The “Nucleus of Analysis and Synthesis of Nature-based Solutions” (Biota Synthesis) will support the state of São Paulo in the development of socio-environmental public policies related to agricultural sustainability, ecological restoration, zoonosis control, and disease prevention in urban areas, considering essentially nature-based solutions.
The Nucleus brings together researchers from 5 Universities, 7 Research Institutes of the State of São Paulo, and 4 Non-Governmental Organizations, as well as technicians and decision-makers from the state Secretariats of Environment, Infrastructure and Logistics, Public Health, and Agriculture. The Nucleus will be based at the Institute for Advanced Studies of the University of São Paulo, the city of São Paulo (SP), Brazil.
This Nucleus will be funded by the São Paulo Research Foundation, FAPESP, for 5 years, from 2022 to 2026.
Watch the video produced by the University of Montpellier where the director of Biota Synthesis presents the project.
BIOTA SYNTHESIS focus and problem statement
The goal of the Nucleus is to foster research focused on the synthesis of knowledge related to "nature-based solutions", allowing guiding public and private socio-environmental policies.
This proposal is organized into two main missions (foster sustainability in rural and urban areas), four thematic challenges (pollination, restoration, and forest-based economics, regulation of zoonotic diseases and prevention of chronic non-transmissible and mental diseases in cities), a major challenge (climate change) and a cross-cutting challenge (establishing effective public policies) (Figure 1).
We explicitly consider demands from the São Paulo state Secretaries of Infrastructure and Environment, Health and Agriculture, searching for the best solutions based on ecosystem services, andalways grounded on the best existing scientific evidence.
Following the principles of synthesis science, our approach is based on the analysis, modeling, and synthesis of data that predominately already exist, and on the work of teams composed of a diversity of actors, who act in a transdisciplinary, collaborative, inclusive, and transparent manner.
The team behind Biota Síntese
Learn more about the researchers working on the project.
FAPESP Virtual Library
Official source of information about the project
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