Recognizing the critical requirement for a new, more impactful approach to sustainable growth, the GPC Group is proud to be a founding partner of the Tijuca Center for Applied Sustainability (TCAS) in collaboration with Pro-Natura, in line with its triple-bottom-line commitment to leveraging its capabilities for the achievement of positive environmental change.
The Center, to be housed in the historic Castelo de Alto near Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, will support the development of a new sustainable development paradigm by providing a working environment that brings NGOs, academia and private and public sectors together into one dynamic network. By rubbing shoulders in the same physical location, these collaborators will help to reversing the negative, interconnected spiral of poverty, biodiversity degradation and climate change.
GPC Group, the parent company of GPC GIS, GCS and GPC Inc., utilizes globally-renowned GIS and SDI expertise to help their clients realize improved planning effectiveness and operational efficiency through the integration of geospatial and related technologies via whole enterprise information solutions.
With environmental care as a key corporate priority, GPC GIS spearheaded the Eye on Earth Summit with the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI), which shone a spotlight on the need for greater environmental information sharing and brought Bill Clinton, Sha Zukang, Jack Dangermond, Phillippe Cousteau, Dr. Aspasia Camargo and several others to Abu Dhabi in December 2011. The company has also delivered the Environmental Atlas of Abu Dhabi Emirate, a landmark, large-format and highly illustrative exploration of Abu Dhabi’s environmental heritage and future, for the AGEDI program.
Initially focused on extractive (oil/gas, mining, pulp paper), large infrastructure and the financial industries, the new Tijuca Center for Applied Sustainability will house cutting-edge public and private sector capabilities and intelligence in the sustainability gathering, storing, processing, systematizing and transferring of information.
Geographically, the Center couldn’t be in a more appropriate, and stunning, location. Brazil, with over 50% of the world’s biodiversity, 1/3 of all fresh water, the 9th largest economy in the world and societal support for environmental initiatives, provides a stable foundation. The specific location, the Alto da Boavista near Rio de Janeiro, is a ‘breeze canal’ positioned between Rio’s two large bodies of water that stands as a forest majestically at an altitude of approximately 700m above Rio. The structure itself, currently under renovation for the new Center, is between 120 and 180 years old with high ceilings, cast iron stairs and a primarily stone structure.
With a forest canopy exploration facility, several green areas, an eco-friendly hotel and cultural institutions, the Castelo de Alto will provide the Center with an active environment for growth.
Founded in Rio de Janeiro, in 1985 by Dr. Marcelo Carvalho de Andrade, Pro-Natura has become one of the few NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organizations) from the global south to internationalize. Since 1993, the Paris-based Pro-Natura International has engaged more than 500 qualified volunteers alongside about 250 employees to primarily work on rural development projects around the world.
The innovative approach that Pro-Natura has developed is founded on the firm belief that poverty reduction, the conservation of biodiversity and the struggle against climate change are best pursued in combination. Pro-Natura has demonstrated in Latin America, Asia and Africa that the vicious cycle of rural poverty, unsustainable agricultural practices, deforestation and accelerating climate change can be reversed, especially when systems of democratic governance are put in place.