DROUGHT IN NORTHEAST BRAZIL: THE SÃO FRANCISCO RIVER IS NOT SO MIRACULOUS

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

In Brazil we are instituting the practice of bad habit, or tragedy, taking purely political decisions, neglecting and even ignoring completely what is discovered and revealed by science. We did this with the Brazilian Forest Code and now we are doing it with the transposition or Integration of the São Francisco River, as if this were a solution to decimate hunger and thirst in the Northeastern Brazil.  A typical attitude of third world country. This is not sustainable development.

Check out the facts, reading this interview with JOÃO SUASSUNA.

[Interview with Joao Suassuna, reproduced from  'ECODESENVOLVIMENTO' http://www.ecodesenvolvimento.org/avina-leadership/o-nordeste-tem-muita-agua-afirma-joao-suassuna?tag=biodiversidade

and some additional information of the site of  'ASA Brasil - Articulação do Semiárido Brasileiro' http://www.asabrasil.org.br/]

 João Suassuna, researcher at the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation (Recife, Pernambuco state) is an agronomist,  one of Brazil's most respected specialists when it comes to the hydrology of the semi-arid, mostly in the dry Northeastern region..

Question:  You criticize a lot the design of transposition of the São Francisco River or integration of São Francisco, as some people now prefer to call it. What is the reason?

João Suassuna: The Northeast has plenty of water. For you to have an idea about this: the Northeast has accumulated in their dams, something around 37 billion cubic meters of water - this the largest volume of water dammed in semi-arid regions of the world. But, what we do not have for certain is a policy to put water in taps for populations. And it is in this scenario that the Federal Government wants to bring the water from the São Francisco river to supply the main dams in the Northeast, a process they call 'hydrologic synergy'.

Question: What is the meaning of the expression 'hydrologic synergy'?

João Suassuna: Prevent the dams from drying out. But what must be clear is that the Northeast has large dams that never dry out completely, even with the continued use of such water. So if São Francisco's water supply the main dams in the region, it will end up being used in the wrong way.

Question: Why?

João Suassuna: Because this water will not solve the problems of those who need it most: the diffuse population. And observe that I'm talking about something around 10 million people, that in extreme drought suffer thirst and hunger.

Question: What alternative do you propose?

João Suassuna: For diffuse problems, you also need  diffuse solutions. After falling into large dams, the water of São Francisco will favour to big business.  In Fortaleza, Ceara state's Government is building a steel factory which alone will consume an amount of water able to meet the need of a municipality of 90 thousand inhabitants. So if the São Francisco water falls into the Castanhão dam, which is the largest reservoir in the Northeast, and where there is already a channel that connects the dam to the port of Pecém [NB.: 'CSP-Companhia Siderúrgica do Pecém' = steel factory of Vale do Rio Doce company in partnership with South Korean steel industry, in the municipality of São Gonçalo do Amarante, near Fortaleza],  logically, this water will supply that steel factory. This is where what we consider as the 'drought industry'. They promise to supply 12 million people in the Northeast with the water of São Francisco, and that will not happen!!! This water will be used for the agribusiness, and that's where we have invested our work. We have 74 articles published on the internet denouncing this reality.

Question: The construction of cisterns is a good alternative?.

João Suassuna: Without doubt. It is not a channel for implementation that will solve the economic problems of those who need it most, in this case, the population. If today, on  São Francisco river's banks you already have problems of shortages, it will not be the channel that will solve the problem, because in this project there is no prediction of a reasonable distribution of the water to solve such problem. This, simply, does not exist.

Through the National Water Agency ('ANA-Agência Nacional de Águas'), the Federal Government published the Atlas of Human Water Supply, which seeks to supply 34 million people. This is a great idea that is being carried out. Covers a much larger number of municipalities and, amazingly, it costs half than the expected for the transposition of the São Francisco River. This project addresses the problem of shortages for the municipalities up to 5 thousand inhabitants. In what way? With the water that already exists in the region, through the adduction of the existing water  in dams, wells.

P1MC - Project 1 million cisterns

Rain water is collected in cisterns

Question: And what is adduction?

João Suassuna: It means to carry water from a lower level, a reservoir for example, to a higher level by using a pump. For the rural area, the diffuse communities, who live in small towns, most distant, foothills and mountain gorges, there are alternatives, such as those that have been worked by the 'ASA Brasil - Articulação do Semiárido Brasileiro' (= Articulation of the Brazilian Semi-arid region), which develops a program of 1 million cisterns in dry region of Northeast [see photos].  [Electronic address: http://www.asabrasil.org.br]  This program already has about 300 thousand cisterns implanted.  A cistern of 16 thousand litres solves the problem of a family of 5 people during the eight months without rain in the region.  [NB.: watch the video, in Portuguese if you don´t mind: http://glo.bo/12pIkxl] [You can read a summary of the video]. The Northeast in the 'sertão' [= the arid barren region of Brazil characterized by caatinga]  concentrates its rain four months and in eight remaining months it doesn't rain.  Then rural cisterns will supply these people with water for drinking and cooking for eight months. We have to encourage this kind of initiative, and not a project that will bring water from São Francisco, which is 500 km, at an exorbitant cost.

Conclusion. As it turns out, science in our society does not prevail. Mainly environmental science. I doubt if  politicians  would be courageous enough not to follow the advice of a physician with respect to medical treatment or medicine intake, on benefit of their health!!! But in terms of accepting scientific orientation with respect to the environment, the story changes!!!

It is really noticeable that in this case  the agribusiness will prevail, solely for the politicians benefit. The problem itself, hunger and drought, will be promised to be solved later, who knows, before  next election!!!

SUMMARY OF THE VIDEO: http://glo.bo/12pIkxl

 Food production during the present severe  drought in the 'sertão' of Pernambuco state.

A study of the National Institute of Space Research, during 35 years, shows that in Northeastern Brazil there are intervals of 26 years of severe drought and 13 years intervals of less severe drought (as explained by João Suassuna).

The cisterns constructed totalled now, more than 470 thousands.

The organic farm produces are comercialized in the region.