Conflitos socioambientais na Bacia do Rio Grande: dos conceitos aos caminhos de mediação

Abstract

The present work seeks to analyze the position of the Rio Grande watersheds (BHRG), in the South of the State of Minas Gerais (Brazil), as an important administrative unit for the study and understanding of the ecological, social, economic and cultural dynamics that interact, and denote a field of problems, risks, contradictory public policies, diverse political and popular interests. The purpose of this study is based on the fact that the territorial analysis allows the identification of the concept of watersheds not only as management and planning units, but also as concrete incidence of socio-environmental law in the understanding and influence of conflict composition. In this methodological way of research, the Hydrographic Basin and its territorial divisions were considered as a tool to understand and validate the current instruments able to advance in the recovery, maintenance and control of common goods, rather natural and cultural resources. As a method of analysis, the study also focused on the importance of the profile and state of the art of the functioning of the environmental agencies of the State of Minas Gerais, state and municipal environmental management councils, municipal and state licensing, installation of large enterprises, production and technical capacity building, as well as the population's view of such dynamics and changes, are decisive for the size and understanding of the conflicts that are installed. It has been shown that socioenvironmental conflicts emerge as disputes, divergent forms of perception of regional and local reality, evolving into a clash between social groups that have dispersed interests on political and environmental issues, as well as symbolic and concrete disputes over territory and natural resources. It was concluded that, in this scenario, the complex dynamics of state power, third sector entities, social actors, companies, rural and urban communities, in the face of the dispute over representation in the social and political arena, requires the construction of a renewed dimension rational, in the form of exploration of these resources, aligning itself with the research on the form of public management, agreed planning and regional development. Proposals for resolving and restorative actions may indicate a perspective of solving socio-environmental conflicts that are identified in the Rio Grande watersheds, with a greater appreciation of proposals for a better quality of life, with respect to collective goods, in an effective and ecologically balanced environment.