First public meeting

Since I’m researching public participation in water resource management here, my advisor suggested I attend this open meeting held by the watershed committee. These meetings are held as a part of a way to involve the public in the management of water resources. So I was excited to finally be out in the field and step outside of my little workstation. First I had to figure out how to get the meeting. It was being held in a smaller city outside of Campinas. I found out that I would need to take 3 buses to get there...great. So I left my house at 7 am, and headed for the bus terminal. I caught my bus into Centro Campinas then had to find a bus to take me to Jaguariuna. After a bit of asking around I found where I could catch my next bus. Once in Jaguariuna I found my bus to Pedreira. All I had was an address and the name of the building where the meeting was being held. So I figured since it’s a small town people would know how to get there. No one on the bus was able to help me out so I ended up taking the bus to the terminal and hoping to just grab a cab. No cabs. I asked around and was told to head down a road and make a left at some marker that I wasn’t exactly sure I’d be able to find. I eventually made it to the meeting about an hour late and a full 3 hours after I had left my house….hmmm…so much for easy public participation.

When I got there I signed in and took a seat. Since my Portuguese isn’t the greatest I wasn’t able to understand a whole lot of what was being said. But I did catch that there were only two committee members that seemed to monopolize the conversations. That and there really wasn’t any space for public comments. Motions were raised with some explanation by either the counsel president or the vice president then he asked for any objections…no one spoke…approved. This went on for several motions without any one from the audience making a comment or any sort of discussion. There were a few people that got up to speak, but I couldn’t tell if they were other committee members or from some nonprofits. In any case it seemed like all the decisions had been made before this meeting and I was observing some sort of formality. I did meet a woman, Katia Rossi Gotardi, from the Cosórcio Intermunicap das Bacias dos Rios Piracicaba, Capivari e Jundaí, where she on environmental education. Katia is very familiar with the committee’s work so I’m hoping to set up a meeting with her soon.

On my way back home I flagged down a bus and asked the driver if he was going to Jaguariuna (the town I needed to get to get back to Campinas), he said yes, so I hopped on. I noticed however that there were only men on the bus and everyone was wearing these white polo shirts. I took my seat and as we made our way we stopped and picked up more guys wearing white polo shirts with some sort of logo on them. I thought to myself, did I just join a cult? Well we eventually made it to the bus terminal and I asked the driver how much I owed him. He caught my thick accent and asked where I was from. I said the US, and then he just shook my hand and said that was all I owed him. That was strange yet pleasant end to my little fieldwork adventure.