Brazilian Hydropolitics under the United Nations 2030 Agenda A hidropolítica brasileira sob a Agenda 2030 das Nações Unidas (original) (raw)
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Brazilian Hydropolitics under the United Nations 2030 Agenda
Meridiano 47 - Journal of Global Studies, 2020
The global framework set forth by the United Nations 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) include water resources in their scope, which emphasizes how water assets and society well-being are closely intertwined and how crucial they are to achieving sustainable development. This paper explores the role of hydropolitics in that Post-2015 Development Agenda and uses Brazilian hydropolitics set to reach SDG6 as a case study.
2010
This paper examines Brazilian national constitutional law interpretation about water resources management, environmental protection and sustainable development principles. Institutional scenario is characterized under an economical format, important to conciliate human rights guaranties, national development and water protection. We provide subsidies for legal and institutional analysis considering human rights and an equity desirable scenario. Istitutional context in Brazil assumes that Federal Law No. 9433/97 determined that water management must improve its multiple uses, decentralization and social participation. Water resources management in Brazil is legally and institutionally marked by the presence of the subsidiarity principle. We analyze the case in current national scene, with its consequent conflict in São Francisco River Basin, a semi arid Northeastern River Basin. This work also reflects some aspects of water pricing as defined by State politics. Some parameters are discussed as an elementary presupposition for water regulatory instruments that will define respective water management policy. Therefore, when defining criteria water fees, laws must comply with constitutional principles and the parameters established by the Brazilian Water Law (Law 9.433/97). The lack of reasonability and proportionality in dealing with the formal aspects and, specially, in defining water allocation, can obstruct the subsidiary principle application as determined by the Law 9433/97 and National Water Resources Policy. The question is observed in a more detailed focus over Northeastern Brazilian semi-arid region, where scarcity and traditional relations on politics are difficult to deal with, according to a renewed vision of the State and sustainable development principles.
Water scarcity is matter of growing concern in Brazil, especially in the semi-arid, inland area of the Northeast, where the São Francisco River flows. This paper concentrates on the relations between the concrete experience of water resources development and the remaining demands for efficient water management in that river basin. The emphasis is on its Sub-Middle section, which since 1948 has been the preferential area for irrigation projects and hydropower generation. Recent modifications in the Brazilian legislation provide for a new approach to water resources policy, which is in favor of more decentralized and proactive forms of water management. In spite of such institutional evolution, conservative political groups in the São Francisco River Basin have put obstacles before the transformation of established practices. In addition, there are other structural limitations contributing to hinder the adoption of a more comprehensive framework of water management. Resulting water conflicts have raised increasing demands for proper attention to the social, economic and environmental requirements of the sustainable management of water. The requisites for that go beyond the water question itself because they involve broader political and socio-economic controversies. At the local level, priority must be given to measures aimed at achieving water efficiency and conservation. It is fundamental to address the reduction of human vulnerability to climatic risks and to adopt alternatives of better utilization of water resources.
The Brazilian Water Resources Management Policy:Fifteen Years of Success and Challenges
As a result of the increasing global awareness about the importance of water, many developed and developing countries have reviewed their water resources management policies and laws. In Brazil, Law 9,433, enacted in (1997), establishes the National Water Resources Policy (NWRP) and the National Water Resource Management System (NWRMS), introducing a new integrated approach to water resources management through the application of planning and economic instruments. At the institutional level, this brought many changes. A new institutional framework was established with the creation of river basin committees and water agencies. Almost 15 years after the Law took effect, these changes are still being implemented, and some adjustments have been necessary. In light of the Brazilian NWRP, this paper presents and analyzes the legal and institutional reform that has been taking place in Brazil’s water resources sector since 1997. An initial analysis shows that today, the implementation process still faces many challenges, hindering the effective consolidation of the instruments set out by Law 9,433/1997. The paper concludes that although Brazil’s model is generally in line with international trends, and despite the major progress that has been made to date, in some hydrographic regions the instruments conceived in the country’s model are still in the incipient stage of implementation, indicating that greater efforts are necessary, some of which are suggested in this article.
Sustainability in Environment, 2018
The close relationship between water, energy and sustainable development has been on the international political radar for some time. The multiple targets contained in the newly developed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) often crosscut and refer to more than one sustainable goal, suggesting the need to consider the potential for synergies and analyse the nature and extent of trade-offs. SDGs subscribe Brazil to new action targets that explicitly crosscut and refer to multiple goals and resources (e.g., water, energy). Current work on indicators concluded Brazil should consider recognising and forging connections between goals but lacked to consider any synergies between water and energy (SDG6, SDG7). However, a challenge is that energy and water in Brazil are dependent and serve as input of each other but follow two different management approaches: electricity is centrally governed by the federal government (taking a top-down approach), while the water sector is polycentric (fol...
Water International, 2001
Water scarcity is matter of growing concern in Brazil, especially in the semi-arid, inland area of the Northeast, where the São Francisco River flows. This paper concentrates on the relations between the concrete experience of water resources development and the remaining demands for efficient water management in that river basin. The emphasis is on its Sub-Middle section, which since 1948 has been the preferential area for irrigation projects and hydropower generation. Recent modifications in the Brazilian legislation provide for a new approach to water resources policy, which is in favor of more decentralized and proactive forms of water management. In spite of such institutional evolution, conservative political groups in the São Francisco River Basin have put obstacles before the transformation of established practices. In addition, there are other structural limitations contributing to hinder the adoption of a more comprehensive framework of water management. Resulting water conflicts have raised increasing demands for proper attention to the social, economic and environmental requirements of the sustainable management of water. The requisites for that go beyond the water question itself because they involve broader political and socio-economic controversies. At the local level, priority must be given to measures aimed at achieving water efficiency and conservation. It is fundamental to address the reduction of human vulnerability to climatic risks and to adopt alternatives of better utilization of water resources.
Revista Brasileira de Ciências Ambientais (Online), 2020
O artigo trata de fatores considerados orientadores da política, da integraçãoe da articulação da gestão de recursos hídricos do Brasil, aspectos queconstam da base legal da política nacional (Lei nº 9.433/1997; capítulo III).Ele enfatiza a avaliação da discussão da política de água e sua interfacecom outras políticas setoriais. Para entender o alcance dos conceitos deintegração e articulação, e dialogar com a prática, serão apresentadasas perspectivas da gestão integrada adotada pela Parceria Mundial daÁgua (Global Water Partnership), intitulada “Gerenciamento Integrado deRecursos Hídricos” (Integrated Water Resources Management), e tambémaquela fundamentada pela Fundação Nova Cultura da Água, quando tratada perspectiva ecossistêmica. Avalia-se como as questões da integraçãoentre políticas e perspectivas estão ocorrendo no âmbito do ConselhoNacional de Recursos Hídricos brasileiro, fórum central das discussõesda política de águas do país. A sistematização dos dados se apoia nolevan...
The political nexus between water and economics in Brazil: a critique of recent policy reforms
Review of Radical Political Economics, 2010
The reform of water policies in Brazil has involved a combination of regulatory norms and economic-incentive instruments. Nonetheless, contrary to its formal objectives, the process has largely failed to prevent widespread environmental impacts and growing spatial and sectoral conflicts. The main reason for such failures is the perverse influence of market rationality, which is particularly evident in the reorganization of the public sector, the quantification of the monetary value of water, and the payment for environmental services.