Um tempo entre secas: superação de calamidades sociais provocadas pela seca através das ações em defesa da convivência com o semiárido

Abstract

The current drought that has faced the semi-arid region since 2011 is quite different from those that occurred previously. Although this drought has already been considered the most intense ever seen, its social impacts are significantly less intense now than they have been in the past. There are no records of social calamities and riots. Part of these different social impacts is related to a new way of mitigating the drought. This new response was gradually drawn up through three decades of political and social transformations in the region. The thesis focused on three aspects of these transformations: (i) the characteristics of the local peasantry who make up the regional society; (ii) the agro-ecological relations of the systems that were disseminated in recent years; and (iii) the process of civil society mobilization responsible for building new policies for the semiarid zone. The comparison between the intensity of the droughts was based on climate data of the Center for Weather Forecasting and Climatic Studies / INPE. From this point on, the work was based on participatory appraisals of the agroecological systems and subsystems. They refer to the increased ability to adapt to semi-arid conditions and drought, and they are responsible for mitigating the impacts by converting natural capital into other assets for the families. The multifunctionality and pluriactivity of the semiarid peasantry also play a crucial role in the stability of the systems and food security. Finally, the research recorded the path of the public policy development process that combined the ideas of living with semi-arid conditions and a focus on family farming. These new policies became standards in facing the drought, as well as promoting development. The civil society has acted decisively in this trajectory of transformations.