Como pensar a sustentabilidade em nível local? Uma análise metodológica de um estudo de caso na microbacia do Ribeirão da Cachoeirinha e do Córrego do Meio em São Luiz do Paraitinga, SP.

Considering that the current development models do not promote, in their essence, sustainability, this article analysis a rural community located in a catchment area on the basis of their economic, social, environmental, and institutional structure. Then further proposes a set of sustainability indicators aimed at measuring the path and distance from achieving a local sustainable development. The sustainability of a rural community at a local level depends on the degree of articulation and efficiency of the internal production of its productive system and in the social construction of local markets, therefore depends on the construction of a basic infrastructure intimately linked to its productive small farms. Palavras chave: sustentabilidade rural, indicadores de sustentabilidade, desenvolvimento local .