DETERMINATION OF THE MOST APPROPRIATE POLICY FOR RIVER BASIN MANAGEMENT

The Parliament of the Salgado River provided actions and recommendations for the future of the Salgado River Basin which is in the south of Ceara State, Brazil. These recommendations were obtained through a democratic process, with the involvement of around 100 participants from private companies, public organizations and the third sector. The intention was to define a model that is compatible with the aspirations of society regarding the use and quality of the water, as well as define necessary decision actions and strategies. The main goal of this article is to determine, with a multi-criteria decision analysis, an appropriate policy for the river basin management. Therefore, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied. The criteria are a combination of economic, environmental, and social issues; the alternatives were defined as essentially preservationist policy, sustainable policy, and essentially economic policy. The AHP application was effective in this decision analysis.Â