Challenge and response in the São Francisco River Basin

Water Policy ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (S1) ◽  
pp. 153-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Lee ◽  
Zamyla Chan ◽  
Kai Graylee ◽  
Arani Kajenthira ◽  
Daniela Martínez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Special Focus ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Management Framework ◽  
Sao Francisco River ◽  
São Francisco River ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Major River ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Development And Management

The São Francisco River has been, and continues to be, the only major river in arid Northeast Brazil and, as such, continues to be a major focus for development policy in this poorest part of the country. In a context of persistent water scarcity and recurring drought, the imperative is to develop a water development and management framework capable of simultaneously creating a platform for growth, dealing with distributive conflicts and ensuring rational usage. Addressing this challenge has been complicated by the multi-layered institutions of Brazilian federalism. This paper traces the development of the institutional framework for water management in the São Francisco Basin, highlighting the role of both local innovation and the pressures of federal centralization. The single most important policy debate currently affecting the basin is an ambitious inter-basin transfer project that aims to provide secure water supply to major cities and irrigation projects in neighboring basins. The paper provides an in-depth analysis of the project, with a special focus on understanding the policy process underpinning the project. This analysis anchors the discussion in the difficult dilemmas currently faced by policymakers and gives some insights into the actual functioning of a complex and sometimes ambiguous institutional set-up.

scholarly journals MUDANÇAS AMBIENTAIS QUATERNÁRIAS NA PORÇÃO SUBMÉDIA DA PLANÍCIE DO SÃO FRANCISCO: RECONSTRUÇÃO AMBIENTAL

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
Daniel Rodrigues de Lira
Keyword(s):  
General Circulation ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Atmospheric Teleconnection ◽  
Sao Francisco River ◽  
River Floodplains ◽  
São Francisco River ◽  
Floodplain Deposits ◽  
The Last Glacial

A dinâmica dos acontecimentos geomorfológicos e sua evolução tornam-se necessárias para elucidar a história recente da paisagem. Nessa perspectiva a análise de depósitos superficiais permitiu a reconstrução das dinâmicas ambientais para a região com ênfase temporal/paleoambiental. Os Latossolos que integram a Planície do Rio São Francisco têm origem a partir do rebaixamento de suas águas e surgimento de barras arenosas retrabalhadas pelo vento em períodos de maior semiaridez formando campos de dunas; em períodos mais úmidos, mantos de areia, sendo estes retrabalhados em momentos de cheias, originando depósitos arenosos na planície fluvial. Os estudos indicam uma gênese climática controlada por fatores da circulação geral da atmosfera em nível global e regional, revelando tele conexões importantes desde o Último Máximo Glacial – UMG, transição Pleistoceno/Holoceno até o Holoceno Superior. QUATERNARY ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES IN THE SUBMIDDLE REACH OF SÃO FRANCISCO RIVER FLOODPLAINS: AN ENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTION ABSTRACTThe analysis of superficial deposits allows the reconstruction the environmental dynamics of the study area within a given palaeo-environmental time frame. The Oxisols developed on the Sao Francisco floodplain deposits, originate from the lowering of water-table levels in the river banks and the subsequent emergence of sandy bars, some of which were reworked by wind erosion during periods of stronger semi-aridity, resulting in the accumulation of dune fields and sand mantles in wetter periods. Later on, some of these deposits were reworked by the floods of the São Francisco River. The results of this research point to a climatic genesis of landforms, driven by general circulation controls, thus revealing the role of important atmospheric teleconnection events in the area occurring since the Last Glacial Maximum – LGM, through the Pleistocene/Holocene transition until the Upper Holocene.Keywords: evolution of the landscape; superficial deposits; semiarid.

scholarly journals Significant Baseflow Reduction in the Sao Francisco River Basin

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Murilo Cesar Lucas ◽  
Natalya Kublik ◽  
Dulce B. B. Rodrigues ◽  
Antonio A. Meira Neto ◽  
André Almagro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Sao Francisco River ◽  
São Francisco River ◽  
Terrestrial Water ◽  
Long Term Trends ◽  
Storage Change

Water scarcity is a key challenge to global development. In Brazil, the Sao Francisco River Basin (SFB) has experienced water scarcity problems because of decreasing streamflow and increasing demands from multiple sectors. However, the drivers of decreased streamflow, particularly the potential role of the surface-groundwater interaction, have not yet been investigated. Here, we assess long-term trends in the streamflow and baseflow of the SFB during 1980–2015 and constrain the most likely drivers of observed decreases through a trend analysis of precipitation (P), evapotranspiration (ET), and terrestrial water storage change (TWS). We found that, on average, over 86% of the observed decrease in streamflow can be attributed to a significant decreasing baseflow trend along the SFR, with a spatial agreement between the decreased baseflow, increased ET, and irrigated agricultural land in the Middle SFB. We also noted a decreasing trend in TWS across the SFB exceeding –20 mm year−1. Overall, our findings indicate that decreasing groundwater contributions (i.e., baseflow) are providing the observed reduction in the total SFR flow. A lack of significant P trends and the strong TWS depletion indicate that a P variability only has likely not caused the observed baseflow reduction, in mainly the Middle and Sub-middle SFB. Therefore, groundwater and surface withdrawals may likely be a driver of baseflow reduction in some regions of the SFB.

Dwarf geckos and giant rivers: the role of the São Francisco River in the evolution of Lygodactylus klugei (Squamata: Gekkonidae) in the semi-arid Caatinga of north-eastern Brazil

2019 ◽  
Vol 129 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-98
Author(s):  
Flávia M Lanna ◽  
Marcelo Gehara ◽  
Fernanda P Werneck ◽  
Emanuel M Fonseca ◽  
Guarino R Colli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
Assignment Test ◽  
Nuclear Markers ◽  
Sao Francisco River ◽  
Eastern Brazil ◽  
São Francisco River ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Multilocus Approach ◽  
Geomorphological Features

Abstract Species diversification can be strongly influenced by geomorphological features, such as mountains, valleys and rivers. Rivers can act as hard or soft barriers to gene flow depending on their size, speed of flow, historical dynamics and regional topographical characteristics. The São Francisco River (SFR) is the largest perennial river in the Caatinga biome in north-eastern Brazil and has been considered a barrier to gene flow and dispersal. Herein, we evaluated the role of the SFR on the evolution of Lygodactylus klugei, a small gecko from the Caatinga. Using a single-locus species delimitation method (generalized mixed Yule coalescent), we defined lineages (haploclades). Subsequently, we evaluated the role of the SFR in structuring genetic diversity in this species using a multilocus approach to quantify migration across margins. We also evaluated genetic structure based on nuclear markers, testing the number of populations found through an assignment test (STRUCTURE) across the species distribution. We recovered two mitochondrial lineages structured with respect to the SFR, but only a single population was inferred from nuclear markers. Given that we detected an influence of the SFR only on mitochondrial markers, we suggest that the current river course has acted as a relatively recent geographical barrier for L. klugei, for ~450 000 years.

scholarly journals Significant baseflow reduction in the Sao Francisco River Basin

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murilo Cesar Lucas ◽  
Natalya Kublik ◽  
Dulce B. B. Rodrigues ◽  
Antonio A. Meira Neto ◽  
André Almagro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Sao Francisco River ◽  
São Francisco River ◽  
Terrestrial Water ◽  
Long Term Trends ◽  
Storage Change

Water scarcity is a key challenge to global development. In Brazil, the Sao Francisco River Basin (SFB) has experienced water scarcity problems because of decreasing streamflow and increasing demands from multiple sectors. However, the drivers of decreased streamflow, particularly the potential role of surface-groundwater interaction, have not been yet investigated. Here, we assess long-term trends in baseflow, quickflow, and streamflow of the SFB during 1980–2015 and constrain the most likely drivers of observed decreases through trend analysis of precipitation (P), evapotranspiration (ET), and terrestrial water storage change (TWS). We found that over 82% of the observed decrease in streamflow can be attributed to a significant decreasing baseflow trend (< -20 m3 s-1 y-1) along the SFR with spatial agreement between decreased baseflow, increased ET, and irrigated agricultural land. We also noted a decrease in TWS across the SFB with trends exceeding -20 mm y-1. Overall, our findings indicate that decreasing groundwater contributions (i.e., baseflow) is providing the observed reduction in total SFR flow. A lack of significant P trends indicates that only P variability likely has not caused the observed baseflow reduction, mainly in the Middle and Sub-middle SFB. Therefore, groundwater and surface withdrawals may be likely a driver of water scarcity over the SFB.

scholarly journals Trauma and Transgender Space in Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-53
Author(s):  
Shruti Das
Keyword(s):  
Social Space ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Arundhati Roy ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Construction Of Identity ◽  
The People ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Institutional Oppression

Social space largely decides the role of the human and the extent to which she controls or affects the physical environment. Any form of justice advocates and contends that instances of injustice are not simply arbitrary realities which occur in varying contexts. Rather, instances of injustice are the outcome of an institutional oppression and isolation which have set up an inevitable and sometimes invisible framework of colonization and the resultant anxiety and trauma by creating heterogenous spaces outside the accepted social space. More often than not, it is the effect of the gaze on the subject. In her novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness(2017) Arundhati Roy, along with other stories, narrates the trauma of Anjum, a transgender, who was born a male, which forms one of the central threads of the narrative. Anjum, born Aftab, subsequently leaves her home to live with nine other transgenders who are ‘othered’ by the gaze and form a world of their own in a secluded, closely guarded and dilapidated home, the “Khwabgah” or “Palace of Dreams,” in the lap of sophisticated New Delhi. Roy raises certain critical questions in this novel. One of them hitherto unexplored is the cultural trauma experienced by the transgender individual and the people associated with them. This paper attempts to bring to focus and analyse, with the tools of psychoanalysis, the effects of trauma in the construction of identity, specifically, with regard to the violated transgender psyche and their isolation in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, with special focus on Anjum as a case in point, so that the readers can connect, understand and sympathize the homonormative individuals. This study draws on various theories of trauma like Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection and Lacan’s theory of gaze.

Role of HSP70 in the regulation of the testicular apoptosis in a seasonal breeding teleostProchilodus argenteusfrom the São Francisco river, Brazil

2013 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 350-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabricio F.T. Domingos ◽  
Ralph G. Thomé ◽  
Patrícia M. Martinelli ◽  
Yoshimi Sato ◽  
Nilo Bazzoli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Breeding ◽  
Sao Francisco River ◽  
São Francisco River

A reconnaissance of tropical resources during Revolutionary years: the role of the Paris Museum d'Histoire Naturelle

1991 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
MADELEINE LY-TIO-FANE
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Scientific Principles ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Joseph Ii

SUMMARY The recent extensive literature on exploration and the resulting scientific advances has failed to highlight the contribution of Austrian enterprise to the study of natural history. The leading role of Joseph II among the neutral powers which assumed the carrying trade of the belligerents during the American War of Independence, furthered the development of collections for the Schönbrunn Park and Gardens which had been set up on scientific principles by his parents. On the conclusion of peace, Joseph entrusted to Professor Maerter a world-encompassing mission in the course of which the Chief Gardener Franz Boos and his assistant Georg Scholl travelled to South Africa to collect plants and animals. Boos pursued the mission to Isle de France and Bourbon (Mauritius and Reunion), conveyed by the then unknown Nicolas Baudin. He worked at the Jardin du Roi, Pamplemousses, with Nicolas Cere, or at Palma with Joseph Francois Charpentier de Cossigny. The linkage of Austrian and French horticultural expertise created a situation fraught with opportunities which were to lead Baudin to the forefront of exploration and scientific research as the century closed in the upheaval of the Revolutionary Wars.

FAITH–BASED COMMUNITIES AND POLITICS IN DULLSTROOM-EMNOTWENI: LOCAL STORIES OF IDENTITY

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Landman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Traditional Role ◽  
Cultural Conflicts ◽  
Local Identities ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
Local Municipality ◽  
The Face

A majority of the black community of Dullstroom-Emnotweni in the Mpumalanga highveld in the east of South Africa trace their descent back to the southern Ndebele of the so-called ‘Mapoch Gronden’, who lost their land in the 1880s to become farm workers on their own land. A hundred years later, in 1980, descendants of the ‘Mapoggers’ settled in the newly built ‘township’ of Dullstroom, called Sakhelwe, finding jobs on the railways or as domestic workers. Oral interviews with the inhabitants of Sakhelwe – a name eventually abandoned in favour of Dullstroom- Emnotweni – testify to histories of transition from landowner to farmworker to unskilled labourer. The stories also highlight cultural conflicts between people of Ndebele, Pedi and Swazi descent and the influence of decades of subordination on local identities. Research projects conducted in this and the wider area of the eMakhazeni Local Municipality reveal the struggle to maintain religious, gender and youth identities in the face of competing political interests. Service delivery, higher education, space for women and the role of faith-based organisations in particular seem to be sites of contestation. Churches and their role in development and transformation, where they compete with political parties and state institutions, are the special focus of this study. They attempt to remain free from party politics, but are nevertheless co-opted into contra-culturing the lack of service delivery, poor standards of higher education and inadequate space for women, which are outside their traditional role of sustaining an oppressed community.

Can the Lewis basicity of an isolated solvent molecule be used for characterizing solvent effects?

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-François Gal ◽  
Pierre-Charles Maria
Keyword(s):  
Solvent Effects ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
Solvent Molecule ◽  
Lewis Base ◽  
Bulk Liquid ◽  
Donor Number ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Solution Processes ◽  
Inert Solvent

Background: The ubiquitous Lewis acid/base interactions are important in solution processes. Analytical chemistry may benefit of a better understanding of the role of Lewis basicity, at the molecular level or acting through a bulk solvent effect. Objective: To clearly delineate (i) the basicity at a molecular level, hereafter referred as solute basicity, and (ii) the solvent basicity, which is a bulk-liquid property. Method: The literature that relates Lewis basicity scales and solvent effects is analyzed. A special focus is placed on two extensive scales, the Donor Number, DN, and the BF3 affinity scale, BF3A, which were obtained by calorimetric measurement on molecules as solutes diluted in a quasi-inert solvent, and therefore define a molecular Lewis basicity. We discuss the validity of these solute scales when regarded as solvent scales, in particular when the basicity of strongly associated liquids is discussed. Results: We demonstrate the drawbacks of confusing the Lewis basicity of a solvent molecule, isolated as solute, and that of the bulk liquid solvent itself. Conclusion: Consequently, we recommend a reasoned use of the concept of Lewis basicity taking clearly into account the specificity of the process for which a Lewis basicity effect may be invoked. In particular, the action of the Lewis base, either as an isolated entity, or as a bulk liquid, must be distinguished.

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