Planning of river basins applied to risks of floodings: an analysis from the River Basin Committees

Abstract

The correlation between natural conditions and anthropogenic intervention places Brazil among countries where floods are recurrent and affect different segments of society. It is fundamental that the different political-administrative spheres (federal, state and municipal) and the agencies that act in the direct scale of occurrence of the events, such as the River Basin Committees and the Civil Defense, carry out joint actions in order to minimize the impacts on the most vulnerable social segments. In this way, it is imperative that flood studies focus on the geographic approach, and the key concept to be considered is landscape. Thus, the geographical science, having as object of analysis the geographical space allows, under a critical point of view, carrying out integrated environmental studies in order to offer technical and scientific support for the elaboration of studies such as those related to management of water resources which can be inserted in public policies, contributing in the planning and decision-making. Considering the above, this project proposes to analyze the socioenvironmental vulnerability of areas prone to flooding in River Basin Committees where impacts and damages have been recorded in the last decade. In order to meet the proposal, this research project intends to map the geosystems and anthropic systems of the areas under study; to verify, among the actions foreseen in the river basin plans, which are suitable to flooding episodes; to characterize the areas prone to flooding and measure the frequency of the phenomenon in each area studied; to draw the sociodemographic profiles of the population exposed to the risk of flooding in the study areas; to create an index of socioenvironmental vulnerability for each of the areas under study. The methodological approach to reaching the objectives will be the systemic approach, which relates the natural and social attributes of the landscapes. It is important to know the dynamics of natural attributes, such as their fragility and vulnerability to natural disasters such as floods, long periods of intense precipitation, as well as to know the characteristics of the potential population to be reached, such as land use and occupation, economic activities and the historical-cultural patrimony to be reached by such catastrophes. Thus, the Research Center in Analysis, Planning and Management of River Basins proposes, with emphasis in the studied areas prone to floodings, to make a comparative study among the following River Basin Committees: In the state of São Paulo, the "Litoral Norte" River Basin Committee, the "Piracicaba, Capivari and Jundiaí" River Basin Committee, the "Ribeira de Iguape e Litoral Sul" River Basin Committee; in the state of Rio de Janeiro, the "Piabanha" River Basin Committee; in the state of Minas Gerais, the "Rio das Velhas" River Basin Committee; in the State of Bahia, the "Leste" River Basin Committee and the "Recôncavo Norte e Inhambupe" River Basin Committee. (AU)