Capital Social, Capital Físico e a Vulnerabilidade do Sertanejo: o Caso das Comunidades de Lustal e Sítio Lagoa no Município de Taua, Ceará

The County of Tauá is located in the region of Inhamuns in the State of Ceará, one of the areas most affected by impacts of periodic droughts, with their adverse influence on production and consequently on the farmers’ quality of life. It is observed that, during climate crises, the communities have limiting defense mechanisms. It is supposed that the social capital, as a mechanism that agglutinates and facilitates coordinated actions, strengthens the communities and reduces the vulnerability. This study intends to verify and analyze the importance of social and physical capital as a strategy of Lustal and Sítio Lagoa communities to live with droughts. For this purpose, a questionnaire containing a list of social capital variables was submitted to specialists to rank them. Out of this list the ten most frequent variables were selected. Following, in the Tauá County, technical specialists and rural agents experienced in these communities were asked to provide weight to social and physical capital variables. With this information, an Index was developed to show the importance of social capital in the reduction of vulnerability as well as the relative importance of social and physical capital in these communities. The present work enabled the verification of the relevance of social and physical capital as decisive elements of the level of vulnerability of the communities of Lustal and Sítio Lagoa.