Governance of the Commons and Institutional Practices: The Committee of Hydrographic Basins of the Extreme South of Bahia in Question

Abstract

"An article on the Hydrographic Basin Committee of Peruípe, Itanhém and Jucuruçu rivers (CBHPIJ), located in the extreme south of Bahia, Brazil, is presented here. The Committee, as a collegiate institution, was created on December 18, 2012 and the members of the various water user sectors, civil society organizations and / or public authorities participate on it. Its main competences are: to approve the Water Resources Plan of the Basin; arbitrate conflicts over water use; establish mechanisms and suggest the values of the collection for the use of water; among others. In this sense, the focus of attention of the article resides in the members of the executive organizational structure of the mentioned Committee, mainly in the plenary and in the board of directors. The plenary is composed of 24 members representing the public power, users and civil society; with deliberative and consultative power, and are directly involved in the management actions. Through interviews, we want to understand the reasons why the said Committee, even after nearly six years of existence, still does not develop environmental management actions that guarantee the preservation of one of its rivers, Itanhém. The methodology that guides the study is based on Ostrom's (1990, 2009) Institutional Development Analysis for Socio-Ecological Systems (IAD-SES Framework) model, which consists of an ideal type of common resource resource governance. In the form of a questionnaire, the members of the Committee will be interviewed. The analysis model used allows us to compare the field reality to the ideal type and, in this way, to analyze the set of internal and external information that form the decisions and motivations of the CBHPIJ's leading agents in the exercise of their functions, understand why the Committee is unable to carry out the actions proposed, a situation that has dragged on over the years. The findings of the research reveal that the Committee needs to better understand its limits and biophysical conditions."