Use of common resources in the sertão nordestino: the experience of the Lagoa dos Cavalos community (Russas, Ceará, Brazil)

Abstract

This paper discusses the use of common land and resources in a rural community in the municipality of Russas (Ceará semiarid region, Northeast Brazil). We adopted a qualitative approach, combining the use of witness statements, documentary and bibliographic sources. Non-probabilistic intentional sampling was used for choosing social actors to be interviewed. The findings indicate that Lagoa dos Cavalos, formed by small family units, mostly original of shares by inheritance, has difficulties regarding production, due to the restriction of land and lack of water. The common use of loose land for grazing animals until the 1970s progressed, since 1986, to collective strategies combining common and private uses in loose land, inheritance of land and individual plots, ensuring reproduction and permanence of farmers in the community. This was possible due to particular characteristics of the group, the support of the local organizing process since the early 1980s, and allowed even to a successful negotiation in a conflict related to the implementation of an irrigation project.