| Rainwater Catchment in Brazil’s Rural Semiarid Tropics: A Grassroots'
Approach Johann Gnadlinger
Abstract During the past decade, NGOs and grass-root organizations working in Brazil's semiarid tropics have focused on rainwater catchment systems as an essential contribution to people's survival under the region's climatic conditions. Awareness about the possibilities of the semi-arid region had to be raised. The main necessities are adequate education at all levels, therefore organizations working in the Northeast dedicate most of their efforts on this aspect. The organizations not only teach appropriate technologies, but first speak about an appropriate understanding of the semiarid climate and than introduce rainwater catchment systems and look at the socio-economic and cultural conditions of the people involved. There has to be a political willingness to create an infra-structure such as access to land, animal raising, rain-fed agriculture, water supply, education, health service, streets and commercialization of local products. Once these aspects are taken into consideration, the future of the rural population in the Brazilian semiarid region will be more certain. |
