The ecological redemption movement of the Piracicaba river basin: a collective action experience

Abstract

The antecedent of Brazil’s water management model has its origins in the complex processes of environmental degradation and in conflicts concerning water requirements that have been occurring since the 1970s. In this sense, the experience of the state of São Paulo is central, since it was in the basins of the Piracicaba, Capivari and Jundiaí (PCJ) rivers that the participation of citizens, by means of the Year 2000 Ecological Redemption Movement, impelled the configuration of a regional water management model based on decentralization and on the participation of various social actors. The impacts of this socioenvironmental movement gave rise to spheres that have been serving, to this day, as the basis for the management of water resources in Brazil.