QUALITY EVALUATION OS ENVIRONMENTAL LICENSING PROCESSES OF MININ ENTERPRISES IN MINAS GERAIS

Abstract

The environmental licensing has generated uncertainties about its effectiveness; making it necessary to encourage mechanisms to improve the political-institutional setting. Thus, this study aimed at evaluating the legal and technical concordances of the environmental licensing processes of mining enterprises in the south of the state of Minas Gerais. Using checklists, thirteen licensing processes were analyzed, where the pre- and post-approval stages were assessed. It was observed that the environmental studies didn’t correspond to the terms of reference and the expected quality, as well as the noncompliance of the proponents regarding the approval of the environmental management reports. Therefore, it was concluded that there is a lack of technical performance of the analysts of the competent environmental agency and, therefore, it is necessary to improve the technical evaluation system of environmental studies as a tool to improve EIA processes.

Keywords:
Environmental impact assessment; Environmental studies; Environmental control measures; Checklists