GEO Brasil - UNEP

237
The industrial consumption of water and the impact of the
contamination of water resources, significant in the 80s,
have shown positive changes due to the need to reduce
production costs and energy consumption. This has
occurred as well due to meeting legal demands and
adaptating to market requirements.
The implementation of an Environmental Management
System within companies represents the adoption of a tool
capable of generating differential quality in internal and
external markets. This happens in an effort to improve the
quality and performance of activities linked to the
environmental issue, through the incorporation of the
respective costs.
Regarding environmental certification, the number of
companies that have ISO 14000 certifications in Brazil went
from two in 1995 to 330 in 2000. This number may still be
considered low when compared to the total number of
companies, potentially polluting or not, in the country.
In relation to meeting the requirements of the Polluting
Activity Licensing System, some of the large potentially
polluting companies in the country have begun
restructuring so as to make environmental issues a part of
their decisions and business strategies. This implies the
adoption of new procedures such as holding periodic
environmental audits and designating resources to control
and operational improvement large programmes.
3.3.3. Public Investment and Environmental
action
The significant change in the focus of development policies
in the country, from developmental to environmental,
brought about profound changes. These changes were not
only institutional as in territory planning and management.
Changes also occurred in the criteria for investment in the
economic and social infrastructure. Resources offered for
investment in environment preservation multiplied at the
same rate that investments made in urban infrastructure,
like sanitation, decreased.
The National Fund for the Environment – FNMA, created
in 1989 (Law 7.797/89), is one more financing tool for
projects. It is important for the decentralisation of the
environmental policy in the country once it has a wide
reach and sufficient flexibility to include municipal
proposals. This is important in linking the plans of public
administration, NGOs and society. The Environmental
Crimes Law (Law 9.605/1998) previewed the designation
of a percentage of the resources originating in fines and
infractions of the FNMA, just as the growing petroleum
exploitation in the country has guaranteed the investment
of royalties in environmental projects in primary and
secondary production zones.
On the other hand, the Brazilian Fund for Biodiversity –
FUNBIO has supported projects for the conservation
and sustainable use of biodiversity. This fund was
created in 1995 with an amount of US$ 10 million from
the Global Environmental Facility – GEF and is
administrated by the World Bank and joint resources
from the private sector.
Correcting the effects of environmental degradation on
people’s health and on the survival and integrity of
environmental resources that are essential to human life
usually involves high costs. The programmes for
depollution and environmental sanitation that are in
progress or that were carried out involve answers that
represent substantial investments and long financial
operations with international financing agencies (BID,
World Bank, among others) and international cooperation
organisations. This has been true specially in
the last decade, in various metropolitan regions in the
country. They affect an equal proportion of populations
in several regions in the country.
Some lines of financing and support to governmental
investments and programmes have been created, directly
or indirectly linking the environmental area (agendas: green,
blue, brown and social). Thus, investments and
programmes in essential areas such as basic sanitation,
popular housing, and urban transportation start being
created with the inclusion of the environmental issue.
However, they are not necessarily linked to economic
development programmes.