Atores, arenas e ação coletiva em torno do acesso à agua: o caso do comitê de bacia hidrográfica do rio Paraíba no semiárido paraibano

Abstract

The debates around the theme of water, more specifically its scarcity, became the protagonist of the international political agenda because of its essentiality to life, development and social welfare that point to demand for the management of rational use. The current water context is a water shortage, also known as "lack" (stress or crisis) of fresh water, this aggravation revealed a complex set of factors that extrapolate aspects of water and geographic availability, but which point to the field of management and rational use of water and soil; the inappropriate use of other natural resources. In the integrated and participatory management of water resources, it demands the inclusion of different social actors in the decision-making process on these issues, with the river basin as a local planning and management unit, exercised through the management committee (composed of public power, water user). The National Policy of Water Resources established in Brazil with the Water Law 9.433 / 97, whose main objectives are to ensure the availability to the current and future generations, in appropriate quality standards, as well as to promote a rational and integrated updating of water resources. In this context, the research aims to analyze how the actions of the social actors in the arenas of the Paraíba River Basin Committee - CBH-PB are based on the water crisis. The methodology to meet the research objectives was of the exploratory type - descriptive, with a qualitative analytical approach, using data content analysis collected. As a research tool, the non-participant observation in the meetings, forums and public hearings and the semi-structured interview with the members of the Paraíba-CBH-PB River Basin Committee responsible for water management in the Rio Taperoá Subbasin region, social locus of this research.