Effectiveness of Monetary Environmental Compensation in Brazil

ABSTRACT

In Brazil, monetary environmental compensation occurs in situations in which a project environmental impact cannot be avoided or mitigated, resting to the entrepreneur an obligation to support the implementation and maintenance of a Protected Area. The criteria for choosing the area to be benefited are related to spatial and functional connection with the same. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of monetary environmental compensation, evaluating the spatial and functional connection in the application of the instrument resources. Under these circumstances we assessed if resources generated from environmental compensation tend to be applied in the project site, as well as, if the affected areas benefited belong to the same biome. Results indicated that monetary environmental compensation does not usually occur in the project nearby area; however, in 96% of cases it tends to occur in the same biome.

Keywords:
environmental impact assessment; monetary environmental compensation; environmental management; Conservation Unit