Comunidades rurais, água e gestão coletiva

Abstract

In this thesis, we present data from the ethnographic research made in the Serra do Espinhaço region, in the portion that crosses the northern region of the State of Minas Gerais- known regionally as Serra Geral-, more specifically in the rural area of Rio Pardo de Minas county, where the families residing in the Baixa Grande, Sobrado and Moreira communities are located. We describe these families’ living way, understanding that territoriality is expressed, through the collective relationship with the water sources. Demonstrating that access to water in this place involves a series of pre-established mutual agreements and a sophisticated system that includes rights, obligations and regulations. Behind each rural community water supply network, we can identify sophisticated models of water resources management that demand from the local families, permanent collective work, capacity for negotiation, articulation and adaptation. The challenges generated by population growth; the dependence on collective sources for income generation; the conflicts triggered by the appropriation of community water sources by forestry enterprises; the process that turned water into a factor of interest, mobilization and mediation of politicians, NGOs, entrepreneurs and rural unions are some of the themes presented and analysed in this work.