SARA(S)² Institute original idea was born in Holland, a summer day of 2005. Institute goals and preliminary structure were conceived and discussed by Marten Scheffer and Néstor Mazzeo during a couple of days where work was alternated with extensive bicycle ridings, visits to several lakes in the Rhin’s flood plain and food sharing provided by Marten Scheffer.
In January 2006 the first document about mission, goals and structure of the Institute was redacted with the aid of Ruben Budelli. At this time, a meeting with Oscar de los Santos – maire of Maldonado – was celebrated in order to explore the feasibility of Institute facility installation at Maldonado County. The proposal was very well received by local authorities and immediately a group was conformed (Jorge Hourcade, Ruben Budelli, Gabriel Aintablian and Néstor Mazzeo) and charged to select the most appropriate place to locate Institute facilities.
Since summer 2007 SARA(S)² Advisory Board started to meet in Uruguay at regular basis, first discussing original ideas and then redefining main Institute feature, goals and actions. Simultaneously, the working team (Ruben Budelli, Hugo Fort, Gabriel Aintablian and Néstor Mazzeo) contacted local authorities in Science, Culture and Education María Simón, Rodrigo Arocena, Gregory Randall and Omar Macadar in order to build a collaborative process from the very beginning.
During 2008 and 2009 the Institute entered into academic life trough scientific papers and research projects redaction, which were presented at national and international funding agencies. Approved projects allowed the generation of a Conference Cycle on relevant environmental topics for Latin America, held on a yearly basis. The cycle started in 2010 with the subject Sustainable Futures for Hydric Resources in Latin America (see forum).
In 2009 a substantial support from the UdelaR was granted, the Ministry of Education and Culture defined financial support for the Institute and, in 2011, Maldonado City Hall also explicitly issued his support. These contributions allowed the inclusion in the local working team of two new members: Mariana Meerhoff and Nicolás Marchand.
Since 2010 several advances has been made in order to consolidate the Institute facilities construction process and native vegetation park in the surrounding area in a joint effort with the Dirección General de Arquitectura – UdelaR, Amalia Robledo, María Puppo and Carla Bruzzone.
