A participação social no licenciamento ambiental na Bahia : sujeitos e práticas sociais

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Centro de Desenvolvimento Sustentável, 2006.O licenciamento ambiental é um dos mais importantes e polêmicos instrumentos da política ambiental brasileira, que enfrenta, na sua implementação, inúmeros problemas de ordem técnica e operacional e de cunho político e econômico. Em função disso, diferentes segmentos da sociedade brasileira, questionam a eficiência e a eficácia do licenciamento no controle de danos ambientais, enquanto outros segmentos continuam a defendê-lo e a cobrar, dos órgãos gestores do meio ambiente, ações para seu fortalecimento. Os defensores desse instrumento buscam consolidar os espaços de participação da sociedade no processo de licenciamento ambiental, de modo que as comunidades a serem afetadas pelos efeitos adversos de empreendimentos e/ou atividades possam contribuir para torná-lo transparente e reduzir as ingerências política e econômica. Este estudo abordou a participação da sociedade no processo decisório do licenciamento ambiental, especificamente na Bahia, e sua contribuição para o fortalecimento desse instrumento de controle da política ambiental. Na pesquisa de campo foram coletados dados e informações sobre os dois momentos do processo de licenciamento ambiental que registram a participação da sociedade. O primeiro deles corresponde às audiências prévia e pública, onde os indivíduos participam diretamente, sem interlocução de terceiros. O segundo é o Conselho Estadual de Meio Ambiente (Cepram), onde representantes da sociedade, indicados pelas entidades ambientalistas, participam do processo decisório de concessão ou não da licença ambiental. Os dados e informações foram analisados com base na técnica de Análise de Discurso, categorizada em três dimensões - contextualização, prática discursiva e prática social. A pesquisa confirmou que a sociedade, apesar dos vários fatores que impedem sua efetiva participação no processo de licenciamento, tem um papel primordial na implementação desse instrumento, e que, portanto, o processo participativo deve ser objeto de aprimoramento. _________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTEnvironmental licencing is one of the most controversial instruments in Brazilian environmental policy. It faces many technical and operational problems and political and economic restrictions in its implementation. As a consequence, different sectors of Brazilian society question the efficiency and effectiveness of licensing for the purpose of controlling environmental damages, while others defend it and demand that enviromental management agencies enforce it more decidedly. Defenders of this instrument seek to consolidate social participation in environmental licensing, so that affected communities may contribute to the process and allow information to flow more freely and openly, independently of political and economic influences. This study examined the contributions of social participation in the decision-making process of environmental licencing, specifically in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Field research allowed the collection of data and information concerning two distinct moments of public participation in environmental licencing. The first relates to preliminary and public hearings, in which individuals participate directly, without discussions with other parties. The second involves the State Environmental Council (Cepram), in which representatives of environmental organizations participate in the decision-making process. Pertinent information was processed on the basis of the method of discourse analysis, that divides matters into context, discoursive practice and social practice. Research confirmed that society has a fundamental role in the implementation of environmental licensing, despite several obstacles to its effective participation, indicating that it should be improved

Participação social na avaliação de impacto ambiental: lições da experiência da Bahia

This paper analyzes the participation of the public society in the process of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in the State of Bahia, Brazil. The aim is to understand up to what extent EIA is an effective contribution to the environmental licensing procedures, as an instrument of the Brazilian environmental policy. Social participation in Bahia can occur in three different moments. The first two are open to any citizen, but the last one is restricted to the representatives of the society in the State Council for the Environmental (Cepram), which decides about giving or not the licence. Research results demonstrate the existence of different degrees of participation of the society which vary according to aspects such as: the social and economic standards of the population affected by an intervention, the quality and the stock of natural resources, and the nature of the proprieties located in the area of intervention

Participação social na avaliação de impacto ambiental: lições da experiência da Bahia

This paper analyzes the participation of the public society in the process of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in the State of Bahia, Brazil. The aim is to understand up to what extent EIA is an effective contribution to the environmental licensing procedures, as an instrument of the Brazilian environmental policy. Social participation in Bahia can occur in three different moments. The first two are open to any citizen, but the last one is restricted to the representatives of the society in the State Council for the Environmental (Cepram), which decides about giving or not the licence. Research results demonstrate the existence of different degrees of participation of the society which vary according to aspects such as: the social and economic standards of the population affected by an intervention, the quality and the stock of natural resources, and the nature of the proprieties located in the area of intervention