{"id":259867,"date":"2018-07-04T17:13:13","date_gmt":"2018-07-04T20:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=259867"},"modified":"2018-07-04T17:13:13","modified_gmt":"2018-07-04T20:13:13","slug":"benedito-braga-a-fundamental-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/benedito-braga-a-fundamental-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Benedito Braga: A fundamental right"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

L\u00e9o Ramos Chaves<\/span><\/a> Braga in his office at the Department of Sanitation and Water Resources, in central S\u00e3o PauloL\u00e9o Ramos Chaves<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Benedito Braga, an engineer and professor at the Polytechnic School of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (POLI-USP), has actively worked to disseminate technical knowledge beyond the academic domain. As president since 2012 of the World Water Council, he is among the organizers of the World Water Forum to be hosted by the Brazilian Federal Government and the Federal District Government, in Bras\u00edlia, from March 19 to 23. This eighth edition of the forum is the first in the Southern Hemisphere and the second in the Americas\u2014in 2006 it was hosted by Mexico.<\/p>\n

In an interview at the State Department of Sanitation and Water Resources in S\u00e3o Paulo City, Braga\u2014who heads the department\u2014stressed the importance of water being recognized as a central, strategic issue. It is, after all, a human right recognized as such by the United Nations (UN).<\/p>\n

What are your expectations for the upcoming World Water Forum?<\/strong>
\nThe forum includes a Thematic Process, which discusses current issues from a technical perspective; a Political Process, with delegates ranging from mayors to heads of state; and a Regional Process, which ensures the specific circumstances of each continent are taken into account. For the Brazil edition a group has also been created to discuss sustainability. This is the basic structure of the forum, which will look at real-world issues such as sanitation, sewage treatment, access to drinking water, municipal water management, and water security in the context of climate change. It will also discuss funding solutions for works needed to provide universal access to safe drinking water, and for the reservoirs and dams needed to increase resilience to climate change. Lastly, it will examine the ways ecosystems and biodiversity are being affected.<\/p>\n

How is effective dialogue between academics, policymakers, and society achieved?<\/strong>
\nThe issues raised in the Thematic, Regional, and Sustainability processes are summarized in letters of commitment. These inputs are then fed into the Political Process, where policymakers discuss a statement indicating their intended approach to addressing water-related issues.<\/p>\n

How do you measure the success of previous editions of the forum?<\/strong>
\nOne of the forum\u2019s goals is to raise awareness among policymakers about water issues. The first edition in Marrakesh, in 1997, was attended by 400 delegates. In the most recent edition in Korea [2015], we had 40,000 participants. Heads of state have attended in Korea and also in France [2012]. This appears to denote increasing engagement among policymakers in tackling water-related issues.<\/p>\n

Are there any significant technical issues or proposals on the agenda?<\/strong>
\nWe are hoping to discuss innovative project finance solutions for water infrastructure. In the context of climate change, we expect proposals will be put forward calling for water issues to be spotlighted at the next COPs [Conferences of the Parties], and recommendations will likely call for an increased focus on adaptation rather than mitigation in the area of \u200b\u200benergy. We need to become more resilient to our climate as it is today. Because the forum is open to new ideas, there\u2019s no telling what other topics might emerge. But we expect discussions to extend across municipal water management, floods, solid waste, and housing. Water is a cross-cutting issue in all of these areas.<\/p>\n

And energy? Hydroelectric plants need water to operate. <\/strong>
\nWater is used not only by hydro power plants, but also for cooling in other types of power-generating facilities. One of the high-level panels will discuss the nexus between water, energy, and food security at the river-basin level, and how conflicts-of-use can be minimized. The overarching theme of the forum is \u201cSharing ideas on sharing water\u201d. Upward of 260 river basins are shared by two or more countries. How can water flowing across geopolitical borders be managed, and how can national sovereignty be reconciled with the shared use of water resources? Every State can do as it pleases in its own territory, but its actions will affect countries downstream. In Brazil, the Amazon basin is downstream whereas the Prata basin is upstream from our neighbors. We need to make sure water management practices are consistent across borders.<\/p>\n

Is this also true for aquifers?<\/strong>
\nYes, the same principles apply to groundwater.<\/p>\n

Will water scarcity lead to increased use of groundwater?<\/strong>
\nGroundwater is a strategic reserve. The vast majority of cities in S\u00e3o Paulo State, other than S\u00e3o Paulo City, draw water from the Botucatu and Bauru aquifers, which provide an abundant water supply. But it is often easier to impound a stream and use the water directly; the disadvantage is that a higher level of treatment is required because surface water is often polluted.<\/p>\n

Are there negotiations underway to privatize aquifers in Brazil?<\/strong>
\nNot to my knowledge. The notion of privatization exists in rhetoric only; water is a public good under Brazil\u2019s Constitution. Municipal governments can grant to a public authority or a private company the right to operate a water and sewage treatment utility. I fail to see how it is possible to privatize an aquifer. A factory can drill a well to get access to groundwater, but in the state of S\u00e3o Paulo this is regulated by the Department of Water and Electric Energy.<\/p>\n

What are your views on the organization of an Alternative Forum?<\/strong>
\nOne was also organized in Marseilles, France. The organizers have an ideology and certain points of view that they want to promote. The motto for their event in Bras\u00edlia will be \u201cWater is not a commodity\u201d. In other words, they are opposing the putative privatization of water resources, which as I have said is not possible. Apparently what they\u2019re really against is any private-sector involvement whatsoever in concessions for water and sanitation services. We take no positions, for or against, any particular policy stances\u2014quite the opposite: all parties can raise issues and they are debated.<\/p>\n

Does the World Water Council not have stated positions?<\/strong>
\nThe Council operates on the basis of dialogue\u2014it is not our intent to impose positions. We want to raise policymakers\u2019 awareness of the importance of water, but have no stated opinion on water and sanitation concessions. Utilities can be public or private, provided they are efficient. We provide thought leadership around \u200b\u200bwater security: we give examples of places around the world that have done well in increasing resilience to climate change; and we have publications on the types of funding that can be used for water infrastructure, available at worldwatercouncil.org.<\/p>\n

Is there ground for optimism?<\/strong>
\nI believe there is; we’re in a much better place than we were before. The state of S\u00e3o Paulo, for example, came through a water crisis in 2014 that was similar to the current crisis in Cape Town, South Africa\u2014through planning, infrastructure, and the water-works that were put into place. Citizens also reduced their water consumption by 15%.<\/p>\n

Would we be prepared for another 2014?<\/strong>
\nYes, we are prepared. I hope it won\u2019t happen, of course. There are decision-makers involved who have a high level of awareness that water is a crucial factor in development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World Water Council President Benedito Braga discusses his expectations for this month’s World Water Forum in Bras\u00edlia","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[227,260,265],"coauthors":[1601],"class_list":["post-259867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","tag-energy","tag-public-health","tag-urbanism"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259867\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259867"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=259867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}