Sustentabilidade hidroambiental no alto curso da bacia do rio Mamanguape: uma análise multicriterial com multidecisor.

Abstract

Faced with the environmental problem that involves the scarcity of hydric resources in sufficient quantity and desired quality to meet human needs, together with the necessity to protect these resources for future generations, along with the preservation of ecosystems, humanity seeks new development models that are sustainable, where the management of these natural resources be more democratic and with long-term. In this perspective of contributing to the construction of knowledge on the management of hydric resources on a sustainable basis, this study has as general objective to rank the Mamanguape River counties based on their hydro-environmental sustainability and to present scenarios that facilitate decision making through multi-criteria and multi-decisor analysis. The counties that make up the high course of the Mamanguape River present similarities, in terms of historical, economic, environmental and social aspects, making it possible to compare them. For this purpose, was selected a set of indicators that represented four dimensions of sustainability: environmental, social, economic and institutional, subdivided into 15 dimensions and 27 indicators. Aiming to validate the indicators, a group of decision makers (including hydric resource teachers, secretaries of the counties studied, responsible for the northern coast basin committee and participants in the Rio Mamanguape project) assigned weights to selected indicators and sustainability dimensions. Data analysis was performed using the PHOMETHEE II and COPELAND methods, which are multi-criteria analysis, being the last multi-decisor. The main results showed that the environmental and social dimensions are considered the most relevant, in decision maker's opinion. These are the ones that present the most problems, such as lack of basic sanitation, high rates of infant mortality, high potential for contamination, etc. However, the economic dimension, in terms of income generation, needs to be strengthened, noting the high rates of low-income people and the lack of use of local potential adequately in the generation and distribution of economic resources. Just as changes in the institutional dimension are needed to improve the public policies to be developed and the management of hydric resources, which includes, as a matter of urgency, representation in the basin committee and the insertion of the concept of sustainable development in the actions undertaken. Regarding the ranking of counties Alagoa Grande, Esperança and Lagoa Seca are the municipalities with the best performance. Thus, municipalities, including those that have achieved better ranking, need to invest and develop public policies that improve their indexes, especially in the environmental and social areas that are those prioritized by social actors and that present major problems.