Concentration Area
Modeling and Technology for Environment Applied to Water Resources
This area of concentration has the mission to consolidate and integrate the activities developed by IFFluminense in the area of environment with emphasis on water resources. The applied research in this area of concentration is focused on issues related to the multiple use of water, protection and restoration of the environment, involving analytical, computational and experimental studies through the use of models and technological solutions developed in the laboratory and field applications. Combining expert knowledge with popular knowledge, it is intended to build and validate models, as well as technological solutions with local communities, using methods of collaborative environmental management and citizen science applied to integrated management of water resources, with the focus of mobilization of the representations of the regional Basin Committees.
This area of concentration is based on the division of territorial space in hydrographic basins, understanding them as a basic management and study unit for the implementation of intervention works on water resources, observing the principles of ecosystemic management of common-use goods. The implementation of the hydric resources management instruments, foreseen in Law 9433/97 and in the National Hydric Resources Policy, goes through the hydric resources plan, the framing of hydric bodies, the granting of use rights, the charging of hydric resources and the information systems. In this sense, the participatory planning becomes strategic so that goals and actions may be applied in favor of the multiple but sustainable use of water. The basin plan stands out as a fundamental instrument for water management, which allows managers to set goals and develop medium and long-term actions that solve local, regional and national problems. The modeling and technology, through research and technological development activities, are tools to support decision-making for managers in the environmental area, which when integrated with the methods of participatory environmental management are validated by society, thus possessing greater probability of practical application and innovative formulations.
The importance of the thematic approach of this area of concentration should be mentioned for the regions of Lagos, North and Northwest of the state of Rio de Janeiro, which present a considerable relevance in the national hydrological panorama, where the basins of the Paraíba do Sul River and Macaé River stand out, the latter being a strategic source for the region and responsible for 80% of the national production of Petroleum. These regions are located among the main water dispersion centres of the Brazilian territory and through the diversification of socio-economic activities have caused different impacts on the environment of the region, mainly in relation to the water resources, both in their quantitative and qualitative aspects. Thus, the proposed program has research lines that comprise projects focused on the study of the region, without excluding analytical perspectives of national and global scope, in which academic knowledge and expertise are inseparable from local knowledge of popular and/or traditional basis.
The area of concentration is supported by two lines of research, which are related:
Modeling for Environment Applied to Water Resources and Technology for Environment Applied to Water Resources. These two lines are supported through compulsory subjects, in addition to seminars, which make up the common base: Research Techniques, Mathematical Modeling in Environmental Management and Water Resources, Management of Environmental Management and Water Resources: Institutional and Legal Aspects, Applied Hydrology, Water and Human Relations.
The researchers are allocated to a particular line of research, but dialogue through conceptual and methodological interfaces between the two lines, explaining the integrated approach proposed by the program.