Conflitos pela água em tempos de seca no Baixo Jaguaribe, Estado do Ceará

Abstract

This paper analyzes the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of drought from 2012 to 2014 in the Lower Jaguaribe in the Ceará State with the goal of understanding how the population reacts to the environmental crisis, whether through self-organization and learning from the experience of scarcity either by increasing conflicts over access to water. We note that there was the disappearance of lakes and reservoirs equivalent to an area of 300 km2 between 2009 and 2014 in two counties. Moreover, we can highlight the emergence of environmental conflicts because of water shortages, even in one of the most privileged areas of the semiarid region with the presence of perennial rivers, lakes and dams. There are conflicts associated with access and distribution of water among companies in irrigated perimeters conflicts, small farmers, the Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza and the Movement of Landless Workers.