ID: 1492
Presenting Author: ALBERTO FONSECA
Session: 592 - Streamlining IA in an era of global uncertainty
Status: pending
The study shows that licensed agribusiness projects in Brazil are based on inaccurate and unreliable information.
Many countries have been simplifying environmental licensing and environmental impact assessment (EIA) by, for example, exempting activities and projects from impact assessments, streamlining procedures, lowering the bar of environmental studies, and relying on self-declarations of impacts. The latter ‘solution’ (licensing based unreviewed self-declarations of impacts) has been particularly promoted in Brazil. However, few studies, if any, have empirically explored the quality of these self-declarations and their implications for decision-making processes. The aim of this study was to analyze the reliability of self-declared information in simplified licensing and environmental impact assessment processes, using a sample of projects in the agribusiness sector in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Data were collected through content analysis of regulations and GIS-based spatial analysis of self-declared information in 1,790 environmental licensing processes. The results showed several inconsistencies in the self-declared information, especially regarding the size and likely impacted areas of the projects and the incidence of authorized areas in places with environmental restrictions. Although these problems were also identified in EIA processes, projects licensed without the support of environmental studies accounted for around 80% of the processes analyzed. The study indicates that agribusiness projects in Minas Gerais have been authorized based on inaccurate and insufficiently reviewed information.
Alberto Fonseca is Associate Professor at UFOP and president-elect of IAIA.
Coauthor 1: Thiago R. S. Nascimento