How Well Does Brazil's Environmental Law Work in Practice? Environmental Impact Assessment and the Case of the Itapiranga Private Sustainable Logging Plan

Abstract

/ The Itapiranga Sustainable Logging Plan provides an example of how Brazil's licensing system functions for logging companies in the state of Amazonas. Two questions need to be dealt with: "How sustainable can logging in the Amazon be?" and "What and how effective are existing legal mechanisms to deal with logging projects?" The environmental impact assessment (EIA) and environmental impact statement (EIS, known as the RIMA in Brazil), present relatively detailed accounts of biodiversity and the need to adopt conservation strategies to protect it. However, social and health impacts are only superficially addressed. The economic sustainability of the operation over multiple cycles is not demonstrated. The multidisciplinary teams responsible for the EIA and EIS (RIMA) reports are hired by the project proponent, an arrangement inherently carrying the risk of biasing the result. Logging reduces biodiversity, releases greenhouse gases and inflicts social and health costs. These impacts reduce the ability of Amazonian forests to provide environmental services and to supply food and livelihood security to local populations. The reports inflate positive effects such as employment: the estimated number of jobs was cut by more than half in a revision made after the EIA and EIS (RIMA) had been approved. Not only do the reports need to be more realistic in assessing both positive and negative consequences of proposed projects, but better means are needed to ensure that promised mitigatory measures are enforced in practice. Many of the lessons that can be drawn from the Itapiranga Plan are not unique to logging projects and apply to licensing of development activites generally in Brazil and elsewhere.

Conservation Policy in Brazilian Amazonia: Understanding the Dilemmas

“…Although the increase in certified management operations in Amazonia is a significant change, most logging in the region is still predatory, and even operations with Forestry Management Plans (PMFs) approved by IBAMA have heavy impact and poor prospects for sustainability (Cotton and Romine, 1999;Eve et al, 2000). The demand for certified timber is small but growing.…”

What Does the Academic Research Say About Impact Assessment and Environmental Licensing in Brazil?

“…Two studies addressed issues related to health in EIA processes and demonstrate that health has been treated superficially in the case of a logging plan in Pará (Eve et al, 2000) and of a thermal power station in Ceará (Rigotto, 2009).…”

Environmental Indicators for the Evaluation of Wood Products in Consideration of Site-Dependent Aspects: A Review and Integrated Approach

“…By counting the occurrence of the different combinations, the main research fields of the sample of this review could be identified (see Figure 4 and Table S2). Forestry-related studies have set their focus in most cases on a comparison of different forest management strategies [98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105] or specific ecolabels and certification schemes such as FSC and PEFC Forestry-related studies have set their focus in most cases on a comparison of different forest management strategies [98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105] or specific ecolabels and certification schemes such as FSC and PEFC Forestry-related studies have set their focus in most cases on a comparison of different forest management strategies [98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105] or specific ecolabels and certification schemes such as FSC and PEFC [11,[106][107][108][109] in different geographical regions. FWCs are sometimes only partly covered by studies comprising the processes from harvest to the sawmill gate [110], or from harvest to intermediate wood products leaving the sawmill gate (e.g., sawn wood and by-products) [111], or further on to the end consumer wood product leaving the factory gate as an engineered wood product (e.g., plywood, particle boards, fiber boards, laminates, or veneers).…”