Perspectivas de governança adaptativa na bacia hidrográfica do Rio Salitre-BA.

Abstract

The wide range of stressors and disturbances to which Socio-ecological Systems, such as hydrographic basins, are submitted, demand from the governance systems the expansion of resilience and response and adaptation capacity, adopting an adaptive governance model. This work addresses the theme of adaptive governance having as its object of study the Salitre River Basin-BA (BHS). The research will analyze the governance system and conflict situations in the basin, considering two periods: the last prominent conflict prior to the water crisis, in 2010; and the period 2012-2018, in which the water crisis in the Northeast had its most intense effects in the BHS region. The basin is a region historically marked by the occurrence of conflicts over the use of water, arising from issues such as low water availability, common to the semiarid region of the Northeast, and mainly due to inequalities in the distribution and access to water, due to factors such as management inadequate and the absence of measures to control the uses and protection of the basin's ecosystem, observed by siltation, water contamination and overexploitation of water bodies by abstractions, dams and irregular users, interrupting the river's natural flow to more downstream regions. Thus, the work proposes to analyze the governance paradigm of the basin in the considered periods, seeking to identify changes over time, in order to assess them from the perspective of adaptive governance principles. The proposed methodology is based on the frameworks: Socio-ecological System (OSTROM, 1990; 2007), Adaptive Cycles (HOLLING, 1986); Panarchy (HOLLING and GUNDERSON, 2002), Ostrom's Principles of Governance (OSTROM, 1990) and the concepts of adaptive governance. It is observed that, despite the long history of conflicts and coping with different stressors, the basin's governance system presents rigidity to attempts at reorganization, directly affecting resilience and adaptive capacity. Thus, guidelines are proposed that guide the governance of the basin in search of a more adaptive model, increasing the resilience and adaptability of the basin to face stressors that generate potential conflicts.