Presentations 2016

Water Security, productive restructuring and land use at Sepé Tiaraju settlement, São Paulo State, Brazil

UNIARA/IGc-USP

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In Brazil, over the past decade, it has been institutionalized a water security policy with special attention to smallholder’s farmers. The Decree 7272 (August 25th, 2012) regulated the Organic Law on Food and Nutrition Security and established the National Policy for Food and Nutrition Security (NPFS). It proposes to ensure universal access to quality water with sufficient quantity, establishing a link with the Water Security and prioritizing from the family farmers the families under water insecurity to food production.This paper presents the initial results of a project with smallholders that proposed to expand and ensure their water security by training them when implementing integrated water management practices in a recharge area of ??the Guarani Aquifer, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo (SP), Brazil.A partnership of researchers and post-graduation teachers from Territorial Development and Environment Course UNIARA (Araraquara, SP), Groundwater Studies Research Center (CEPAS) of Geoscience Institute-USP, Environment Center form Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) (Jaguariúna, SP), and the families of the Sepé Tiaraju settlement located in the municipalities of Serra Azul and Serrana (SP).The settlement, created by the federal government, has 79 families (about 400 persons) and ??798 hectares and represents at all more than 10% of the rural population in the municipalities of Serra Azul and Serrana that have an annual precipitation of 1462 mm.In 2004, after the settlement establishment a productive restructuring of land use, occupation and forms and landscape happened. A monoculture sugar cane field adopted until that time was replaced by a less impacting production systems, including agroforestry that promoted recovery of native vegetation and surface water.For social and productive development of families, the federal government provided the drilling of two wells that draw groundwater from the Guarani Aquifer and shared energy costs among the families. The payment share and water use at certain times of day resulted on conflicts especially in the dry seasons.The work had two fronts: a survey and systematization of data information of the area, the families and the needs and uses of water for life and production in the settlement. The second was to empower families to manage the different sources of water provided from: rainwater, spring water and reuse household water.At the current stage, changes towards a historical recovery of land use an occupation and good productive practices can be observed and we would like to know if they are related to groundwater conservation and springs water volume increase.