Avanços e desafios da municipalização do licenciamento ambiental no estado de Pernambuco

Abstract

In the context of a necessary decentralization of environmental policy and management in relation to the new role of the State in the 21st century, the municipalization of environmental licensing attributes, among other aspects, greater autonomy to environmental management in the municipality, as well as greater social control over the use of this instrument. On the other hand, the low institutional and financial capacity of the Brazilian municipal public administrations, as well as their greater susceptibility to be reached by corrupt practices, rise a question about the effectiveness of the application of this instrument at the municipal level. At this juncture, the present research aimed to analyze the decentralization of environmental management in Pernambuco, particularly regarding the municipalization of environmental licensing. For that, the object of study were the municipalities of Recife; Petrolina; Serra Talhada; Ipojuca; São José da Coroa Grande; Caruaru; Gravatá and Paranatama. These municipalities are in different mesoregions of the state and at the time of data collection of the research, already had at least two years of implementation of environmental licensing. It is an empirical research that uses a qualitative and exploratory approach for practical purposes. For data collection, bibliographic and documentary survey was used, and it was applied questionnaires and interviews with representatives of the municipal environmental agencies that were the target of the research. It can be concluded from the outcomes presented that the process of municipalization of environmental licensing in Pernambuco brings benefits to municipal environmental management once the municipal environmental bodies have assumed their constitutional competence and established norms, operating systems and administrative structures to meet the new demand. However, the process does not effectively guarantee greater protection for the environment, since the problems faced by environmental licensing at the state and federal levels have been replicated at the municipal level, with a lack of human and financial resources that make it impossible to supervise and monitoring of licensed ventures. It is fundamentally necessary to establish a policy of municipalisation of environmental licensing in Pernambuco based on cooperation between federated entities and strengthening of municipal environmental systems.