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WATER COOPERATION, SUSTAINABILITY AND POVERTY ERADICATIONWater cooperation – the Brazilian casePaulo Augusto Cunha Libânio, Water Resources Specialist, National Water Agency, BrazilFrom the last decades of the twentieth century onward,there has been increasing concern about the impact ofdemographic change and economic growth on globalwater availability. Uncertain scenarios for climate change onlyadd to existing concerns over water distribution in time andspace, requiring robust strategies at national and internationallevels aimed at curbing water scarcity and water shortages.In the face of such challenges, water cooperation is of paramountimportance to sustainable development. It includes a series of issues,from transferring of water technology to water financing. Sharingexperiences is also a crucial aspect of water cooperation, as there areno universal recipes for success in water governance and no shortcutsto promote effective water management other than gaining knowledgefrom hard-learned lessons. Above all, sharing experiences helps usto rethink basic questions such as the role of political institutions indeveloping water policies and that of civil society in bringing aboutgreater public engagement in water governing processes.In this sense, the Brazilian experience with democratic water governancemechanisms is an interesting case. Brazil is a federal republicmade up of subnational administrative units (a federal district, 26states and 5,565 municipalities) that are politically autonomousbut interdependent. In addition, Brazil is a country of continentaldimensions – approximately 8.5 million km 2 – almost equivalent toMeeting of the São Francisco River Basin CommitteeImage: Raylton Alves courtesy of the National Water AgencyEurope, with huge water basins including large aquifersand extensive streams of water cross-cutting and borderingdifferent self-governing states.To some extent, the challenges for securing watergovernance within the Brazilian federation may becompared to those faced by neighbouring countrieswhen dealing with transboundary waters. The mainissues facing Brazil can be addressed from two differentperspectives. Firstly, that of the cooperative effortsbuilt on relationships between representatives of stateand non-state actors, particularly in water forums withboard-like structures and deliberative powers such aswater councils (at national and state levels) and riverbasin committees (at regional level). And secondly, thatof the relationship between state actors across differentbranches of government and through different levels ofBrazil’s federal system such as federal, state and municipalgovernments.Participatory and decentralized water managementBrazil’s water policy of 1997 determined that watermanagement should guarantee the multiple uses ofwater resources, while being decentralized and participatory.It involves public authorities, water users andcivil society in the decision-making process. These legalprovisions require a governance system capable of coordinatingthe actions of all social actors involved – fromthe small landowner to big water industry and fromvoluntary environmental groups to private entrepreneurs,each with their own convictions and expectationsabout how water resources should be allocated.To decide when, for whom, how much and inwhich way it is possible to allocate water resources,one cannot rely only on technical criteria. Definingobjectives and priorities for water use is primarily apolitical process. Hence, according to the democraticvalues enshrined in the Brazilian Constitution of 1988and the new principles and guidelines established bythe water reforms of the 1990s, this process couldno longer be confined to the limits of technocracy.It could neither be submitted to the administrativepowers held by public offices, nor conditioned to theorganized interests vested in elected officials.Based on that principle, Brazilian policymakerscreated an institutional mechanism by which all socialactors – government, private and voluntary sectorsalike – have the opportunity to decide major questionsthrough direct democracy. Based on the French water[ 225 ]