Environmental Racism, Counter-Colonial Resistance and Mutual Aid Infrastructure in Vale do Ribeira: Territorial Planning Strategies and Pluriversal Monitoring Techniques

• Grant number: 22/16174-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: July 01, 2023
• End date: June 30, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning
• Principal Investigator: Maria de Lourdes Zuquim
• Grantee: Laura Pappalardo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The research starts from a political-comparative study between a legal diploma, a planning instrument and a protocol that currently overlap in Vale do Ribeira: (1) the "Vale do Futuro" (Government of São Paulo, 2019-2030) , (2) the ICMS Environmental law (Government of São Paulo, 2021) , and (3) the "Protocolo de Consulta Prévia dos Territórios Quilombolas" (Quilombola Communities of Vale do Ribeira-SP, 2020). The work proposes a hybrid inter-disciplinary structure at theoretical and practical levels. At the theoretical level, the work will critically read the use of the terms "sustainable development" and "social vulnerability" by Vale do Futuro and the ICMS Environmental law. Are these terms used as justification for the approval of the construction of large enterprises in indigenous, caiçara and quilombola territories in Vale do Ribeira? On a practical level, the research proposes to learn from pluriversal participatory territorial planning and environmental monitoring methods (that respect multiple worlds and epistemologies, through self-determination by each traditional people and communities, according to their own cultures, cosmologies, techniques, and spatial practices). The research investigates how participatory environmental monitoring methods can assist in critically monitoring the implementation and decision making process of the Vale do Futuro program, and the distribution of funds from the ICMS Environmental law. Above all, the research learns from the long history of counter-colonial resistance, mutual aid networks, and pluriversal territorial planning practices led by indigenous, quilombola, and caiçara peoples and communities in Vale do Ribeira.