored in the formal governance structure through commissions and working

groups. Other networks have national or even international coverage, as is the case of

those related to the articulation and leadership in the fields of spirituality and self-

knowledge practices (e.g. Santo Daime, Sacred Fire and Enneagram, amongst others).

Neighbourhood disagreements and conflicts (e.g. issues regarding noise,

domestic pets, garbage, etc) are dealt by the formal governance structure (e.g. councils

and committees) and in numerous informal opportunities for interaction. There are

objective and transparent mechanisms in place to avoid a certain divergent issue

developing into a conflict. There are also formal mechanisms for disciplinary corrections

or exclusion of associates (in extreme circumstances) if ones behaviour is clearly

inadequate and incompatible with that promoted in the community.

Amongst the problems outlined by the PDC is the perceptible pattern of decrease

in participation of some of the associates in voluntary activities, commissions and

working groups. Consequently, there is frequently work overload and excess of

attributions laid to those that participate.

This pattern may be related to population growth and consequent emergence of

a ‘representative’ rather than ‘participative’ democracy behaviour. This pattern might

also be intentional, related to divergences towards current representation. Another

possible cause noted in our interviews is that the limited sources of internal income to

most of residents forces them to move to the city centre (30 km away) for professional

activities, giving them limited time to deal with the ACEPSJ demands. In this case,

some believe that by strengthening of a solidary economic lifestyle with consequent

generation of income within the community structure could generate more free time and

availability for participation. The visible increase in administrative and executive

workforce demand in the past years in relation to a disproportionate increase in

availability of associates to voluntary activities can also explain the observed pattern.

The hypothesis presented above need to be further investigated and probably operate

in a complimentary manner. Limited participation seems to be a complex emergent

pattern arising from multiple causes.

While the population increase can be seen as one of the causes of limited

participation in voluntary associate activities, we understand that the relatively low

number of residents (around 80) favours an intense social relation and interaction

pattern at the ecovillage. This characteristic can contribute to general community

resilience, once it favours opportunities for communications and therefore resolution of

emergent problems in a self-organizing process. Although the population density is low,

there is a great diversity of knowledge amongst associates, which can also contribute to

the general social-ecological systems resilience.

The proximity of the relation people hold with nature at the community seems to

stimulate residents sensorial field and strengthen the feeling of social-ecological

interdependence, allowing for ecological disturbances to be quickly identified.

To recognize the symbology present in the landscape is also important to

understand the social interaction dynamics favouring resilience. For instance, the

physical space of the Convivial Centre (also known as church) is key to determine

qualitatively the interactions within the Ecovillage. It is in this space where most

shamanic ceremonies, self-knowledge practices, formal governance meetings and

community parties occur. The architecture, images, photographs and artefacts also

resemble the shared values and principles of the community, triggering the individual

memory about moments of profound self-knowledge experimentation and contact with

the sacred.

Finally, a key factor to the success and resilience of the community is the

presence of a strong leadership. The current president of the Administrative Council,

Padrinho Ênio, for instance, was present at every important step and played a

fundamental role in triggering and in the evolution of the self-organization process of the

ecovillage. His coherent profile and strategic governance and ideological vision

stimulate an atmosphere of trust and offer a reference point to guide social interaction.

Another strong point of his leadership is the coordination of competencies, knowledge

and vocations of other community leaders. In fact, leadership is key to the Santo Daime

religion as seen in the history of the doctrine, which is intimately guided by a series of

key leaders, starting with Master Irineu.

Behavioural, psychological and belief aspects that contributes to social-

ecological resilience

A diversity of beliefs systems are shared by residents and visitors to the Céu do

Patriarca ecovillage, and it would be extremely hard, if not impossible, to objectively

characterize them all. The indigenous, christian, kardecist and african spiritism symbolic

matrixes are strongly present in oral communication and ritualistic practices.

Nevertheless, it does not seem to predominate dogmatic and crystallizing approaches

of symbols and beliefs to explicit social interaction control. On the contrary, the

tendency we perceive is the presence of people that seems largely open to comprehend

and reinterpret reality as a consequence of continuous spiritual living and

experimentation. There is a perceptible recurrent tendency in people’s profile to be open

to a prospection of the new in terms of culture, spirituality and technology. It seems that

the act of participation in shamanic or native ceremonies is often a product of some sort

of purpose inherently related to ones’ search of a profound learning experience.

In this regard, the different types of shamanic or native rituals that take place at

the ecovillage are a key learning aspect. Such profound learning experimentations are

based in rituals with varying structures (e.g. long or short duration, more or less flexible,

employment of chants and/or individual and/or collective prays, dialogue forbidden or

stimulated, varying hierarchies e leadership profiles) and contents

(e.g. christian, indigenous, african and spiritism from different groups).

In a context of difficult generalization, we perceive the tendency of a vision of

total interdependence between humans and nature. This is evident, for instance, in the

appreciation of the four elements (earth, fire, air and water), of Mother Earth, stars (e.g.

sun, moon and stars), animals, plants and other symbols that configures respect and

praise to the environment.

Adaptive policies and management that contribute to social-ecological resilience

The organization structure of Céu do Patriarca was inspired, according to our

informants, by the communitarian processes at Acre state (Colônia Cinco Mil, Rio do

Ouro e Céu do Mapiá), taking into account the necessary enhancements and

adaptations to modern times and the local territory. However, they clearly recognize that

adjustments had do be done to accommodate to the differing cultural background of

people in Florianópolis. Today, the community has a well-structured formal institutional

governance framework, including: i) social statute, which institutes the general rules of

the association; ii) internal byelaw, which regulates the associations’ specific and

administrative functioning and convivial norms and; iii) director plan, which regulates

land use and occupation. These documents offer a more clear formal institutional basis

to regulate social interaction in the community. We outline the existence of numerous

formal governance and dialogue spaces or arenas with differing mandates,

representation and deliberative powers (Figure 4). The sophistication of the governance

structure is noteworthy, and today serves as reference to other churches, associations

and communities related to IDACEFLURIS in Brazil and other countries.

The ecovillage have had several opportunities to enhance its governance

structure and strategy. We highlight the recent elaboration of the Communitarian

Development Plan (CDP, 2005), which was further improved by the Institutional

Development Plan (IDP, 2008), both outcomes of participatory assessment and

planning methods lead by an external consultant team. The outcome of these

processes was a plan that is being used to strategically guide the future development of

the ecovillage (Figure 5). Amongst most recent local policies towards sustainability is

the pursue for the creation of a private protected area to be designated by Brazilian

federal legislation (Private Reserve of the Natural Patrimony). In order to finally

designate this protected area, they will have to regularize the land ownership

bureaucracies, which is already been negotiated in justice by the ACEPSJ.

Even though the formal governance institutions (e.g. statute, byelaw and director

plan) were reformed in the past twenty years, a novel participatory mechanism was

implemented in 2010 to continuously care for the institutional adaptation. A permanent

committee was designated to compile and write the results of meetings. When the

volume of change is significant, this committee schedule a General Assembly meeting

to appreciate and deliberate on the adjustment proposals. The first of such a meeting

occurred in May 2011.

These frequent evaluations indicate flexibility in the governance structure and the

capacity to adapt to the regulatory demands and difficulties emerging as the community

develop. The population growth, increased number of visitors, diversification of services

and activities, unexpectedly bring emergent properties (e.g. new social interaction

patterns, potential conflicts) that need to be regulated.

Spiritual governance issues are autonomous from the structure described above.

In this case, a Local Council is elected amongst CEFLURIS Institute and local church

associated members. Nevertheless, the influence of the ceremonies in regulating social

interaction is clear, increasing the governability of the community. The ceremonies

functions as spaces for self-learning and reflection, enabling the creation of

opportunities for resolution of problems (e.g. conflicts), the stimulus of creativity and

critical dialogues amongst participants about individual and collective problems and

opportunities.

There is an ongoing effort to consolidate a social communication strategy

amongst ACEPSJ associates, leaded by a resident journalist (Martini, 2009). Important

documents such as the statute, byelaw, director plan, CDP and IDP are all openly

available to download at the ecovillages’ website. Folders and a community journal are

also communication actions already in place. Transparency and accountability are

aspects favouring resilience, as they: level-off key information access amongst

residents; enable higher social governance control; minimize the emergence of conflicts

and; increase the feedback capacity to undesired disturbances and stresses.

Another outstanding initiative refers to the implementation of a Budget Plan to

contribute with the financial planning, evaluation and monitoring of the association. This

plans’ objective is to consolidate an institutional culture of transparency and

accountability (Curti, 2010). He also showed that associate contributions (taxes for

maintainance and janitorial) and communitary ventures (e.g. titles sales) correspond to

more than 90& of the ACEPSJ budget. Financial independence or autonomy is cited by

Armani (2008) as one of the foundations for institutional credibility. Without autonomy,

an organization may not maintain the necessary coherence between its practices,

principles and mission. Finally, the author outlines that without autonomy, the political

project of the organization may lose consistency, sustainability and legitimacy.

The ACEPSJ is proactive in establishing partnership relations with universities,

NGOs, governmental organizations and indigenous groups, amongst others. The IDP,

for instance, enlist seventeen partner organizations and other eight to which future

partnerships are envisioned. The large number and diverse profile of visitors also

creates opportunities for the establishment of new partnerships in topics of community

interest. Partnerships with academics are also stimulated through extension and

research projects in several knowledge fields. This proactive approach reveals a

resilient policy, where the search for strategic partnerships is recognized as a

mechanism for conflict resolution and opportunity creation.

The shift in managerial and administrative functions amongst ACEPSJ

associates occurs through democratic elections held every three years. However, some

leaders democratically stay in the formal governance structure and thus assure

continuity to long-term policies and strategies. The knowledge accumulated in one

governance cycle is then better transferred and mobilized in the next.

The designation of committees and working groups (Figure 4) stimulates the

existence of functional thematic nodes of collective learning and innovation, increasing

the capacity to solve problems and create opportunities. The reduced spatial scale of

this social-ecological system favours the multiplication of informal opportunities for

social interaction that contributes to governability. Interaction is intense at the

cooperative site, office, community kitchen, restaurant, health house, convivial centre,

pathways and during spiritual ceremonies and communitarian task forces. Together,

formal and informal governance spaces form dynamic interaction nodes that pulses in

active and rapid response to disturbances and change. It is thus natural to conceive that

a process of ‘analytical deliberation’ (Dietz et al., 2003) is favoured, which is considered

a principle for robust governance systems. Analytical deliberation ‘provides improved

information and the trust in it that is essential for information to be used effectively,

builds social capital, and can allow for change and deal with inevitable conflicts well

enough to produce consensus on governance rules’ (Dietz et al., 2003).

More recently, as a response to the problems of participation discussed above, it

was created an horizontal space for strengthening associative participation – without the

formal hierarchy of the governance structure. This new interaction node takes place

regularly, where all associates are invited to raise demands, plan task forces and

integrate the activities of different commissions and working groups.

Figure 4: Formal governance spaces or forums present at the Céu do Patriarca ecovillage. (Figure prepared by Rafael Gué Martini).

Figure 5: Summary of stages and issues dealt during the participative construction of a Community Development Plan for the Céu do Patriarca ecovillage.

Resilience in the past: lessons learned Examples of community resilience in the historical context

Even though there is not a formal policy in place to respond to climate change,

some of the ongoing strategies and technological advancements being though are

capable of dealing with some of its effects. For instance, the community has recently

developed feedback mechanisms in response to a severe drought, which that can be

reactivated in the future. In 2000, a six-month drought hit Florianópolis and the

ecovillages’ river streams almost dried off. In a week’s time a water rationing system

(water clock) was implemented (50L/person/day11). Today, the structure to deal with

limited water provision remains and the rationing system could be initiated very quickly.

This episode also strengthened their plan to buy and preserve the land where the river

springs are located. While the majority of the homes have not yet implemented

rainwater collection systems and dry compostable toilets, the drought has stimulated

some residents to move towards such technologies. In a community level, a demand

was given to the Environmental Committee and the Permaculture Working Group to

study a more efficient structure to deal with water collection, storage and distribution.

In 2008, several months of precipitation culminated with heavy raining by

November in coastal Santa Catarina state. More than a hundred deaths occurred due to

landslides, even affecting some areas of Florianópolis. The ecovillage responded well to

this event, as its mountain slopes are well vegetated. No further harm occurred despite

minor erosions and damages to some pathways. In January 2011, even stronger

localized rains occurred, with precipitation volumes never seen in the history of the

community. While the small river streams that cross the community have drained the

large volume of water, the event triggered preoccupation regarding the stability of some

slopes. Measures are being taken to study the risks of future landslides, i.e. the analysis

of the terrain by a specialist geologist.

Other disturbances occurred in the history of the community, as lack of electric

energy, illegal entrance of hunters and unknown people, amongst others (Table II). In

every occasion, rapid and simple measures were implemented or have brought

attention to emergent problems that are now under further consideration.

11 Minimum value recommended by the World Health Organization.

Table II: Main disturbances and response measures. Dimensions of social-ecological resilience: B = Buffer; SO = Self-Organization; LA = Learning and Adaptation. Increasing degrees of relation with a particular dimension of resilience (0; +/0; 0/+; +). Main disturbances/crisis

Description Response measures B SO LA

Heavy rain

In January of 2011 there was an extremely heavy rain with never seen volumes of precipitation and landslides in one day by community residents

Contact with a geologist to evaluate the risk of households in relation to possible future landslides

0 + +

Water shortage In 2000, a severe drought lasted 180 days

A water clock was installed and a water rationing system was implemented, limiting water consumption to 50 litres/person/Day

+ + +

Electric energy Blackout

In 2008, a general blackout lasted several days in Florianópolis.

Studies are being undertaken on regard to solar energy technologies and implementation of small hydro electrical generators

0 0 +

Entrance of hunters

The richness and abundance of wild fauna in the surrounding forests of the ecovillage attracts hunters from neighbour communities, despite this activity is forbidden by Brazilian legislation

The ecovillage borders are undergoing a more precise demarcation. Warning signals are being placed

+ + 0

Entrance of unknown people

There are no gates in the entrance of the ecovillage. In the past years, there were unknown people walking through the community which caused suspicion

It was taken the decision to construct a gateway in the entrance of the community

+ 0 0

Conflict with neighbour over pathway access

One neighbour believes the main street is his own private property

After they’ve tried to informally negotiate without success, a legal dispute over this issue was initiated

0/+ 0/+ +

Internal indiscipline

Eventually, disrespect of basic social interaction norms occur

The Administrative Council has governance mechanisms that vary from a simple warning to temporary suspension and as a last stance, definite exclusion from the association

+ + 0/+

Failure to establish the community in another site

The pioneers established the church in the continental area of the city, but were forced to abandon due to climatic disturbances (e.g. frost)

They pursued alternative locations to establish the ecovillage, until they found an area at the neighbourhood they are now

0 + +

Resilience in the future: the spread of resilience and reduced vulnerability Current threats and possible scenarios for the future

Extreme climatic events such as prolonged droughts, heavy raining and strong

winds are realistic scenarios for the region, and could become more frequent and

intense due to global climate change. To increase the adaptation capacity in face of

droughts, the expansion in the number of houses currently using alternative

technologies (e.g. dry compostable toilets, rainwater collection systems) would be

desired. ACEPSJ has recently acquired the land where water springs are located. Thus,

the association now has formal and legal jurisdiction over these areas, ensuring a long-

term water supply policy.

Urban growth in Florianópolis city was highlighted by some of our informants as

an issue to be aware of. For instance, a current project by the municipality of the city is

to stimulate the urban development in surrounding areas of the ecovillage. Population

growth could increase the incidence of problems already identified and bring new ones,

such as invasion of unknown people, pressure over natural resources (e.g. hunting,

forest and water usage) and criminality.

While the installation of gateways and fencing the limits of the ecovillage would

certainly minimize some of the problems, extreme population growth could lead to

unmanageable problems. For instance, it is hard to anticipate what would be their

response to illegal land invasion and occupation or other extreme conditions. However,

the historical solidarity profile of local residents makes us believe that pacific options for

conflict resolution would be preferred. The conduction of a coherent neighbourhood

policy becomes important as a way to maintain personal and institutional mechanisms

of communication and solidarity (see next section).

The strengthening of partnerships and communication channels with

governmental agencies (local to national) of various types would also increase their

feedback capacity to disturbances.

Finally, another issue of increased concern to the ecovillages’ residents relates to

food security. The perception of the importance of building more autonomy in food

production is visible. Several strategic actions were discussed during the preparation of

the CDP. Once implemented, they would increase the community adaptive capacity to

contexts of limited external food supply. The modest lifestyle intimately linked to the

natural environment and the body of internal agricultural knowledge and partnership

with indigenous groups are also factors contributing to their social-ecological resilience.

Options for the spread of wider social-ecological resilience

Suggesting specific elements of Céu do Patriarca ecovillage that would

unequivocally contribute to social-ecological resilience elsewhere requires caution.

Basurto and Ostrom (2009) have outlined that a current problem to natural resource

management is the frequent promotion of panaceas or blueprint governance solutions.

Some resilience attributes of the Céu do Patriarca ecovillage are path dependent,

intertwined and sustained by values and principles that guided their self-organization

process and would difficult or impossible to simply reproduce them elsewhere.

Nevertheless, we find that many characteristics of our study site are present in an

increasing number of ecovillages and other types of sustainable communities across the

globe. Some of these ingredients were systematized by the GEN and include

ecological, social, and spiritual dimensions of sustainability.

Away from panaceas, we believe that the experience of Céu do Patriarca

ecovillage can offer a great resilience reference point to other social-ecological systems

with differing profiles and trajectories. The success of the ecovillage indeed attracts

hundreds of visitors yearly in search of concrete examples of the different facets of

sustainability (technological, political, institutional, spiritual, etc). The ecovillage

promotes a variety of courses based on current knowledge and actively seeks new

sources of knowledge. The open doors to those interested in learning and exchanging

knowledge allows for innovative and creative interaction opportunities and enhances the

capacity and will to influence broader societal levels. In fact, the ecovillage exerts

leadership and is solicited to advise other groups in Brazil and other countries.

Finally, the ACEPSJ has already promoted initiatives of communitarian

extension, for instance: donation of seedlings and training for the production of native

plants; support of local sustainable tourism initiatives which values local identities

through the mapping of historical trails and sites; support to the neighbourhoods’ project

of selective domestic solid waste collection.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS Several factors contributes to the resilience of the Céu do Patriarca ecovillage

(Table III), including aspects that fits those pointed by Folke et al (2003) as important to

the construction of resilience in social-ecological systems. For instance, some aspects

illustrate their: i) capacity to learn and live with change and uncertainty (e.g.

learning obtained with past disturbances, predisposition and profile of people to the

profound experience of learning); ii) incentives given to diversity for reorganization and renewal (e.g. intentional increase of ecological memory and diversity of

technological and spiritual knowledge and practices, promotion of a diverse internal

economy); iii) the combination of different types of knowledge (e.g. promotion of

various courses, participatory evaluations and assessments, technological and spiritual

exchange, multicultural atmosphere actively pursued) and; iv) the creation of opportunities for self-organization (e.g. formal and informal governance atmosphere

encourages the emergence of new partnerships and social support networks).

The studied ecovillage has also key characteristics of an adaptive co-

management system (Armitage et al., 2009), which contributes to social-ecological

resilience. Within the adaptive co-management framework, collaboration amongst

different actors (sharing of power, responsibilities and risks) and learning (experimental

and/or experiential) should predominate in the dynamics of a given social-ecological

system. The collaborative dimension of the ecovillage is clearly evident in their inclusive

and democratic governance approach, mirrored by the existence of numerous formal

governance forums (e.g. councils, committees, working groups). Part of the learning

dimension of the ecovillage is intrinsic to the personal profile of the associates and

visitors, which are generally open to and in pursue of experiential learning experiences.

Experimental learning is also present, for instance, during participatory assessment and

evaluation processes such as the elaboration of the CDP and IDP (Figure 5).

Considering the achievements they have made so far, we conclude that people

engaged with the ecovillage exhibited a high level of transformability in the construction

of their future. Transformability refers to the capacity of people to create a new system

when the actual accumulate ecological, economic, political and social conditions that

makes it untenable (Walker et al., 2004). Transformability emphasizes an active drive to

enhanced social-ecological systems, and not only adaptation to current conditions

(Folke, 2006). These two important aspects of transformability (driven change and

capacity to create the new before unwanted situations) were both present in the

trajectory of the Céu do Patriarca ecovillage. Unhappy with and driven by a

development model considered inadequate and sensitized by the progress at Céu do

Mapiá (Amazon state), ACEPSJ associates not only shown intentionality in the self-

organization process, but have effectively projected in reality their dreams after a 25

year trajectory.

The debate on resilience is recently outlining the differences between specific

and general resilience (Folke et al., 2010). Specific resilience regards problems that

arises from a specific set of disturbances, usually understood as a response to the

question posed by Carpenter et al. (2001) “Resilience of what? To what?”. General

resilience, in turn, outlines the concern with all types of disturbances, including the

unpredictable and completely new ones. The differentiation between general and

specific resilience allows to understand that to invest only in enhancing the resilience of

parts of the system (specific resilience) does not prevent its collapse and shift towards

another state. On the contrary of what one may think, to invest efforts only in the

increase of the resilience of parts of the system may even diminish the systems’ general

resilience (Folke et al., 2010). In this study case, we identified and described aspects of

the ecovillage that are obviously related to eminent specific disturbances such as water

shortage, energy of food (specific resilience). However, we recognize that some of the

described characteristics cannot be clearly related to one sole potential disturbance and

are therefore related to general resilience. These characteristics outline in a certain way

the degree of capacity of the community to deal with uncertainty.

This manuscript has shown that the advancements and experiences

accumulated by the Céu do Patriarca ecovillage offers an outstanding and insightful

case study to think about the various facets of the emerging science of social-ecological

systems resilience. Furthermore, they are also guiding other communities and people in

search of concrete social-ecological systems trajectories that have shown significant

progress in fostering adaptive capabilities and creating opportunities for the long run -

arguably the ultimate goal of sustainable development (Holling, 2001).

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Table III: Summary of the resilience analysis exhibited by the social-ecological system of the Céu do Patriarca ecovillage (Florianópolis city, Santa Catarina state, Brazil). Dimensions of social-ecological resilience: B = Buffer; SO = Self-Organization; LA = Learning and Adaptation. Increasing degrees of relation with a particular dimension of resilience (0; +/0; 0/+; +).

Characteristics that confer social-ecological resilience

B AO AA

Resilience in the present: new, traditional or alternative ways of living

Technologies, knowledge and skills bases that contribute to social-ecological resilience

Search and implementation of sustainable technologies is under way in the areas of food security, energy, health, sanitation and water

+ 0 +

Wide set of knowledge and skills accessible through people in the community and partner institutions (e.g. knowledge about cultivation and manipulation of plants for food and medicinal usages)

0/+ + +

Social structures and relations that contributes to social-ecological resilience

Interaction pattern amongst people centred in a common basis of values 0 + 0 The environment and relatively low number of residents favours a recurrent interaction amongst them

0 + 0

Participatory construction of values and principles that regulate social interaction 0 + 0 Presence of legitimate and robust leadership, which is open to innovation and widely regarded as coherent

0 + 0

Good coordination of competencies amongst several leaderships 0 + 0 Provision of several opportunities for individual and collective learning through formal and informal mechanisms

0 0 +

Respect and stimulus to cultural diversity + 0 + Presence of social support networks + + 0 Symbology present in the landscape (natural and human) stimulate individual memory and contributes towards learning

0 0 +

Behavioural, psychological and belief aspects that contributes to social-ecological resilience

Presence of people that are prospective of experiential learning 0 0 + Openness and search of diversification of shamanic or native rituals with variable structures and contents

0 + +

Share of an ethic of environmental respect, outlining a vision of interdependence between humans and nature

0 + 0

Proactive behaviour in search for new technologies and partnerships with institutions and people

0 0 +

Adaptive policies and management that contribute to social-ecological resilience

Sophisticated but flexible governance structure + + 0/+ Presence of a communication strategy amongst associates + + 0 Transparent and visible governance structure 0 + 0 Presence of systematic experimental learning initiatives 0 0 + Proactive establishment of inter-institutional partnerships (universities, NGOs, governmental agencies, indigenous groups, etc)

+ + +

Incentive to the creation of learning and innovative social interaction nodes is present in the formal governance approach (e.g. commissions and working groups)

0 + +

Maintenance of some leaders within the governance structure confers the capacity to implement long-term policies and strategies

0 + 0

Analytic deliberation processes are favoured 0 + 0

Presence of dynamic mechanism to adjust and adapt formal governance institutions +/0 + + Presence of transparent and objective mechanisms of conflict resolution 0 + 0 Resilience in the past: lessons learned

Examples of community resilience in the historical context

Feedback to ecological disturbances favoured by the proximity of the interaction of residents with nature. Examples of adaptive learning as response to disturbances are given in Table II

+ + +

Governance structure favour rapid feedback in response to disturbances + + + Resilience in the future: the spread of resilience and reduced vulnerability

Current threats and possible scenarios for the future Establishment of a good neighbourhood policy + 0/+ 0 Establishment and strengthening of partnerships and communication channels with governmental agencies

+ 0/+ 0

Clear perception on the importance of building autonomy in terms of food production 0/+ 0/+ + Options for the spread of wider social-ecological resilience

Good reference to other social-ecological systems with diverse profiles and trajectories (e.g. Santo Daime religion networks)

0 0 +

Reception of hundreds of visitors annually, pursuing to learn about the ecovillage or share knowledge, incentive opportunities of creative and innovative interactions

0 + +

Promotion of courses that spread the internal experience of the ecovillage and other courses to bring new knowledge

0 0 +