GEO Brasil - UNEP

4.4.5. Regulation
It is demonstrated that many Brazilian states have,
nowadays, specific regulation about underground water
(Costa, 2001). In fact, there is the Federal District (Law nº
55/89); Goiás (Law nº 13.583); Minas Gerais (Law nº 13.771/
00); Pará (Law nº 6.105/98); Paraná (Administrative Rule nº
05/96) Pernambuco (Law Nº 11.427/97) and Normative
Decree nº 20.423/98) and São Paulo (Law nº 6.134/88 and
Normative Decree nº 32.955/91). Besides, many Federation
Units have established norms and specific criteria for the
request of perforation license and operation license of deep
tubular wells in areas considered critical, such as the
Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, Paraíba do Sul Valley,
and Ribeirão Preto, in the State of São Paulo, Metropolitan
Region of Recife (ABAS, 2001). Still in the State of São
Paulo, three protection perimeters have been defined, and
they should be established based on pertinent hydro
geological studies (Iritani, 1998). The State of Pernambuco
has defined sectors in the Metropolitan Region of Recife,
where, nowadays it is prohibited to perforate wells (Costa,
2001).
the country: 20%, in the South, Southeast and Northeast,
35% in the Cerrado and 80% in the Amazon Forest. With the
permanent protection areas (APPs), the legal reserve has
important ecological functions related not only to
biodiversity protection but also to the well being of human
populations. This includes microclimate maintenance,
plague prevention and soil and water resource protection.
In order for it to become a law, the National Congress
instituted a joint parliamentary commission, with eight
house representatives and eight senators.
policies feedback
4.5 Forests
The main legal instruments that regulate environment and
forestry issues in the country are: the Forest Code (Law no.
4771, of September 15, 1965), the Fauna Protection Law
(Law no. 5197, of January 3, 1967), the National Environment
Policy (Law no. 6938, of august 31, 1981), and a number of
Resolutions of the National Environment Council
(CONAMA) and Normative Acts and Service Orders of the
Ministry of Environment and IBAMA. The general principles
related to environment protection are consolidated in
Chapter VI, Article no. 225 of the Federal Constitution,
proclaimed on October 5, 1988. These instruments are
complemented by specific state legislation. The states have
the legal capacity to legislate in a complementary and even
in a concurrent way to the Union (in cases in which a general
regulation does not exist).
4.5.1. Forest Code
In July 1996, the Presidency of the Republic issued a
provisional measure changing and including articles Law
no. 477165, the Forest Code, with the objective of increasing
protection of forests situated in rural properties in the Legal
Amazon. According to the provisional measure in force the
percentage of legal reserve varies according to the region of
The proposal presented by the joint commission
proposes a text promoting profound changes in the
provisional measure issued by the federal government.
As well as proposing a drastic reduction in the
percentage to be protected by law in each rural property,
the proposal gives amnesty to rural landowners that had
not complied with the law in previous years. This enables
the cultivation of exotic forests (eucalyptus and pine
trees, specially) in native forest areas and makes it easier
to deforest legal reserves and permanent protection
areas, among other problems. If approved, the proposal
will transform an environmental protection law into a
law of incentives to the expansion of the ago-pastoral
sector. The provisional measure will be reissued until
the bill is approved in a joint Commission and in the
National Congress and followed by a sanction by the
President of the Republic.
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