Excerpt
The Northeastern region of Brazil is home to a large semiarid expanse referred to locally as the sertão, or backland. It encompasses about 900,000 km2 (347,000 mi2) in the states of Bahia, Sergipe, Alagoas, Pernambuco, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará, Piauí, and Minas Gerais (Figure 1). The region is subject to recurrent droughts, which are often followed by floods. An individual drought or flood event may not affect the entire semiarid Northeastern region (referred to in Brazil as the Polígono das Secas, or Drought Polygon), but may be of sufficient intensity and magnitude to warrant emergency measures. Portions of the sertão have recently experienced a severe 3-year drought (1990-93), affecting close to 11 million people.
A question that recurs in scientific, professional, and political circles is how to effectively manage the cycle of droughts and floods of the Brazilian Northeast. In the aftermath of the Great Drought of 1877-79, the Brazilian government initiated a series of policies and strategies to combat the droughts. These policies were aimed at providing the means to store water for use during extended periods of drought. After more than …
Footnotes
Victor Miguel Ponce is with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, San Diego State University, San Diego, California. This paper was completed while the author was on sabbatical leave in the Fall of 1993, at the Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil. Many thanks go to Dr. J. Nilson B. Campos, professor of civil engineering, Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC), and Mr. Francisco Lopes Viana, Director, Fundaçao Cearense do Meteorología e Recursos Hidricos (FUNCEME), Fortaleza.
- Copyright 1995 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.