GEO Brasil - UNEP

environmental management
In order to make it possible for the environmental health
policy of the Ministry of Health to be created and in order to
create a solid co-ordination between the National Health
Foundation (FUNASA - Fundação Nacional de Saúde) and
other departments of the Ministry of Health that are
developing actions and activities on environmental health,
FUNASA submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Health to
introduce a Permanent Commission for Environmental
Health within the Ministry of Health. On December 11, 2001
decision no. 2253/GM established the committee and its
competencies. The committee is composed of FUNASA,
the National Sanitation Monitoring Agency (ANVISA -
Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária), the Oswaldo Cruz
Foundation (FIOCRUZ - Fundação Oswaldo Cruz),
Secretariat for Health Policies of the Ministry of Health, the
Executive Secretariat of the Ministry of Health and the
Minister of Health’s Office.
The Ministry of Health signed a technical co-operation
agreement with the Ministry of the Environment aiming at
developing policies and integrated actions for environmental
health. It will catalyse initiatives to increase the institutional,
political and socio-environmental impact of these actions.
The co-operation agreement for Health and Environment,
signed by the ministers of health and environment on
November 7, 2001, aims to build an agenda for environmental
health in the federal government in order to identify priority
areas for co-operation that will be part of a pluriannual action
plan. Besides the intraministerial co-ordination, the
operation and structuring of SINVAS requires co-ordination
of the Ministry of Health with other ministries, mainly the
Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Labour, Ministry
of Foreign Relations, Ministry of Education and the Ministry
of Planning, among other departments and agencies of the
federal government (CGVAM, 2001). The structuring of
environmental health monitoring within SUS has led to the
development of sub-areas of action that will be gradually
implemented focusing on mechanisms for monitoring
health areas related to water use for human consumption,
air, soil, contaminants, accidents with dangerous
substances, natural disasters, vectors, reservoirs and
poisoning of animals.
SINVAS will participate through the National Council of
Health (CNS – Conselho Nacional de Saúde), the National
Council of the Environment (CONAMA – Conselho Nacional
do Meio Ambiente) and other co-ordination mechanisms
with society, private sector, non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) and unions, among others.
Still in the sanitation area, recently there have been
significant breakthroughs in Brazilian cities (including the
understanding of the concept of sanitation itself). It is worth
mentioning that while the advances in sanitation of the
1970s were above all of a technological nature directly related
to constructions, today they are about alternative
technological proposals and, mainly, innovative initiatives
in service management. There is a strategy to rationalise
the utilisation of federal resources for solid residues that
has been reinforced under the Ministry of Environment and
which has developed programmes and provided
investments to solve the problems of garbage disposal.
2.3. Challenges to Development Sustainability
There had been few effective actions until the 1990s with a
view to solving the fragmentation of policies. This was true
for all types of policies, both environmental and other kinds.
This occurred despite the identification and diagnosis of
segmented policies during the last three decades as a
relevant issue for the effective implementation of
environmental policies. In fact, the diverse laws, agencies,
plans and programmes and other mechanisms introduced
during that period contributed only to increase
segmentation. Nevertheless, this current trend is being
overcome by the efforts toward strategic environmental
management (Egler, P. C. 2002).
Important responses from some sectors have already started
to change the situation described above or, at least, to
contribute to a change in the behaviour of some factors
that cause impact. Hence, the responses of the public sector
are based on the understanding of environment as a
strategic element, whose actions are to be supported in
previous negotiations in order to set guidelines that are
operated on the medium and long term. In such a context
of uncertainties, sustainable management take on a
Strategic Environment Assessment, that is to say a process
of environmental assessment on policy, plans and
programmes on three different levels:
a) sector plans and programmes assessment (e.g. energy
and transport);
b) plans and programmes assessment related to the use
of territory, encompassing all activities to be
implemented within a particular area; and
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