Integrated urban water governance in Belo Horizonte, Brazil: changes and inertias

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 232
Author(s):  
Ana Paula B.V. Oliveira ◽  
Léo Heller ◽  
Nilo Nascimento ◽  
Emanuele Lobina
Keyword(s):  
Water Governance ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Belo Horizonte

The role of municipal committees in the development of an integrated urban water policy in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

2009 ◽  
Vol 60 (12) ◽  
pp. 3129-3136 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. M. Costa ◽  
H. S. M. Costa ◽  
J. B. Dias ◽  
M. G. Welter
Keyword(s):  
Water Policy ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Belo Horizonte

This paper discusses the challenges involved in adopting an integrated approach to urban water policies and management, a particularly problematic issue in Brazil due to the incomplete nature of urbanization, defined as the lack of adequate and/or universalized access to infrastructure and services, informal housing and conflicts between environmental protection and social housing needs. In the last two decades strong social movements have influenced urban environmental policies from national to local levels. In Belo Horizonte since 1993, decision-making processes have involved important mechanisms of democratic inclusion, which have contributed to fairer urban policies. A brief discussion of the concept of governance follows, introducing the municipal urban policy within which drainage and sanitation policies have been implemented. This paper presents the constitutional and institutional role of the five municipal committees dealing with water governance issues, as they are important arenas for civil society participation. The main constraints to achieving integrated urban water governance at the local level and the extent to which such policies are able to reduce social inequalities and promote social environmental justice in the use and appropriation of urban water, are discussed. This paper is part of the SWITCH—Sustainable Water Management Improves Tomorrow's Cities' Health—research network.

scholarly journals Urban Water Governance and Management

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 1424-1428
Author(s):  
Sudhanshu Dubey ◽  
Indrani Chakraborty ◽  
Subhrajit Banerjee
Keyword(s):  
Water Governance ◽  
Urban Water

scholarly journals Rediscovery and redescription of the endangered Hypostomus subcarinatus Castelnau, 1855 (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from the rio São Francisco basin in Brazil, with comments on the urban water conservation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cláudio Henrique Zawadzki ◽  
Iago de Souza Penido ◽  
Tiago Casarim Pessali
Keyword(s):  
Water Conservation ◽  
Original Description ◽  
Southeastern Brazil ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Urban Lake ◽  
Unexpected Event ◽  
The Third ◽  
Dorsal Fin ◽  
Fin Rays ◽  
Belo Horizonte

AbstractHypostomus subcarinatus Castelnau, 1855 is rediscovered in the Pampulha lake, an urban lake pertaining to the rio das Velhas basin in the rio São Francisco system in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. Herein, H. subcarinatus is redescribed and its diagnosis from the congeners is established due to characters such as blue tan dorsal fin in live specimens, slender bicuspid teeth, dentaries angled more than 90 degrees, moderate keels along lateral series of plates, small roundish dark spots, one plate bordering supraoccipital, by having nuptial odontodes mainly on pectoral, dorsal and caudal-fin rays, and longer anal-fin unbranched ray. The rediscovery of H. subcarinatus after more than 160 years after its original description was one unexpected event, because the Pampulha lake is an artificial, shallow and polluted urban lake. The lake is located in the downtown of municipality of Belo Horizonte, the third largest urban agglomeration in Brazil with a population exceeding 5.9 million inhabitants. In the light of this finding we address the importance of urban body waters to maintenance of fish biodiversity in the neotropics.

scholarly journals To Be, to Do, to Share: The Triple-Loop of Water Governance to Improve Urban Water Resilience—Testing the Benidorm’ Experience, Spain

Land ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 121
Author(s):  
Sandra Ricart ◽  
Antonio M. Rico-Amorós
Keyword(s):  
Water Governance ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Loop Analysis ◽  
Technical Management ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Systematic Understanding

Peri-urban interfaces tend to ensure water supply relying on their surrounding’ resources, generating water disputes when asking for collaboration. The urban-rural matrix of the Marina Baja county in southern Spain is characterized by inland irrigation and coastal tourism development, being the most water-intensive activities in Benidorm. This contribution addresses the following research question: Can a better and systematic understanding of stakeholders’ behavior and interactions increase water resilience in urban-rural interfaces? Data were collected from semi-structured interviews and questionnaires to 19 key stakeholders representing government officials, water managers, and the agricultural, tourism, and environmental sectors. Data were analyzed following the SAA and using MaxQDA® Analytics Pro 2020. A triple-loop analysis on water governance has been developed and applied to synthesize stakeholders’ behavior when addressing urban water resilience to face climate change impacts: relevance and representativeness (to be), recognition and assessment (to do), and collaboration (to share). Results highlighted how Benidorm’s urban water resilience is conditioned by four main learnings from stakeholders’ perception and interaction: (1) ‘feeling represented’ is related to stakeholders’ capacity to negotiate decisions, (2) lack of political will and Benidorm’s leading role increase stakeholders’ feelings of underrepresentation, motivating power imbalance, (3) stakeholders’ actions are less valued than stakeholders’ roles and functions, and (4) agreements are benefited by predisposition (willingness), but also by the compatibility of discourses (affinity) and the technical-management facilities (viability).

scholarly journals Transforming urban water governance through social (triple‐loop) learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Åse Johannessen ◽  
Åsa Gerger Swartling ◽  
Christine Wamsler ◽  
Kim Andersson ◽  
Julian Timothy Arran ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Governance ◽  
Urban Water

scholarly journals Alternative governance arrangements for modular water infrastructure: An exploratory review

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 53-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrin Pakizer ◽  
Eva Lieberherr
Keyword(s):  
Water Governance ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Modular Systems ◽  
The Status ◽  
Formal Policy ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Governance Arrangements

This article presents an exploratory review of alternative governance arrangements for modular systems in the urban water sector in terms of policy instruments, organizational structure, and underlying mechanisms. We develop an analytical framework to review the literature on alternative arrangements for innovative technologies. The preliminary results highlight the importance of governmental involvement and formal policy instruments to ensure public and environmental health in the context of modular water infrastructures. This is in line with the status quo of conventional water governance arrangements. However, the findings also suggest that informal instruments supplement the formal ones and that instead of political-administrative accountability more horizontal mechanisms, such as answerability toward citizens and consumers, play an important role in the context of new water technologies.

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