Public Participation in the Environmental Impact Assessment Process in the State of Espírito Santo

Abstract

Under the assertions of making the EIA process more agile and less bureaucratic, some countries have taken opposing measures to democratize environmental management by reducing public involvement by adopting controversial changes such as eliminating the public participation of special classes of projects. The importance attached to public participation in practice is echoed in the scientific literature not only as a principle in itself, but there seems to be a general consensus that public participation is also central to an effective environmental assessment. This article aims to identify the forms of public participation in the EIA process of projects in the State of Espirito Santo. In order to do so, the documentary research methodology was adopted within the framework of the State Environmental Institute, in the environmental licensing processes of projects that presented an Environmental Impact Study. Decree No. 1,777-R, which provides for the System for the Licensing and Control of Pollution and Environmental Degradation Activities / SILCAP, which is currently the main instrument used by the state environmental activities related to environmental licensing. The survey included all the physical and digital documents available for public participation in 44 environmental licensing processes between January 2007 and May 2016.