Rural conflicts over water will likely increase in the next few years due to hydro infrastructure projects within the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC). This is the opinion of researcher Carlos Walter Gonçalves, who presented the study, "Conflicts in the Fields Brazil 2006", prepared by the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT). Regarding the Madeira Complex plants at Jirau and Santo Antônio, the scientist questions what real benefits the hydro plants will bring to the population of the state. "Power to benefit whom?", he queried.
Data shows that the number of water-related conflicts increased from 14 in 2002 to 71 in 2005, then dropping to 45 last year. The number of people involved went from 14,300 in 2002 to 13,070 in 2006.
"Everything indicates that these policies will be put in practice and the conflicts will effectively appear", he said. The study cites the diverting of the São Francisco River and the Belo Monte Hydro plant. In the case of diverting the waters, the Commission's assessment is that the project did not prioritize human supply but rather irrigation, shrimp farming and industrial uses.
The Coordinator of the Integration Project of the São Francisco River in the North-Northeastern Basins, Rômulo de Macedo Vieira, assures that the priority is to address human consumption. Other activities, he said, will only receive the diverted water whenever there is a rain-generated surplus. "If surplus water is used for irrigation, great, that generates jobs, fights poverty and reduces abject poverty in the region", he said to Agência Brasil on March 23rd.
To researcher Carlos Walter Gonçalves, another factor may stimulate conflicts, both for water and land, and that is the advance of sugarcane and other crops for biofuel production, replacing ranching. He predicts that ranching will encroach on savanna and Amazon Rainforest regions. "The Brazilian spatial configuration will be redefined. The trend will for pressure to be placed on these regions", he said.