Multi-scalar governance of transboundary water resources in Amazonia

Author(s)

Fernanda Mello Sant'Anna

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2013-08-26

Examining board members

Wagner Costa Ribeiro; Wanderley Messias da Costa; Andre Roberto Martin; Flavia de Campos Mello; Cristina Soreanu Pecequilo

• Advisor: Wagner Costa Ribeiro

Abstract

Amazon River Basin is shared by seven countries (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Venezuela) and has been the focus of infrastructure projects and economic activities that cause contamination and degradation demonstrating need for water resources governance and management. This work aims to comprehend the multi-scalar governance, understood as a mean for regulating the use of transboundary water resources, in the Amazon Basin analyzing actions taken by states and other social actors in two shared basins: the Acre River Basin and the Napo River Basin. Transboundary river basin governance involves different social actors in local, national and international scales that must coordinate their actions in order to regulate water use. Border regions are located at the local scales where the Acre River Basin and the Napo River Basin were studied. At the national scale it was analyzed the institutional framework of water resources management in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru, which are the countries that share the two river basins studied. At the international scale it was analyzed the cooperation and regional institutions of Amazon countries that have projects in the Amazon Basin which influence water governance in the basin, especially in the Basins of Rivers Napo and Acre. By analyzing the cooperation among Amazon countries and other social actors involved in the regulation of transboundary water resources uses in different scales overlapped in the Amazon Basin, this study demonstrated that despite the existence of cooperation in the basins analyzed, water governance is still incipient. Therefore, cooperation is not the only factor that ensures the emergence of a process of transboundary water resources governance in the two River Basins studied. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 10/07851-8 - Analysis of the Integrated management of transboundary water resources and multilateral cooperation in Amazonia: the Napo river and the MAP region.
• Grantee: Fernanda Mello Sant Anna
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate