The mythicization of the social participation in Brazilian water resources policy – origin, motivation and social inclusion

Abstract

The hypothesis stating that the social participation arises in times of social and envrionmental crisis as myth to soften the crisis and legitimize decison process conduced by dominant groups is analysed based on water resources management practices in Brazil. Three aspects of the mythicization are pointed out: the origin of the participation, the notion of equality among the participants of the process, and the nature of the products obtained by particpatory processess. The conclusion is that the mythicization of the participatory processess distorts and darks the environmental and social sustainability and it is favoured by the existance of deep social unequality which influences the participation mode of those several stakeholders, and by the presence of an economic bias in the National Policy of Water Resources, leading the River Basin Committees to the way of charging for the use of water.