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Politics of Scale and Water Governance in the Upper Xingu River Basin, Brazil

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Agriculture, Environment and Development

Abstract

The Amazon region poses a great challenge for the water resources management regime in Brazil. Its large area, widely dispersed population, and the small number of economic activities based in the region’s river basins have hampered the implementation of decentralized and participatory institutional structures as defined in Brazil’s Water Law 9433, approved in 1997. The lack of spaces for negotiation, combined with rising demand for water and energy, has led to serious conflict, as was recently the case with the Belo Monte Dam, under construction along the lower Xingu River. The growing demand for water and energy has led to conflict and distress, while state authorities and the agriculture sector have focused their attention on land tenure and deforestation, leaving water management and access as a secondary issue. However, while water is not explicitly on the agenda, it is water availability that allows intensive food production in the region to expand. So, how are formal water institutions reaching the local and municipal scale? Who are the groups involved? How are their strategies influencing water access and environmental conservation in the region?

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Notes

  1. 1.

    There is an extensive body of literature discussing the impact of land colonization processes in the Amazon region, as well as the specific impact on indigenous populations (Lévi-Strauss 1971; Villas-Bôas and Villas-Bôas 1994; Harres and Joanoni Neto 2009).

  2. 2.

    Since 1965, the Forest Code (Law 4771) has determined the amount of native vegetation to be preserved in rural private properties in Brazil. In 2012, because of the high levels of controversy involved and under pressure from the rural sector, two new versions of the Forest Code were aproved in the same year (Laws 12651 and 12727).

  3. 3.

    The expression Y Ikatu Xingu, in the kamayurá language (one of the many languages spoken in the National Park), means ‘save the good waters of Xingu’.

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  1. Federal University of ABC (UFABC), Santo André, Brazil

    Vanessa L. Empinotti

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  1. Lecturer in Environment and Society, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    Antonio A.R Ioris

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Empinotti, V.L. (2016). Politics of Scale and Water Governance in the Upper Xingu River Basin, Brazil. In: Ioris, A. (eds) Agriculture, Environment and Development. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32255-1_8

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