The ugly reality of Brazil’s water conflicts

Brazil is the country with the largest freshwater reserves in the world, concentrating 12 percent of the planet’s total. This is more than the entire continents of Africa (10 percent) and Europe (7 percent). Despite this, the country has seen an increase in conflicts over access to water in recent years.

Since 2003, there have been more than 3,000 such cases, an increase of more than 1,000 percent, according to a survey by the Pastoral Land Committee (CPT).

Disputes between businessmen or farmers and indigenous peoples, quilombolas, and riverine communities over access to water sources make up the vast majority of these conflicts. Examples include the appropriation of land by large rural producers that displace communities far from a river from which they draw water; mining companies that pollute natural resources; and the diversion of water for crop irrigation, among others.

“The expansion of monocultures, the expansion of irrigated areas, the intensive use of pesticides, and deforestation cause rivers to be blocked, their flow to be reduced, and in many cases to dry up completely,” says Isolete Wichinieski, CPT coordinator.

It is no coincidence that the year...