Revista NBC - Universidade Metodista

The Rio das Velhas Watershed Case Study, Minas Gerais, Brazil: towards new water management participatory approaches O estudo de caso do Comitê da Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio das Velhas, Brasil: na direção de novas abordagens na gestão participativa de recursos hídricos Hildelano Delanusse Theodoro1, Jeroen Warner2

ABSTRACT The present work was carried out in order to discover the possibilities over the increment of new approaches concerning water resources management based on the social and institutional actors participation. To do so, the River Basin Watershed Committee (CBHRV, in Portuguese), located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, was used as a case study. This committee is recognized nationally and internationally both for its conception history, as well as for its organization and established partnerships with the public and private sectors. The research shows that innumerable factors must be considered in public policies to increase the social participation in long term. Among them, the technical chambers, governmental support and approach with the private initiative for the establishment of integrated planning in the river basin stand out. In this direction, the knowledge of the institutional elements characteristic of the object of research, as well as the local political arrangements is fundamental for the consolidation of participatory approaches. Keywords: public policies, participatory management, water resources.

RESUMO O presente trabalho foi realizado na perspectiva de descobrir quais as possibilidades do incremento de novas abordagens de gestão de recursos hídricos tendo como base a participação social e institucional dos atores envolvidos. Para tanto, foi utilizado como estudo de caso o Comitê da Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio das Velhas (CBHRV), localizado no estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil. Esse comitê é reconhecido nacional e internacionalmente tanto por sua história de formação, como também por seu direcionamento organizacional e parcerias estabelecidas com os setores públicos e privados. A pesquisa demontra que inúmeros fatores devem ser considerados nas políticas públicas para que o incremento da participação social realmente aconteça e permaneça no longo prazo. Dentre eles, destacam-se as câmaras técnicas, apoio governamental e aproximação com a iniciativa privada para o estabelecimento de planejamento integrado na bacia hidrográfica. Nessa direção, o conhecimento dos elementos institucionais característicos do objeto de pesquisa, assim como os arranjos políticos locais é fundamental para a consolidação de abordagens participativas.

1

Doutor em Saneamento, Meio Ambiente e Recursos Hídricos, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). [email protected]. 2 Doutor em Estudos sobre Desastres, Universidade de Wageningen (Holanda). [email protected].

Revista NBC Belo Horizonte – vol. 8, n.º 15, maio de 2018

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Palavras-chave: políticas públicas, gestão participativa, recursos hídricos.

Introduction The Rio das Velhas3 is considered to be one of the most important watersheds not only in the state of Minas Gerais but also in Brazil, not only because of its degree of sociopolitical, economic and biological diversity, but also for its history of institutional development differentiated in terms of proposals and projects implementation. The proposal is to analyze it in terms of its institutional and organizational evolution as "River Basin Organization" (RBO from now on). In other words, it is an analysis of the development of a proposal made by watershed agency that although coming from a traditional bureaucratic government model, has moved to more participatory and decentralized model of management. Thus, the question will be less prominent in the direction of the discussion of RBO "reform" but its successive modifications during its period of existence in order to identify possible innovative actions. In this sense, it is necessary first to understand the institutional and administrative aspects involved in the current Brazilian state and, consequently, of Minas Gerais to then be able to discuss the main aspects of public policies related to water resources, and related committees. Brazil The " Federative Republic of Brazil" is the official name of the country which is the fifth largest country in the world and the largest in Latin America in extent, where it is seen as a major regional reference, particularly in political, economic and environmental terms (for possessing varied ecosystems and a huge water potential, especially in its northern region, where the Amazon is located, for example). It is also recognized as one of the most multicultural countries in the world, due to its history of composed formation of various ethnicities from different regions of the globe. Brazil has borders with 10 other countries on the continent. This population diversity is distributed within five major geo-political regions (south, north, northeast, midwest, south and southeast), containing 27 “federative units”4, 26 federal states and the Federal District where the capital of the country – Brasilia - is situated. In recent years the country has found itself among the 10 largest economies in the world and is also considered one of the leading exponents markets (along with Russia, India and China - BRIC), despite its high degree of social inequality and regional development, and its more than 190 million inhabitants5. This administrative and political configuration needs to be understood because in terms of water resources management, the quest for integration of systems into the municipal, state and federal levels has currently been a major point of discussion in environmental 3

Whose name refers to the name of indigenous UAIMII, later modified to GUAICHUI, which means "River of the Older Tribes Descendants" (CAMARGOS, 2005). 4 They have self-regulation (standards), self-legislation (creating own regional laws) and self storage (own creation and application of taxes). Furthermore, they also own constitution (but never higher than the Federal Constitution, the national character) and also independent government (however directly linked to decisions taken in the presidential character of the central government). 5 IBGE (2010)


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public policies (ANA, 2012). This is due to the existence of a multi-layer system of decision-making that sometimes hampers the dialogue between the social and institutional stakeholders that belong to and represent, in general, different interests in scale, time and space. Organization in a form of federation that is directly opposed to a centralized unitary state facilitates the existence of instances of hierarchical political power and influence, along with a bureaucratic apparatus. Brazil adopts a kind of federation that is considered "organic" where the degree of state, municipality and Federal District power is relative and where there is a tendency of centralization (or the final decision power) at the top, the Union6. This complex interaction occurs even within the government itself, since there are 38 different ministries7 and many of them deal with water resources directly or indirectly (collection, use, treatment etc). Since federal units have a degree of autonomy8 for decision-making (ANA, 2002), the creation of intersectional dialogueshave increasingly become important to realizing new management proposals. In Braziliian water management, river basin committees hold the most promising prospects for such dialogues. The fact that the legal domain focuses on water bodies and not on the watershed (once it establishes itself as a territory and is subject to various other norms) emphasizes the interaction between the federal entities (PORTO, 2008). Minas Gerais As one of the most important federal states of Brazil, due to its richness in mineral resources (hence the name of the state: general mines), geographical extent (4 th largest state in the country), population (the 2nd largest in the country, with over 20 million inhabitants), number of municipalities (the largest in the country, with 853 units) and strategic position, Minas Gerais is also known for its huge water reservoir. Its history is directly linked to agriculture, livestock and mining industries, which naturally demand high rates of water consumption. Belonging to 4 different Brazilian hydrographic regions – the San Francisco, Parana, Eastern Atlantic and southeast Atlantic and being famous for the quality of its waters for centuries (Burton, 1977), Minas Gerais has always used its waterways as input for various production processes, which have caused numerous environmental impacts in various regions of the state. The manner in which the territory was inhabited and developed brings evidences of the occupation around the major water bodies in the region, especially in localities near the ancient capital of the State, Ouro Preto - the city where the Rio das Velhas originates and the current capital, Belo Horizonte. This is the region where the most Rio das Velhas’ river basin population is densest and where consequently the biggest environmental and water problems are to be solved 9. Due to its own constitution, derived from the aspect of having self-organization ability (I,e. the federal entity must have its own Constitution, bound within the limits of its borders (but within superior federal power as previously described) and self-legislation 6

JÚNIOR (2006). 24 Ministries, 09 Departments and 05 Organs of the Presidency (with status of Ministry). 8 Autonomy understood as the limited power of the federal entities (federal, state, municipal, Federal District), organizational politics, tax, administrative and institutional (JÚNIOR 2006). 9 THEODORO (2004). 7


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(it has the power to issue general rules and abstract legislators by their respective bodies) the state of Minas Gerais has different laws regarding the command and control of water resources in its watersheds. According to the principle of “subsidiarity” (where the environmental control action should be done according to the relevant level and/or more preventive) present in the Brazilian environmental legislation, interaction among the municipalities should be sought at all times. In this sense the Rio das Velhas committee, together with its 51 participating municipalities, seeks to identify alternative actions aimed at both new participatory approaches in water management, such as the improvement of the conflicts overcoming process and formation of coalitions for integrated action.

Case and context The foundation The Rio das Velhas Watershed Committee (from now on: CBHRV – Portuguese abbreviation) case study is very prominent due to its innovative institutional arrangement proposals and social participation in water resources management of a river basin with characteristics of large urban occupation and growing environmental problems. Unlike other committees in the country that have sought preliminary identity of work, because they are too recent in its formation or because of lack of partnerships and/or assessment actions and implementation of projects, the CBHRV has 15 years of experience (1998-2013) and has strong links with government action and social movements for management since its foundation. The history of CBHRV must be understood within a broader discussion on natural resource management and the international economic context of the time when interventional participative policies upon its emergence were very active (since the 1980s). These policies were characterized by encouraging actions and public policies where the population could theoretically participate in and influence decision-making processes, assuming gaps of government intervention. Indeed, multilateral agencies had a major impact on the agendas of many countries (especially developing ones, such as in Latin America) in relation to their budgets and investments in the area of infrastructure, especially in the case of water resources, for sanitation projects at municipal and regional levels. With the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank as its spokesmen, the idea of a model of dysfunctional state, which should be administered in combination with other institutional actors, has been adopted by several nations (CASTRO AND HELLER, 2013). Such speech clearly favorable to private enterprise attempts (albeit with greater openness to civil-society input) to guarantee the maintenance of economy regulated by the market rather than the state had varying impacts on public water resource policies. So, one could redefine the role of the state as relevant to the environmental scenario like (any) other social actors, but not the main one (OSTROM, 1990). Thus, the emergence of councils, committees, associations and many other forms of participation in public


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management is about the return of a potential dialogue between the State and Civil Society10. In this sense, the creation of this committee (formalized in June 29th, 1998) is directly related to the arising perspectives to allocate funding by the World Bank for the state of Minas Gerais, mainly on the issue of sanitation for the city of Belo Horizonte (capital of Minas Gerais) and its metropolitan region, in the years 1992-93. A program that at that time was budgeted at US$ 307 million (of which 144 million was furnished by the World Bank) and various perspectives of environmental intervention for the two most polluted and degraded environmental areas of the capital 11, required the mandatory creation of a regulatory water agency for the Rio das Velhas watershed, based on the existence of a basin committee12. Initially positioned as a prerequisite for obtaining a loan from a multilateral agency, this action caused the formation of coalitions of private and government groups (since the State Department of Planning of Minas Gerais, SEPLAN, was responsible for coordinating the program) primarily for the management of the basin. The search for international capital immediately forced the creation of the CBHRV, but without proper linkages between stakeholders, especially among water users, social organizations and governmental representatives. Moreover, although it was quickly created to meet the World Bank demands and obtain the release of the funds, the beginning of the CBHRV's operation was delayed precisely because it was created exogenously from social processes (discussed below) that were underway in the period and had to be modified to deal with the new situation. The World Bank's strategy to determine the creation of a given river basin committee, with public participation, as a presupposition for a loan / bank investment appears to have been a strategy for the social legitimization of its proposed intervention in that region. As the operationalization of the committee count on (in hypothesis) the agreement of shared management with civil society, the structural projects that directly benefited the private sector for goods and services could be effected more quickly, unlike social participation itself, and made the actions of the World Bank possible in one of the most representative watersheds of the country. Paradoxically, the creation of CBHRV, resulting from governmental arrangement of "top-down" character, cannot be understood without consideration of the social movements that were already active in the watershed, most notably the so-called "Project Manuelzão" belonging to the Institute Guaicuy. This social actor was essential for the committee to get increasingly incorporated into environmental public policy in the state of Minas Gerais. It was founded by lecturers of the Faculty of Medicine of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in 1997, who investigated the relation between water quality and public health, including the use of biological indicators (mainly fish). This project is still functioning (even more and better structured) and 10

In Brazil, this is a key point in the Federal Constitution of 1988, which encouraged the formation of new discussions, as well as redefined the role within the system of municipal and environmental governance, including much larger set of responsibilities (social and taxes, mainly); THEODORO (2002). 11 “Programa de Saneamento Ambiental das Bacias do Arrudas e Onça (PROSAM)”, 1992/1993. 12 COSTA e JÚNIOR (2008).


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develops various types of research in the Rio das Velhas and its tributaries for discussions about revitalization of watercourses or municipal solid waste, among the others. Another factor relevant to the importance of this actor in the establishment/instatement of the CBHRV is that since 2003 the Institute Guaicuy chairs the committee and is considered to be one of the most crucial civil society actors involved in the activities in the basin. This apparent contradiction in driving the process of founding the CBHRV (a prerogative of a private international organization to guide the actions of its civil society) was partly reduced to the level of stakeholders’ social, civic and institutional participation (ARNSTEIN, 1969) because despite its governmental origin, the committee has a close relationship with the social movements of Minas Gerais and is trying to extend the "bottom-up" character in their decisions through innovative initiatives in the management and that will be further discussed. Rio das Velhas Watershed Profile The choice of the geographical boundaries was determined by the fact that the river basin is the main tributary of the Rio São Francisco, regarded as the "river of national integration" in Brazil, as it flows through five states (Minas Gerais, Bahia, Pernambuco, Alagoas and Sergipe). This definition provided the following basin profile: Rio das Velhas Watershed Profile Basin Total Area

29.173 Km2

Quota (elevation) - Mouth

478 m

Quota (elevation) - Origin

1,520 m

Extension

753 km

Broadness Medium

38,3 km

Settlements

51 municipalities - (15 surrounding Belo Horizonte)

Basin perimeter

950 km

Water availability per capita

2,432 m3/ cap/year

Population (IBGE, 2000)

4.4 million (86% in RMBH) - Around 5 Millions (in 2013)

Most importants tributaries

Rio Paraúna; Rio Itabirito; Rio Taquaraçu; Rio Bicudo; Ribeirão da Mata

Thus, the institutional design proposed for the management of the basin, due to its complexity in terms of length, composition of institutional actors and regional differences were reflected in the CBHRV which is composed as “quadripartite” (instead of the more usual tripartite model). It means there is a separation between the stakeholders (users, state government, local government, civil society). Created from the policies of implementing participatory actions of the World Bank, together with the recent democratization of the Brazilian state, the CBHRV was changed through the years in an attempt to consolidate “bottom-up” actions within the environmental management system of both the state of Minas Gerais and the country as a whole.


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All this context has, on a legal and institutional basis, the legislation arising from different levels of laws 13, which establishes the National Policy on Water Resources (regarded as the water law in Brazil) and the State Water Resources Plan that clearly guides the management of watershed toward the highest possible level of social participation. MAP 1: Population and geographical division of the Rio das Velhas watershed with basis in IBGE, 2010. Source: Projeto Manuelzão.

13

Federal Law nº 9.433/97 and State Law nº 13.199/99.


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Institutional design Initially, the political and administrative composition of the CBHRV was defined to reflect the principle of the watershed as a management unit. This action was the product of numerous discussions among stakeholders and in a process that, despite strong state participation, was directly influenced by social movements participating in the creation of the committee itself. The Rio das Velhas watershed was subdivided into three major intervention areas 14 termed the "low Rio das Velhas" (with 16 participating municipalities), "medium Rio das Velhas" (with 30 participating municipalities) and "high Rio das Velhas" (with 8 participating municipalities). This division was preliminarily important as it allowed a minimum of regional integration for the consolidation of local sub-committees, as well as the committee itself, which now designs plans for each major region. It is also observed that initially the intention was to create the boundaries of the watershed in relation to their environmental constitution, with its own geographical boundaries. Thus, out of the 51 municipalities forming the CBHRV, 37 are fully within the watershed and 14 only partially (including 7 locations where the headquarters of the city are outside the limits of the basin). This is probably more an indication of how quickly the process of establishment of the committee was held to meet the internal and external (in relation to Minas Gerais) governmental agencies, as previously reported, which does not assume, however, that there was any kind of ingenuity in it. On the contrary, the borders of the basins must be considered within a politicalinstitutional arrangement, which in this case refers to the necessity of defining boundaries constituted largely by geographical characteristics and types of human occupancy present in each area (agriculture and livestock in the lower Rio das Velhas, livestock in the medium Rio das Velhas, mining in high Rio das Velhas). Later on, however, such division turned to be insufficient regarding to the various types of use and occupancy of space (BURTON, 1977) within the basin, as well as to the municipality areas in terms of their local economic and political arrangements, which are not necessarily bind to the same limits posed by watershed (to be discussed later). At this point there is some discussion on the importance of considering the "institutional interplay" within the public policy of water resources as a way to identify the boundaries of spheres of influence more than just the physical boundaries (theoretical chapter). However, before such internal division of the basin, the institutional design of the CBHRV facilitated/enabled, as a way of strengthening local identities, the possibility of creating watershed sub-committees. They would have the opportunity to discuss their own regional problems, but since they are directly linked to the integrated actions planned by CBHRV at its regular meetings and technical boards. It was a way to decentralize management, with an emphasis on social civic participation (Arnstein, 1969) as widely as possible in the use of the territory creating a greater mobilization of civil society.

14

CAMARGOS (2005).


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The "Partnership" profile Based on the previous exposition, the CBHRV is considered here within the typology of the four models for structured analysis ("Autonomous"; "Agency", "Coordinating ","Partnership"- Table 1) primarily as of the profile of "Partnership", i.e.: 1) there is a high level of participation of numerous stakeholders in the decision process, rather than one dominant actor to define all actions and, proceedings; 2) where the demands and concerns of its participants are arenas for discussion, with the establishment of rights, duties and limits of each of them, despite the existence of voluntary participation; 3) where there is the presence of scientific knowledge that is not restricted to determinations based purely on cost savings involved or rationality directly derived from the fields of the natural sciences or engineering; 4) where there is a process of administrative and social control for the development of activities of both the committee and its water agency. Moreover, the CBHRV, despite multiple operational failures (such as difficulties in maintaining technical staff and social mobilization on long-term, difficulties in creating and implementing social-environmental projects etc.) has demonstrated progress towards increasingly participatory approaches, which helps to characterize this RBO as really an organization of "Partnership". At the same time, it is emphasized that the identified type relates directly to the CBHRV due to its current more decentralized and participatory (compared to others RBOs in water management of the Rio das Velhas) political and administrative structure. These organizations would probably take on characteristics of some others determined as ideal-types, discussed later. Consequently, the way the CBHV could be identified from the "sets of rules" (influencing the actions that actors can take) proposed initially by Elinor Ostrom and presented in this work in the below five items to allow verifying the most relevant factors to be identified in an institutional analysis: Table 1 – Rio das Velhas watershed rule types Rule types 1. Authority rules

Rules before reform 1) Greater concentration of decisionmaking power in the leaderships and presidency / board of directors of the CBHRV; 2) Strong bias of administrative action and small for social mobilization, coordination of actions with potential institutional partners, mainly private businesses.


Rules after reform 1) Increased likelihood of participation of both members and non-members of the CBHRV; 2) Creation of normative deliberations from meetings, discussions and presentations of members and non-members of specialized groups or social 87

2. Aggregation rules

3. Boundary rules

4. Information rules

3) Lack of water agency for the movements; assistance in implementation of 3) Foundation of AGBPV as the decisions set out by the CBHRV. water agency responsible for command and control, administrative, legal and economic actions linked to the CBHRV; 4) Introduction of the "Investment Plan" of annual character on resources derived from charges for multiple uses of water. 1) Type of rationality with a view to 1) Administrative and mainly administrative and operational political decisions must be in maintenance of the committee; accordance with the 2) Sectorial interests reach ample space recommendations, objections for discussion and action in front of the and acceptances of Technical incipient civil society sector in the Chambers and plenary and/or process of greater organization; extraordinary meetings; 3) Establishment of short-term actions 2) The actions of AGBPV must with the potential partners in order to be in agreement and under solve immediate problems. supervision of the stakeholders involved in each action (environmental projects, annual expenditures etc.); 3) Approximation of the private sector towards dialogues for water rights control and environmental impacts; 4) Type of rationality based on search for consensus of medium, long term. 1) The majority of members from 1) Participation in the committee government agencies, with is voluntary, whether in institutional determinations of subcommittees or the CBHRV; participation, with small numbers of 2) Increase of the participation participants and representatives from of non-members in the social sectors and private initiative; formulation of policies, projects, 2) Increased dependency on etc (eg: Technical Chambers); participation and definitions of the 3) Existence of greater control representatives rather than of the over frequency and conduct of institution itself. members and non-members, including Normative Determinations; 4) More control of the participating institutions rather than the representatives themselves. 1) Lack of direct communication 1) Possibility of institutional channels between user and committee, partnerships with educational except participation in sectorial and institutions at all levels is plenary meetings; becoming possible in the


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2) Application of the knowledge gained predominantly from natural sciences, economics and engineering, from official and / or academia of little insertion for various members and public in general; 3) Focus on scientific knowledge and devaluation of the tacit knowledge involved in management processes.

5.Pay-off rules

1) "Water Resources Master Plan" 2004, becomes the main document for the application of resources in the basin; 2) Assessment of costs and deployment of charging for multiple uses of water resources was initially proposed, but applied only from 2010.

"Investiment Plan"; 2)Increased popular participation mainly through the creation and consolidation of sub-committees throughout the whole the Rio das Velhas river basin; 3) Establishment of the Technical Chamber, aiming to integrate the events on the committee; 4) Use of media, both of the CBHRV and the AGBPV (websites, newspapers, brochures etc) in order to gradually create their own committee language, with aggregation of scientific and cultural knowledge; 5) Use of knowledge arising from the social sciences and management, among others. 1) Existence of "Investiment Plan" determines the rights and duties, costs and expected returns to participants of each particular action and consolidates the public expenditures for multiple uses of water resources. 2) "Water Resources Master Plan" continues to be used as the macro guideline for the investments to be made (and is in the process of updating private company chosen by public bidding process). 3) Charging for the use of water resources is put into practice in relation to three types of uses: abstraction, consumption and effluent discharge.

Politics and strategies The major conflicts that occur within the water management processes associated with the CBHRV are currently among the different institutional actors, to the extent that they represent sectors with distinct histories and organizational interests. For example, government action in relation to water resources in Brazil and Minas Gerais has always been linked to action planning, control and management that


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reinforced the bureaucratic character of the state and its actions for decades15. This situation has been changing over time to a period of greater openness to private-sector participation, until recently, when the participation of the civil society has became one of the elements of decision (even partially). In practical terms, it means that while the large water users (such as large mining companies, Eletric Company of Minas Gerais (Cemig), Sanitation Company of Minas Gerais (Copasa) etc) are constantly trying to increase the influence of their views on water rights, social organizations are concerned about the growth of state control over the multiple uses of water resources as defined by law. The State generally claims that there is a need to diversify its methods of supervision and implementation of proposals and has very strict budget limits for action. These examples are driven by interests of various groups in terms of time and space and existence of intervention16, but are unanimous in asserting that adjustments in the conduct of state water management are necessary. Usually adjustments refer to the asymmetries of power and gender within the CBHRV and especially in levels of information and coordination of stakeholder power17. While the government sector (at managerial / strategic, especially) and major water users (such as multinational and mining companies, among others) can identify technical and administrative aspects with greater ease due to the formation of their representatives and the infrastructure that they possess, small farmers, municipal government sector and riverside associations have great difficulties to get work together properly. If, on the one hand, the committee was formed by the World Bank influence to finance various projects of intervention in regional and state level for Minas Gerais, on the other hand, civil society have participated into the CBHRV development since its original formation. They have even held the chair of that committee for several mandates and this fact is constantly considered18 to be of crucial political (and symbolic) importance by all members of the committee and a prominent factor compared to other river basin committees within and outside Minas Gerais. Through backstage and public discussions, it was agreed that the chairmanship of CBHRV would be under the responsibility of civil society. This it has exercised for more than 7 years. This fact could also be interpreted as greater openness and public participation in water management, with more elaborated actions on integrated management rather than simple `command and control` procedures beginning to be discussed and implemented. So, within this scenario from bureaucracy to social participation, the result of almost 15 years of existence, the committee has found it difficult to move forward in some administrative proceedings that could increase their knowledge on the part of all its members as well as the local population. In addition there are the water resources management legal resolutions19,that indicates institutional decentralization and focuses on social participation, as well as the Constitution of the country which emphasizes the 15

THEODORO (2002) Since large water users, large companies and related performance has consolidated more than civil society, for example, where there is greater turnover of members and participating. 17 ABERS (2010). 18 According to some interviews, reviews and documentary research carried out during the UFMG doctorate program by the current research. 19 Federal Law nº 9.433/97. 16


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municipal administration duties to environment management. Yet the 51 municipalities that make up the CBHRV are in a very different situation to work their water management well at local or watershed level and still need great technical and administrative support. In this direction, the acting water agency, “AGB Peixe Vivo”, has been of great importance to try to make the management procedures understood by all stakeholders. The full name of this institution is "Water Agency of Rio das Velhas Watershed" and is also known as “AGB Peixe Vivo” (“AGB Living Fish” in English and AGBPV from now on) due to the idea discussed inside and outside the CBHRV according to which the returning of fish to the basin would be a reference of both biological and social recovery. The AGBPV water agency relates a lot to the type "Agency" detailed in the theoretical chapter, with its budget activities and the possibility to be evaluated by the achieved goals20., Due to its location and history of occupation, the Rio das Velhas River has serious environmental problems related to many factors such as: 1) Urban concentration: mainly in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, due to the high degree of industrialization of the area and accumulation of the population, where concentrates more than 5.4 million inhabitants21, representing around 25% of the overall pollution in Minas Gerais. Even though not all municipalities of the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte form part of the Rio das Velhas River Basin, the level of environmental impact of that area is much higher than in other regions of the basin as well as in the state itself, which holds around 78% of its population in urban areas; 2) Constant loss of existing water quality in the basin: due to lack of infrastructure and/or regional planning, the level of water contamination events has grown in the basin, especially in terms of the occurrence of cyanobacteria 22. This has made the search for treatment of water bodies and also new sources of water harvesting to ensure public supply, because even with the availability of water equal to 2,432 m3/cap/y, which is regarded as sufficient according to the United Nations´ global benchmark, the long-term scenario tends to be modified since the population of the basin is likely to grow, particularly in urban areas near the capital23; 3) Irregular use of soil and environmental resources: from the beginning of its history, the Rio das Velhas River basin has had a strong connection with 20

The AGB Live Fish passes by regularly assessments its performance by both CBHRV and its other committees under its responsibility, as well as by the National Water Agency of Brazil (ANA). However, just do not show such accompaniments usually sufficient to avoid conflicts of interest between members and staff of AGB CBHRV Live Fish, for example. And such conflicts, from a point of view of the typology of the two RBO's said, "Partnership" (CBHRV) and "Agency" (Live Fish AGB), is as much about concentration of power and also the political arrangement that you want order. 21 IBGE (2010). 22 Cyanobacteria or blue-green algae, also popularly known as “blue-green algae”, are microorganisms aerobic photoautotrophic. Their vital processes require only water, carbon dioxide, inorganic substances and light. The main concern with the occurrence of cyanobacterial blooms in springs of water supply is the ability of these microorganisms produce and release toxins into the liquid medium (cyanotoxins) that can affect human health, both by drinking water as per contact on activities recreation on the environment, or by consumption of contaminated fish. However, the main route of poisoning is by oral consumption of water without adequate treatment to remove these toxins (THEODORO et alii, 2012). 23 http://www.atlasdasaguas.ufv.br/velhas/disponibilidade_hidrica_per_capita.html


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the extraction of various mineral resources, primarily for mining of gold and precious stones and then to livestock and agriculture. Consequently, these activities have drawn a irregular use and occupation of that territory, with great environmental deforestation, mainly for pasture formation and deployment of monocultures. From the twentieth century mining continued its activities, especially for the extraction of metals, notably iron; 4) Lack of sewage treatment / waste: the Rio das Velhas has a high rate of pollution from urban wastewater, mining and existing industries that often do not have their treatment systems of solid or liquid waste and are among 30005000 in the region24. From this reality of many environmental and social problems happening at the same time and in different periods that AGBPV tries to operationalize its activities. That task has proved to be very complex, since the agency is seen by many as a self-interested government representative and sometimes distinguished from the population of the basin. Thus, on the one hand there is a series of actions conducted by the AGB while action strategies (opinion about projects that should be accepted or not, the dissemination of information on sub-committees and projects, establishment of a technical-administrative staff by public), that are sometimes viewed with suspicion, mainly by civil society. The constant use of legal and institutional support coming from the government mandates has also been considered as strategies to maintain consensus-based actions in the CBHRV water management, even though, in general, the process has been gradually more participatory. Performance From the strategies described for the gradual stabilization of conflicts within the committee, numerous actions have been considered, and some of them were deployed: 1) Creation of sub-basin management: rather than previously adopted management, which delimited the basin into 3 main areas of intervention (south, center, north areas), the new model agreed provides 23 micro-regions of operation - Strategic Territorial Units (UTE's, in Portuguese). They were created25 from the perspectives of trying to improve the coverage and capacity actions of the committee and its subcommittees (item discussed below), in territorial and administrative terms; enabling programs, projects and regional studies for the diverse landscape of the basin; improving the social participation etc. The greatest objective of this proposal was to create decentralized actions throughout the watershed and to try to encourage the emergence of local actions that go beyond the logic of share concentration only around Belo Horizonte, mainly in terms of political and institutional integration. This is because the capital houses the headquarters of both the CBHRV as well as the AGBPV and of several key stakeholders related to the management process26. 24

In 2008 necessary technical and administrative procedures for the granting of discharge of effluents in the Rio das Velhas River Basin were formalized through Normative Resolution nº. 26/2008. It is noteworthy, however, that its effectiveness in terms of command and control has been challenged, given the high degree of current contamination. 25 Normative Deliberation of CBHRV nº. 1, February 9, 2012. 26 Even the usually conflicting relationships between upstream and downstream water users are not even reported in the meetings of very CBHRV. This possibility appears ever closer considering the high concentration pollution in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte (upstream) relative to the of the watershed.


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In case of absence of a minimum of political/administrative decentralization, the tendency to maintain different social contradictions in the basin and in CBHRV itself can remain. This proposal also means another crucial political aspect for CBHRV to take innovative management actions, i.e. with greater focus on social and participatory targeting (and possibly more as a fruit of actions / pressure of civil society). Moreover, the division of the territory determined for the watershed carries the possibility of strengthening of regional areas that are not yet on the same level of social and political organization as found in the Metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte (former "High Rio das Velhas"). This area is generally maintained as hegemonic in participation, guidance and determination of the CBHRV actions due to its political and administrative importance as well as the performance of its stakeholders (large users, government sector, mining sector). In other words, new definitions in regional areas could also be considered here as opportunities where the strengthening of the model "Partnership" of the RBO could be consolidated further. In this sense, the following institutional-administrative design was proposed: MAP 2: Territorial Strategic Units for Rio das Velhas (CBHRV, 2012). Source: www.feam.br

This direction could also be understood in that the management of the watershed is an appropriate model to some extent for planning (in the sense that it creates an institutional design that can be minimally identified), but still insufficient to meet the demands of areas, population, consumption etc, such as those found in the Rio das Velhas and Minas Gerais in general. This also means that the basin organizations should have (Theodoro, 2002; Theodoro, 2004; Giddens, 2010) a level of flexibility and maturity sufficient to manage to adapt to what the initial model of management suggests Revista NBC Belo Horizonte – vol. 8, n.º 15, maio de 2018

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- given new difficulties that the process of collective action has (Olson, 1999, Ostrom, 1990). In the case of the CBHRV, this modification occurred only after 14 years (2012), after several discussions of the committee, government agencies and technical chambers – i.e. it was not a unilateral or Immediate decision, including such decision being transformed into an Regulatory Determination by the CBHRV 27. 2)

Creation and consolidation of technical boards: to assist in decision-making processes and to increase the existing level of governance (accountability, responsiveness, participation, transparency, and inclusiveness predictability) committee now has four different technical boards with well defined objectives through regulatory decisions28 (considered as rules of conduct on the administrative committee) to act on (abbreviations in Portuguese): legal and institutional assessment (CTIL), project evaluation (CTPC – of which the author is the coordinator), water pricing and water rights (CTOC) and communication, internal or external (CTCOM). Through regular meetings of these boards, a modus operandi of CBHRV has developed with transparent actions, as well as greater disclosure procedures for regulation to increase the quality and quantity of water. FIGURE 1: Operational diagramne of CBHRV. Source: Sepulveda et al.

3) Implementation of projects: based on the decisions taken by the technical board (CTPC) project, the committee began to invest the funds that were raised by charging for the use of water resources, provided for in legislation, which is also characterized as a new administrative action. Currently over 15 different projects are under construction or in the process of selection for implementation, ranging from the revitalization of springs to capacity building for implementation of water master plans (Planos Diretores de Recursos Hídricos in Portuguese) for municipalities;

27

Regulatory Determination nº 01, february 09th, 2012

28

Also referred to as "Regulatory Determinations" or simply DN's.


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4) Increase the number of sub-committees: in order to widen the possibilities of decentralized but integrated management (and that still remains a challenge to be achieved), the CBHRV established in 2004 to work from sub-committees, i.e. with joints(?) at the local level, for greater responsiveness and today 13 different sub-committees scattered around the basin (and others are already in the process of formalization); 5) Update the information and/or events via web: even if not all stakeholders do not have internet access at home/work place, and in Minas Gerais particularly, the provision of more relevant information for management is increasingly enlarged and updated, including photographs and/or recordings of the board meetings and the CBHRV general plenary. 6) Increased monitoring of percentages for water rights: in order to ensure that the provisions of the water rights for use of water resources are really respected, AGBPV and CBHRV have decided towards acting more about percentages reserved for each user in its three types defined in law: concession (public purposes); authorization (for private purposes); register (for relatively insignificant usage); 7) Updated Water Master Plan: after its launch in 2004, the Water Master Plan of the Rio das Velhas River Basin was implemented in the watershed, but its revisions/updates that were previously planned were not accomplished. In 2012, however, there was a public selection process for the company that will provide a general update in the referred area by winning (in a bidding process worth around US $1.5 million in June 2012 values) that can identify new demands, especially in terms of human pressures, institutional linkages and formulation of future scenarios.

Thus, in terms of "performance" of the CBHRV and from the evaluation criteria set in theoretical chapter ("Coordination", "Accountability", "Dialogue", "Legitimacy", "Support"), some considerations in terms of evolution of a committee such as the RBO take place: 1) Coordination: as described above, the fact that the committee is functioning in a country of federal character and with various legal levels of decision-making (outside of political processes of negotiation) shows that it should be understood as a part of a much larger system of planning. This system depends on the actions of various governmental groups’ interests that have demonstrated several limitations of activity in coordinated control of water resources between their spheres (or the "vertical dimension" highlighted in the theoretical chapter). What is perceived, in the case of the CBHRV is that action policy by UTE's together with the consolidation of the subcommittees can be output in relation to just have a basin big organization without capillarity between its members and levels of decision. Surely, in this context AGBPV's participation is crucial as legal and administrative support to the whole process, since it is the agency responsible for this committee. That is, the institutional and policy option in this case was of the RBO’s with a profile of "Partnership", but with a budget of investments and normative targeting (it means that follows the Regulatory Determinations established for its actions) rather than more centralized character of the RBO. 2) Accountability: being here regarded as a the RBO of the "Partnership" profile, the CBHRV has a direct link to uphold and increase accountability in its institutional and political relations, even if it is still in the process of consolidating of several new proposals among its members as well as for the general public that do not know how the Revista NBC Belo Horizonte – vol. 8, n.º 15, maio de 2018

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participation of stakeholders in water management processes works (ABERS, 2002). This difficulty is common to every organization that aims to expand membership and integrated action among different groups (OLSON, 1999). At the same time, the alternatives of action described previously show having the potential to tackle the complex environmental problems of the basin where it is noted in the case of interaction between the planning scenarios and implementation of projects is accompanied by an appropriate update of the "Water Master Plan "and institutional arrangements between the CBHRV, the AGBPV and governmental sectors. 3) Dialogue, Legitimacy and Support: among these three concepts, the legitimacy probably arises as a point of greatest interest in the CBHRV to be achieved for relatively clear reasons: its capacity to deliver goods and services, such as typically observed between the RBO's "Partnership", is still considered low by its own members. They recognize that there is a large space for the dialogue but, on the one hand, they encounters difficulties in translating these results into practical and tangible. Themes such as the revitalization of degraded areas, increase of water quality in a particular stretch of river or project approval by the technical chambers have been causes of constant internal and external conflicts that still need to be solved, since there is a belief (mainly from the civil society members) that the resources of charging for water use would be rapidly applied in the recovery of the basin, which normally occurs, given the numerous bureaucratic procedures for the release of funds. Thus, it is necessary to further clarify the roles of the actors involved, especially in terms of relationship with AGBPV and governmental sectors, for all groups have fear of the loss of power and space of action (COSTA AND JÚNIOR 2007). The search for the "lowest common denominator" suggested in the theoretical chapter was perhaps a measure of the ability of introduction of the Investiment Plan drawn up annually, as well as overcome the asymmetries of power and information that normally exist in the relationship between civil society, State and Market (ABERS 2010).

Conclusion From the discussions in the current contribution it could be noticed that the complexity and diversity of social and institutional actors presented in the Rio das Velhas watershed makes for a differentiated case study, as it has an organizational development towards social decentralization, but not yet consolidated participation. This means that the management of water resources in this area still lacks many enhancements and should not be seen under a prism of pure optimism simply because it has been identified as one of the best structured committees of Minas Gerais and is usually cited as one of the most dynamic in the country. The fact that this RBO has advanced more than others can hide conflicts and contradictions that take place since the establishment of the organization and that still remain. The conflictive relationship with AGBPV, for example, still needs to be resolved so that ongoing projects could be realized and that the perception among stakeholders could be less by existing spaces for dialogue in the committee and also by the ability to deliver answers (where and when to invest, types of products to be made; planning scenarios for the short / medium / long terms etc). More than market failure or civil-society responses, these days is currently considered that is the state who has more difficulties in interacting put all its stakeholders constituents in terms of water resources management. Perhaps even due to the fact that Revista NBC Belo Horizonte – vol. 8, n.º 15, maio de 2018

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several of the actions reported in this case study are still relatively very new, for both the regional and even national levels, and there is no systematic evaluation of processes and procedures of Brazilian public policies (such as benchmarking between the RBOs), how successful these various measures are or may be held still remains an incomplete question. What is seen from the study of the CBHRV in terms of its evolution as the RBO is that, firstly, water management, even when considered in terms of basin, should be directed to new instruments of action that will bring the management of everyday demands. The fact that the CBHRV guides the creation of new administrative units would prove that the subdivisions of planning may take place to therefore comply with local demands and still achieve the integration of the watershed. It is a challenge to analysts or members of committees to seek more security in public policies of water resources, even more that despite being a country of great water wealth (Minas Gerais stands out as the Brazilian state with the highest percentage of water resources of the country), there is still the need for further research into institutional designs in scenarios of changes and new proposals for the action as it happens at present. In other words, there is a current need to strengthen the state in terms of its capacity of planning and institutional management of water resources, as well as the seemingly urgent demand for Brazilian public management qualification in front of the complexity of the system reported here. Thus, the CBHRV has been placed in a situation of transition to new participatory approaches in water management in Minas Gerais, but should not be able to carry out social and political demands alone. On the contrary, this RBO should maintain a constant level of coordination of its actions to ensure that its power struggles, so natural in the environment with different stakeholders, can be reduced through new and consistent proposals. Only further assessments will be able to measure the sufficiency of what is ongoing. References ABERS, Rebecca Neaera. Projeto Marca D’Água - Relatórios Preliminares 2001 - A Bacia do Rio das Velhas, Minas Gerais, 2001. Paper: Núcleo de Pesquisa em Políticas Públicas (UnB). Janeiro, 2002. ABERS, Rebecca Neaera. Água e Política: atores, instituições e poder nos Organismos Colegiados de Bacia Hidrográfica no Brasil. São Paulo: Annablume, 2010. ANA, Agência Nacional de Águas. Evolução da organização e implementação da gestão de bacias no Brasil. Brasília: ANA. 2002. ANA, Agência Nacional de Águas. Conjuntura dos recursos hídricos no Brasil: informe 2012. Edição especial. Brasília: ANA, 2012. ARNSTEIN, S.R. A ladder of citizen participation. The Journal of American Institute of Planners, 35, 216-224, 1969. BURTON, Richard Francis. Viagem de canoa de Sabará ao Oceano Atlântico. Belo Horizonte: Editora Itatiaia. 1977.


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CAMARGOS, Luiza de Marillac Moreira (coord.). Plano diretor de recursos hídricos da bacia hidrográfica do rio das Velhas: resumo executivo - dezembro 2004. Belo Horizonte: Instituto Mineiro de Gestão das Águas, Comitê da Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio das Velhas, 2005. COSTA, Maria Angélica Maciel e JÚNIOR, Antônio Pereira Magalhães. Reflexões sobre a política participativa das águas: o caso CBH Velhas (MG). IV Encontro Nacional da Anppas. Brasília, 2008. COSTA, Maria Angélica Maciel e JÚNIOR, Antônio Pereira Magalhães. Processo de “gestação” da implementação da cobrança pelo uso da água na bacia do Rio das Velhas/MG. XVII Simpósio Brasileiro de Recursos Hídricos. São Paulo, 2007. ESTEBAN, José e HELLER, Léo. A participação privada em saneamento e seus sofismas. Plataforma Política Social. 2013. GIDDENS, Anthony. A política da mudança climática. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar, 2010. IBGE, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Senso Demográfico, 2010. JÚNIOR, Dezen Gabrie. Curso completo de Direito Constitucional. 11ª Ed. Brasília: Vestcon, 2006. OLSON, Mancur. A lógica da ação coletiva: os benefícios públicos e uma teoria dos grupos sociais. São Paulo. Editora da Universidade de São Paulo. 1999. OSTRÖM, Elinor. Governing the commons. Nova York. Cambridge University Press. 1990. PORTO, Mônica e PORTO, Rubem La Laina. Gestão de bacias hidrográficas. Revista Estudos Avançados 22. Número 63. São Paulo, 2008. THEODORO, Hildelano Delanusse. Novas iniciativas na gestão dos recursos hídricos em Minas Gerais. II Encontro Nacional da Anppas, Indaiatuba, São Paulo, Maio, 2004. THEORODO, Hildelano Delanusse. Instituições e gestão de recursos hídricos em Minas Gerais. Dissertação de Mestrado. UFV, 2002.


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