Metodologia de análise de conflitos na implantação de medidas de gestão da demanda de água.

Abstract

The growing pressure on water resources has given rise to conflicts between different water users. In this context, water demand management, an important component of integrated water resource management, emerges as an alternative to resolving conflicts related to quantitative and / or qualitative scarcity of water resources (conflicts of the highest order). However, the adoption of water demand management measures, by requiring an effort to adapt society, may become a source of second order conflicts, which refer to the scarcity of social resources. This makes it important to evaluate these measures, in terms of the influence exerted by the institutional and socioeconomic environment in which they are applied, along with the potential to induce second-order conflicts, resulting from the implementation of water demand management measures, which is constituted of four stages: institutional analysis, pre-analysis of conflicts in water resources, analysis of conflicts (first and second order) and analysis of the results obtained. The methodology is applied to the semi-arid portion of the Paraíba River Hydrographic Basin, allowing to identify: (i) institutional conflicts (political, legal and organizational) in the institutional framework of water resources in the State of Paraíba; (ii) water scarcity, resulting from adverse hydrological conditions, as a source of the identified conflicts of quantitative availability, which always involve the uses of irrigation and supply; (iii) the influence of the way in which demand management measures are implemented, in the synergy / mitigation of conflicts; (iv) the need for institutional strengthening (organizational capacity and institutional articulation) to ensure compliance with management measures and avoid / minimize the occurrence of second-order conflicts; (vii) the inhibition of second-order conflicts through institutional strengthening; (viii) that the resolution of second-order conflicts is no longer the exclusive responsibility of the water resources sector and starts to demand the implementation of public policies aimed at local development. The results obtained demonstrate that the methodology developed can support decision making in water resources, both in relation to the measures to be adopted for the resolution of conflicts of first order, and in the indication of lines of action to be followed to minimize conflicts of interest. induced second order.