GEO Brasil - UNEP

Some relevant aspects rise in the indicator-choosing
process:
a) first: there is no “agreement” related to which
acceptable indicators are. Different organisations adopt
different indicators.
b) second: the indicators can be of three types: pressure,
which describe pressures on the environment – e.g.
pollutant discharge; state, which describe the
environmental conditions – e.g. pollution levels of a
determined water body; and response, which measure
the responses to environmental pressures – e.g.
percentage of vehicles with catalytic converters.
c) third: the number of indicators is important. The more
indicators that are used, the more “complete” SEA will
be. Likewise, the necessary length of time and volume
of resources for SEA to be carried out will be larger.
d) fourth: some indicators can be easily measured, while
others cannot.
In order to have appropriate indicators, it is necessary to
have trustworthy numeric data from monitoring processes.
On the other hand, the data from a monitoring process
need to be processed, so they can be better understood
(and more relevant) in the elaboration of answers and the
implementation of policies. These data are compared, as
much as possible, to patterns defined in previous studies
to be assessed.
Concerning the implementation of SEA in Brazil, two
moments may be identified as expressive. The first one
marked the elaboration of a SEA manual, requested by the
Brazilian Ministry of the Environment. The objective was to
identify the procedures that characterise the strategic
assessment to check which actions are necessary so its
implementation is feasible in the context of national
planning structure. The next step will be the establishment
of procedures and mechanisms that will enable the use of
the SEA as an assessment procedure of policies, plans and
programmes at sector, national, regional and local levels.
4. Control in Integrated
Environmental Management
Although the environmental impact study (EIS) process is
expressively used in Brazil, it has still been triggering several
discussions, which is evidence of its relevance and
application.
4.1. Advantages and Limitations of
Environmental Impact Studies
These discussions are related to different aspects of the
process. One of them is of a technical nature, referring to
suggestions for the improvement of methodologies and
the forecast techniques used. Another is related to the
procedures adopted in the EIS process or the legal and
institutional arrangements used for its introduction and
implementation – procedural, legal and institutional issues.
Finally, there is discussion on the political and structural
nature of the process, where the main issue considered is
an assessment of its effectiveness, in respect to the
dimension with which EIS results are taken into
consideration, and how the process changes or improves
the consideration of environmental and social issues in the
decision-making process concerning development actions.
A crucial issue to be solved in the context of this discussion
is the decision on which of the above aspects are important.
This is an important issue, due to the fact that different
specialists in this assessment process are insistent on any
problem related to EIS inadequate or ineffective use as due
to one of these aspects. They go on to point out that process
improvement can be achieved through changes in the
impact forecasting methodology, or in the adopted
procedures, or the legal and institutional aspects.
On the other hand, other specialists state that the problem
can be found in variables located outside of the strict
dimensions of the EIS process, which makes the decision
on how to optimise the process more complex.
introduction
The second moment, starting now, marks the beginning of
the SEA development within the Brazilian Ministry of
Planning, Management and Budget – MP. It is about carrying
out SEA for the PPPs related to the North and Midwest
regions of the Avança Brasil programme.
The EIS process has been receiving strong criticism in
relation to its effectiveness and efficiency – mainly from
important non-governmental environment organisations.
This certainly jeopardises its role as an important instrument
in the decision-making process.
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