Grandes obras no Nordeste: o Projeto de Transposição das Águas do Rio São Francisco

• Ano de defesa: 2015
• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Flávio José Rocha da
• Orientador(a): Rangel, Lucia Helena Vitali
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo
• Programa de Pós-Graduação: Programa de Estudos Pós-Graduados em Ciências Sociais
• Departamento: Ciências Sociais
• País: BR
• Palavras-chave em Português: Projeto de Transposição das Águas do Rio São Francisco; Nordeste; Grandes obras; Modelo de desenvolvimento; Comunidades atingidas
• Palavras-chave em Inglês: São Francisco River Diversion Project; Northeast of Brazil; Megaprojects; Model of development; Impacted communities
• Área do conhecimento CNPq: CNPQ::CIENCIAS SOCIAIS APLICADAS
• Link de acesso: https://tede2.pucsp.br/handle/handle/3673

This research has its focus on the São Francisco River Diversion Project. This megaproject can be classified as the biggest development project in Brazil and follows other megaprojects that promised to develop the Northeast of Brazil. The methodology used in the work was the analysis of the justifications for other megaprojects in the Northeast in the last century and how those projects were appropriated by a few economic and political groups from that region in order to take advantage of public money. We believe that the discourse of "drought victims" used by those groups was successful in demanding money from the federal government to build water reservoirs and irrigation projects along with the creation of many governmental institutions, such as the SUDENE, to develop the Northeast. This discourse collaborated to benefit the Northeastern political elite and some economic groups from other parts of Brazil which profited with the construction of those projects. Our conclusion is that the model of development that has been in place in the last decades does not respect the social and environmental characteristics of the Northeast by creating a distance between the government megaprojects and the local population, in contrast with the actions developed by some non-governmental organizations since the eighties that prioritize the local environment with its limits and potentialities. The São Francisco River Diversion Project, publicized by the government as a Project that will provide water for more than 12 million people, reproduces the historical way to deal with the problems in the Northeast by affirming a model of development that degrades the environment and does not respect the reality of those who live in the Northeast. This project impacts the São Francisco River, which already suffers from many human actions of exploitation of its resources. It also impacts many indigenous and afro-descendants communities, fisher peoples and peasants who survive from the abundance of the river. In sum, we conclude that the São Francisco River Diversion Project will be added to a long list of megaprojects that brought benefits to a few while the majority will continue disadvantaged land and water concentrations, the real cause of the social inequality in the Northeast of Brazil