São Francisco River Basin Management Plan approved unanimously
The new São Francisco River Basin Management Plan, made by Nemus (see project in here) was approved unanimously, by the members of the Committee of the river basin, on the 15th of September.
The São Francisco river is 3,000 km long and its drainage basin is over 600,000 km2. This new Plan will be in force until 2025 and it will be the guide document for public policies and any interventions (public, private or by interested citizens) regarding water and land use in the São Francisco river basin.
The 10 volumes of this new Plan contain diverse information: fully updated characterization and diagnosis of the whole territory, prospective scenarios and also action plans that will improve the water partitioning between all the multiple uses. “Multiple uses” is actually the key-term of this Plan that aims to assure that all the needs are fairly met: ecosystems health, energy generation, agriculture, safe use of waterways, fishing, sanitation, provision of drinking water for people and animals, industry, mining and water transfer to the neighbour basin to supply the Nordeste. In order to achieve this, the Plan presents six action plans that should guide all the important decisions until 2025, to assure for a sustainable use of the natural resources.
The making of the Plan went through 3 phases and it also included relevant moments of public participation:
- 21 technical workshops on five different themes (700 experts and users from different sectors)
- 24 public consultations (over 3,000 participants)
- Over 1,000 inquiries comprising 233 variables
- Analysis of public opinion through the media
- Dozens of interviews, meetings and debates.
[Official press release on the approval of the River Basin Management Plan can be found in here – Portuguese only]