MacroZEE of the São Francisco River Basin, Brazil

NEMUS is starting a new project in Brazil, which will be developed for the Ministry of the Environment, specifically for the Secretariat of Water Resources and Environmental Quality. The project consists in the elaboration of the prognosis and aids for the implementation of the Ecological–Economic Macro-zoning (MacroZEE) of the São Francisco River Basin, the largest entirely national Brazilian basin, with 641,000 km², which covers 7 federations and is divided into 4 physiographic regions.

The project, which will have a duration of 18 months, comprehends the elaboration of a strategic analysis of the River Basin, the definition of trend and alternative prospective scenarios for the 2027 and 2040 horizons, a zoning proposal and the establishment of use and territory occupation guidelines, as well as an action plan for the guidelines and monitoring and evaluation indicators for the implementation of the MacroZEE.

Besides structuring a Geographic Database, a metadata catalogue and a digital interactive atlas, the project will also encompass the planning and execution of 7 participatory workshops and 12 dialogue tables with multiple strategic stakeholders and institutions representative of every physiographic region, with the objective of introducing and discussing perspective scenarios and management proposals for this important River Basin.

Financed by the World Bank, this is already the second major project developed by NEMUS in this vast River Basin, which precedes the River Basin Management Plan of the São Francisco River (2016 – 2025), approved in September 2016 by the 62 members of the Basin’s Committee.