Terra Nova: A Brazilian success story

André L. Cavalcanti de Albuquerque estab-

lished an organization in São Paulo, Brazil

called Terra Nova Regularizações Fundiárias.

He wanted to establish a procedure to legalize,

in a sustainable way, urban land that is illegally

occupied, most notably in favelas (urban slum

communities).

Terra Nova mediates between the people who

legally own a piece of property and those who

have come to live on it illegally. The goal is to

find a solution to this problem that both par-

ties can accept. Terra Nova is the first non-

governmental organization in Brazil to become

involved in land regularization. Before, the ser-

vice was almost exclusively offered by govern-

ment, but given inefficiency, shortage of funds,

and overloaded staff, government was often

unable to deliver as needed. Those deficiencies

were part of the social problem that inspired de

Albuquerque to found Terra Nova.

Terra Nova has been a success story. Every

community regularized by de Albuquerque has

seen a rise in the quality of low-income family

life. As soon as the town council sees a title

deed provided by the local land office, it begins

offering such necessities as water, electricity,

basic sanitation, public transport, and even a

postal code.

What is environmental and sustainable

about the Terra Nova project? What is its triple

bottom line? Local soil and water have been

improved by providing sanitation services and

purified water from an external source. Other

benefits relate to the second bottom line:

improvements in public transport, mail service,

and lighting.

For-profit enterprises have a bad reputation in

Brazil, so it took courage for de Albuquerque

to establish a social business. He says that

Terra Nova is not out to build up and hang on

to capital. He believes the problem should be

viewed independently of the power and attrac-

tiveness of money. With a for-profit approach

to solving this kind of social problem, he can

make enough money to stretch the service to

many more people than would be possible were

the enterprise founded on a nonprofit basis.

De Albuquerque says that, if his profits allow,

he would like to expand Terra Nova’s opera-

tions to the rest of Latin America and to Africa.