Water governance in transboundary river basins and surface water sharing in South America: cases at Quaraí River Basin (Brazil-Uruguay) and Apa (Brazil-Paraguay)

• Grant number: 18/02981-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: August 01, 2018
• End date: September 16, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Principal Investigator: Wagner Costa Ribeiro
• Grantee: Luis Paulo Batista da Silva
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project aims to assess water governance at transboundary sub-catchments located at La Plata River Basin. In order to do this assessment two case studies were selected: Quaraí River, shared between Brazil and Uruguay; and Apa River Basin, shared between Brazil and Paraguay. Water governance in transboundary river basins is a current salient issue, given that world's biggest river basins are shared among two or more countries. Hence, decreasing availability of water due to climate change and population growth can create disputes over shared water resources. This research intends to answer about which social actors are acting at the border zone to govern shared waters, as well, which geographical scales are produced to act at the border zone. As a theoretical framework it is used approaches such as critical hydropolitics and hydro-hegemony analysis, in order to evaluate power asymmetries for water governance at the border zone. Methodologically, quantitative and qualitative methods are undertaken, with special attention to the field work, a relevant step to collect primary data and to understand the context where water governance initiatives happen. Expected results are the propagation and the development of the best practices and fostering transboundary water resources governance. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ESPINDOLA, ISABELA BATTISTELLO; TELAROLLI DE ALMEIDA LEITE, MARIA LUISA; BATISTA DA SILVA, LUIS PAULO. Brazilian Hydropolitics under the United Nations 2030 Agenda. MERIDIANO 47-JOURNAL OF GLOBAL STUDIES, v. 21, p. 20-pg., 2020-01-01. (18/02981-2, 17/17997-9)