Desertificação e governança nas comunidades rurais da ASD do Sertão dos Inhamuns, Ceará

Abstract

The worsening of the climate and the harmful action of human being to nature promoted an acceleration of desertification processes in Brazilian drylands. The semi-arid region is the most vulnerable área, especially the rural areas. In the State of Ceará, three desertification nuclei or Desertification Areas - DAs are defined. These areas have been focus of a series of strategies aimed to combating the phenomenon. For instance, elaboration of the Programa de Ação Estadual de Combate à Desertificação e Mitigação dos Efeitos da Seca – PAE-CE. However, almost ten years of existence of the PAE, the DAs present serious problems of desertification. The proposals presented on this program was not observed. In this scenario, this study assumes the lack of governance structure favors the advance of desertification. Therefore, this work aims to analyze the interaction between desertification and the implementation of governance principles in the rural communities belonging to the DAs of the Sertão de Inhamuns, located in the state of Ceará. Primarily, application’s forms were used with leaders of rural communities located in the municipalities of Arneiroz, Independencia and Tauá, inserted in the DAs. As methodological procedures, initially the PSR (Pressure - State - Response) methodology was adopted to describe the situation of desertification in the region from a set of indicators. After all, a complex of governance indicators was elaborated with six dimensions. Two groups of indicators were aggregated into two indices: Desertification Index and Governance (DIG) and Index in Desertified Areas (IDA). To verify the relationship between governance and desertification, models were estimated using the ordinary least squares method and quantile regression. The main results showed that these indicators determine desertification in the area. Most communities related an intermediate level of desertification. Regarding governance, it was possible to perceive low levels of implementation of instruments favorable to the implementation and success of strategies aimed at combating desertification. Finally, accepting the hypothesis tested in the study, it was possible to observe that there is a significant inverse correlation between the IDA and DIG. This result shows that the higher levels of implementation of the principles of governance collaborate to reduce desertification. Therefore, that combating desertification requires strengthening the governance structure of the DSA in order to involve society civil, public and private entities. Any strategies aimed at reducing the phenomenon depends of the change in the current model of public policy implementation which, as shown in the study, is especially lacking in mechanisms that are components of the dimensions Efficiency and Effectiveness and Population Participation.