Name: Lorena Pinheiro Martins
Type: MSc dissertation
Publication date: 24/05/2023
Advisor:

Name	Role
Marta Zorzal e Silva	Advisor *

Examining board:

Name	Role
Luciana Andressa Martins de Souza	Internal Examiner *
Marta Zorzal e Silva	Advisor *
Rebecca Neaera Abers	External Examiner *

Summary: The paper analyzes the capacities of the municipal government to deal with public
supply crises arising from water crisis situations, and how these local government
capacities prepare or not the municipalities to deal with sudden situations, as
occurred in the case of Fundão-MG disaster. Based on the literature on State
Capacities and Multilevel Institutional Arrangements, this dissertation aims to
understand how the municipality of Colatina had state capacities to deal with the
environmental and water problems caused and what were the responses of the
institutions linked to environmental and water management in the municipality given
the emerging problems. Methodologically, the theme is approached as a case study,
focusing on state capacities and their pre- and post-disaster reconfigurations. In the
context of the crisis caused by the Doce river water capture impediment and the
complex situations that ensued, the case study contributes to the understanding of
the multidimensional characteristics (environmental, social, economic, institutional)
that constituted the scenario WHERE institutional managers needed to negotiate
alternatives with several social and political actors present in the researched
municipality. From this theoretical-analytical framework and understanding of the
few existing connections between the institutional matrix of SISNAMA and
SINGREH, it was possible to highlight the existence of gaps that generate
interpretive ambiguities on the part of managers. Regarding the institutional and
political-relational capacities existing in the Colatina-ES city hall, as well as the
challenges faced in the crisis situation, the research findings demonstrate that
recent institutional capacities had been built, which provided reasonable support in
the acute phase of the crisis. In fact, from the Crisis Cabinet established to deal with
the chaos and public calamity situation, it was possible to establish articulations with
various federal and state government agencies, as well as with the municipality of
Governador Valadares, which was undergoing a similar situation at that time.

Keywords: State Capacities, Environment, Water Resources, Doce River, Colatina-
ES.