Emmanuele Ribeiro De Mendonça,Vitória Régia Fernandes Gehlen, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Ciências Geográficas, nueleg@yahoo.com.br
SUMMARY
This paper describes some theoretical reflections on the concept of territory, considering that such a concept is presented as essential in the study and research environment. The notions of territory are contributing to the understanding of water use and management. Thus, this work seeks to bring together the main theories about the concept and relate them to environmental management. To this end, the research literature and field research were essential. The empirical referent of this work is the community Caranguejo Tabaiares in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. This community is located on the Capibaribe river, but its inhabitants live with the lack of clean water and sanitation. The results of this study show that the different uses of water in Cancer Tabaiares are related to the dynamics of the territory. Moreover, the concept of territory is essential for environmental management, especially in situations involving social and environmental conflicts.
KEYWORDS: territory, environmental management, social and environmental conflicts.