Socio-environmental conflicts from the perspective of the Japaratuba river basin committee

Abstract

The current development model has caused pressure on water resources and therefore has triggered several socio-environmental conflicts. Knowing conflicts is the first step in the search for negotiation within spaces such as River Basin Committee. This article aimed to analyze the conflicts related to water resources from the committee's actions in the Japaratuba river basin, in Sergipe, from 2007 to 2017. Methodology constituted in typification and identification of the authors involved attributed general characteristics such as: type of conflict, nature of the conflict, local, whistleblower, responsible and affected by the conflicts. Thirteen (13) types of conflicts and sixteen (16) complaints were detected in the period studied. The segments that most denounced the conflicts were civil society and public authorities. Five (05) of the identified conflicts are linked to industrial sugarcane activities. Among the actors involved, traditional communities are the most affected by conflicts. Although well organized, the Japaratuba River Basin Committee has limited political action, in order to discuss and forward complaints of conflicts, since the conflicts are the same since its institution, some of them denounced year after year, but without a viable and fair solution for those involved. The complexity of environmental conflicts in the Japaratuba River Basin lacks greater attention on the part of the collegiates of water resources and the environment, as on the part of the public authorities.