Water Governance in Portugal and Brazil: A Comparative Analysis

Faced with the globally installed water crisis, Portugal and Brazil have problems related to extreme hydrological events. The paper presents a first stage of research that comparatively analyzes the water resources governance systems in Portugal and Brazil, seeking to carry out a comparative diagnosis of the political systems and forms of territorial organization. In addition to differences related to territorial and demographic dimensions, Portugal and Brazil have different forms of state organization. The first is a unitary State and the second a federation, and this difference is the main starting point for this research. Conceptual, approach and arrangement differences between the two systems are pointed out. As a result, it is noticed that the differences found bring consequences to the water governance systems of each country. Between the differences appointed in both systems, the most significant is the level of the social participation specially during decision process of occurrence of extreme hydrological events.