HISTORICAL FORMATION OF SENHOR DO BONFIM (BAHIA, BRAZIL): TERRITORIAL OCCUPATION, SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE CAATINGA AND ENVIRONMENTAL CIVIL LIABILITY IN THE SEMI-ARID REGION

Abstract

This article analyzed the historical formation of Senhor do Bonfim, in the semi-arid region of Bahia, Brazil, focusing on how the territory was occupied and on the resulting socio-environmental transformations, and relating them to strict environmental civil liability and sustainable development. The research is qualitative and exploratory. It combined a narrative review, based on a structured Google Scholar search (74 texts read in full, 17 in the final corpus), with documentary analysis, treated through thematic content analysis in three axes: occupation and land use; climate and social vulnerability; and legal liability. Occupation of the territory, from the Sahy Mission (1697) to cattle ranching along the Estrada das Boiadas and the railway of the late nineteenth century, was associated with the exploitation of natural resources and the clearing of the Caatinga: between 1986 and 2017, shrub Caatinga fell from 59.67% to 51.52% of the municipal area, while agricultural crops rose from 16.44% to 23.32%. This liability adds to the effects of climate change and worsens water insecurity and rural exodus. The study concludes that strict environmental civil liability, grounded in the integral risk theory and in the propter rem nature of environmental obligations, combined with policies for coexistence with the semi-arid climate, is a relevant instrument for addressing this liability.