Download Seminar on Policy Studies

International
Environmental Policy
NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY OF:
BRAZIL
HARI SRINIVAS
ROOM: I-312 / 079-565-7406
Brazil: Environmental Features
The environment of Brazil is characterized
by high biodiversity with a population density
that decreases away from the coast.
Biodiversity:
The number and
variety of
organisms found
within a specified
geographic region
Environmental Issues in Brazil
Environmental issues in Brazil*
deforestation in the Amazon Basin
illegal wildlife trade
Urbanization and industrialization
air and water pollution
land degradation and water
pollution caused by mining
activities
• wetland degradation
• severe oil spills
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 As the home to
approximately 13% of all
known species, Brazil has
one of the most diverse
collections of flora and
fauna on the planet.
 Impacts from agriculture
and industrialization in
the country threaten this
biodiversity.
Environmental Issues in Brazil
Brazil's large area comprises different
ecosystems, which together sustain
some of the world's greatest
biodiversity.
Because of the country's intense
economic and demographic growth,
Brazil's ability to protect its
environmental habitats has
increasingly come under threat
Ecosystem:
a biological community of
interacting organisms and
their physical environment
• Extensive legal and illegal logging
destroys forests the size of a small
country per year
Environmental Issues in Brazil
 Brazil has the highest number of animals of any single country
in the world
 Brazil has
 the highest primate diversity
 the highest number of mammals
 the highest number of amphibians
 the second highest number of butterflies
 the third highest number of birds
 second highest number of reptiles
 There is a high number of endangered species, many of them
living in threatened habitats such as the Amazon Forest.
Global Environmental Agreements
 As part of Brazil's environmental initiatives, it is
party to the following international agreements:
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Antarctic-Environmental Protocol
Antarctic-Marine Living Resources
Antarctic Seals
Antarctic Treaty
Biodiversity
Climate Change
Kyoto Protocol
Desertification
Endangered Species
• Environmental
Modification
• Hazardous Wastes
• Law of the Sea
• Marine Dumping
• Ozone Layer
Protection
• Ship Pollution
• Tropical Timber
• Wetlands
• Whaling
Environmental policy and law
 Brazil has one of the most complete environmental
legislations in the world
Polluting
emissions
guidelines
Brazilian
National
Environmental
Policy (1981)
Sustainable use of
natural resource
Applying
sustainable
development
Guidelines for
pollutions and
emissions
Multi stakeholders: legal
organizations, NGOs,
citizens + governments
Environmental Policy of Brazil
Environmental
Policy on
specific Environmental
Environ- issues
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Policy on
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Social
participation
Institutional
reform
Brazilian
Environmental
Policy (1981)
Use of public
lands
Biodiversity
protection
Agriculture
development
Brazil – National Environmental Policy
The NEP covers many environmental issues:
 definition of standards
 licensing
 environmental impact assessment
 special areas for preservation
 incentives for cleaner production
 environmental zoning
 … etc.
10 Principles of the NEP
Government action in maintaining the ecological balance,
considering the environment as a public asset to be necessarily
guaranteed and protected, in view of collective use
2. The rational use of soil, subsoil, water and air
3. Planning and supervision of the use of environmental resources
4. Protection of ecosystems, the preservation of representative areas
5. Control and zoning of polluting or potentially polluting activities
6. Incentives to study and research technologies for the rational use
and protection of environmental resources
7. Monitoring the state of environmental quality
8. Restoration of degraded areas
9. Protection of areas threatened with degradation
10. Environmental education at all levels of education, including
community education, intended to enable them to participate
actively in environmental protection
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Brazil: Governmental organizations
 Other authorities are also responsible for the
implementation of environmental policies, including
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the National Council on the Environment
the National Council of the Amazon
the National Council of Water Resources
the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation
(ICMBIO)
Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural
Resources (IBAMA)
Board of Management of Public Forests, and others.
Brazil: Governmental organizations
 The Ministry of Environment is responsible for
Brazil's national environmental policy
 The ministry's many departments deal with:
 climate change and environmental quality
 biodiversity and forests
 water resources
 sustainable urban and rural development
 environmental citizenship
Ministry of Environment
 The Ministry of
Environment
(Ministério do Meio
Ambiente; MMA) was
established in 1992 to
promote the adoption of
principles and strategies
for knowledge related to
the environment,
conservation and the
sustainable use of
natural resources.
Organizations within MMA:
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Department of Climate Change and
Environmental Quality
Secretary of Biodiversity and Forests
Department of Water Resources and the
Urban Environment
Department of Extraction and Sustainable
Rural Development
Secretariat of Environmental Citizenship
National Council of Environment
(CONAMA)
National Council of the Legal Amazon
(CONAMAZ)
National Council on Water Resources
Advisory Board of the National Fund for
the Environment
Board of Genetic Heritage Management
Commission Public Forest Management
National Forestry Commission (Conaflor)
Brazilian Institute for the Environment and
Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA)
 BAMA is the Brazilian government's main tool for
providing information with regards to
environmental welfare and protection, and acts as
the “environmental police"
 It is responsible for implementing new policies and
standards for environmental quality, evaluating
environmental impacts, examining environmental
degradation and for distributing environmental
licenses.
 It has the power to impose administrative fines, but
when more serious environmental crimes are
committed, it is responsible for informing federal
authorities for further prosecution.
Brazil’s iggest environmental problem
Global
markets
Climate
change
Biofuel
Production
Deforestation
Industrial
Development
Indigenous
groups
Urbanization
Agriculture
policies
Deforestation in Brazil
 Despite reductions in the rate of
deforestation in the last ten years, the
Amazon Rainforest will be reduced by
40% by 2030 at the current rate.
 Between May 2000 and August 2006,
Brazil lost nearly 150,000 square
kilometers of forest (about half the
land area of Japan!!)
 According to the Living Planet Report
2010, deforestation is continuing at an
alarming rate
A Closer Look at Brazilian Deforestation
Today deforestation in the Amazon is the result of
several activities, the foremost of which include:
Clearing
for cattle pasture
Colonization and subsequent subsistence
agriculture
Infrastructure improvements
Commercial agriculture
Logging
Deforestation in Brazil
 Brazil once had the highest deforestation rate in the
world and as of 2005 still has the largest area of
forest that is removed annually.
 Since 1970, over 600,000 square kilometers
(230,000 sq mi) of Amazon rainforest have been
destroyed.
 In 2012, the Amazon was approximately 5.4 million
square kilometers, which is only 87% of the Amazons
original state.
 Rainforests have decreased in size primarily due to
deforestation.
Economic benefits of environmental conservation
 Environmentalists have stated there is not only a
biological incentive to protecting the rainforest, but
an economic one as well:
$6820
$1000
$148
… if intact forest is
sustainably harvested
for fruits, latex, and
timber
… if clear-cut for
commercial timber
(not sustainably
harvested)
… if used as cattle
pasture.
Response to Deforestation
 Brazil has established an extensive network of
protected areas which covers more than two million
km2 (25% of Brazil's national territory) and is
divided almost equally between protected natural
areas and indigenous land
 From 2002 to 2006, the protected land in the
Amazon Rainforest has almost tripled, and
deforestation rates have dropped up to 60%. About
1,000,000 km2, have been conserved, which adds up
to 1,730,000 km2 - about 5 times the size of Japan!
Contact me …
Class website:
http://www.gdrc.info/iep
Prof. Hari Srinivas
Room: I-312
Tel: 079-565-7406
Email: [email protected]