La historia ambiental de un río no se cuenta solamente por sus aguas: estudio de caso de la Cuenca Rio Branco y Colorado – Rondônia/Brasil

Abstract

This research consisted on revealing the main role of the rivers of the Rio Branco and Colorado Hydrographic basin (BHIRC, in Portuguese) on its landscape transformation, by applying diverse techniques and multidisciplinary science. Environmental History, as Geography and its subareas, made possible the scope that emerges from the necessity of integrating –in space and time- natural resources and hydrographic actors, so as to explore other possible ways of hearing a river’s history. Under this research model, the main objective is to analyze the role of environmental history of the rivers, as an enables of participative and inclusive management of the Amazonian water, through the case study of the water management unit that is in process of being implanted - Rio Branco and Colorado Hydrographic Basin – at Rondônia, Brazil. The research route was made through the comprehension of the metabolic processes of appropriation, configuring a new nature; the analysis of the river’s evolution were identified by the memory of its actors, and also it was discussed the possibility of the water being a transient witness, this way identifying the vulnerability of the pattern of chemical, physical and bacteriological parameters, in correlation to the Brazilian juridical system; the response to the appropriation of natural resources during the last 40 years, its consequences offer differentiated fluvial perceptions among the BHIRC actors, provoking an environmental tension that derives on the appropriation of the watersides of the Branco and Colorado rivers, which are involved in the existence of small hydroelectric centrals. The result will allows us to identify that the conflict towards the river is not a contemporary issue, nonetheless, there are recent efforts to establish cooperation among the actors that live in the Western High Forest region and in the native area of Terras Indígenas Rio Branco, so as to struggle together to “free” the Rio Branco and allow everyone to have the same rights to make use of it. This fact mad it possible to identify an ongoing local environmental governance project by the Organized Civil Society, which establishes a dialogue from the river and not from its water. Although water and river are perceived in an intrinsically manner. Thus enabling the conclusion that hearing the perception of the actors and comprehending the relation that each territoriality establishes with the so called local hydric resource, must be considered in the process of implanting the Committee of the Hydrographic Basin of the Branco and Colorado rivers. By inserting direct representatives of each territoriality, as a way of conceiving an integrated water policy that includes multiple rights and duties. Approaching the particularities of the BHIRC involves the introduction of a water policy that is flexible and accommodates to local reality, and not bureaucratic rules that insist on connecting places with the water dialogue, while those that really apply the policies get together through the rivers that territorially compose their own history.

Date of Award	14 Dec 2016
Original language	Spanish
Awarding Institution	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)
Supervisor	David Sauri Pujol (Director)