This article deals with an analysis of government action to the control of the use of natural resources in Brazil, since its discovery in 1500. Aimed at understanding the process of formulation and implementation of environmental policies, considering the evolution of concepts, rules and institutions from the colonial period to the present day, featuring the historical bases, institutional and legal issues that have shaped the current Brazilian environmental governance. The survey was conducted by consulting references and government documents with different data and information. It can be observed that throughout the history of the country, government action focused on the actions of command and control, with rules and institutions for specific natural resources, with little or no integration with other policies and management processes of natural resource use situation changed significantly after the enactment of Law No. 6.938/81, under the National Environmental Policy when there was correspondence of the evolution of environmental management in Brazil with the concepts, principles, guidelines and criteria for environmental governance and its results. Despite advances towards the criteria of reform and modernization of the state as decentralization, participation, democratization, managerial capacity, efficiency and effectiveness, the relationship between society, government and the private sector with nature still reflects a colonial utilitarian, immediate and unsustainable use of natural resources, coupled with problems of implementation of rules and regulations, causing environmental degradation and jeopardizing sustainable development. Indicate the need to evaluate more critically the scope of the National Environmental Policy due to continued loss of environmental resources and services and the high standard of consumer society on a non sustainable base, requiring changes in attitudes of citizens regarding the use and protection resources and environmental services. The results achieved contribute to the discussion of the historical relationship of the use and occupation of the territory and its consequences for sustainability.
Environmental Governance; Environmental Policy; Descentralisation; Modernization of the State