Pagamento por Serviço Ambiental: perspectiva da efetividade do Compromisso de Ajustamento de Conduta a atos lesivos ao meio ambiente

Abstract

Sustainability is about how we act on the environment in favor of the perpetuity of the environmental resources supply, meeting social and economic aspirations. Once these desires are correlated with the place where it is determined and changeable over time, the sustainability concept depends on the contextualized view, in the present time, of what is sustainable. It is preferable to recognize what is not sustainable and follow the behavioral evolution history. In its history, Brazilian environmental legislation has presented a policy succession aimed at sustainability but has not been effective in reducing environmental damage. As a solution to the environmental damage caused, the signing of bilateral agreements for conduct adjustment commitments has been adopted, materialized in the Conduct Adjustment Terms (CAT). Although they meet the need for a quick response by the State to solve the damage, it has little effectiveness in its execution since it does not apply the monetary resources generated categorically. From a solution perspective, the objective of this work was to propose instruments to compose the Payment for Environmental Service (PES) systematic structuring applied to achieve the environmental compensation effectiveness established in the CAT. Understanding the rural space as a central sustainable development promoter, a case study was carried out in 21 agricultural ecosystems (agroecosystems) in the south of the state of Minas Gerais, in the municipality of Jacutinga. The study area was awarded with monetary resources established in a CAT for the application of environmental compensation for harmful acts to the environment of a mineral water extraction, filling and bottling enterprise. The Sustainability Indicators in Agroecosystems (SIA) methodology was applied to the municipality's agroecosystems for diagnosis and, later, a comparison (benchmarking) between them was carried out, based on the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Based on the results of the CAT, it was possible to analyze which indicators work to achieve the region's average sustainability, and by the DEA it was possible to provide information of positive actions of other agroecosystems to improve the sustainability results, in an encouraging and feasible way. Given the opportunities for the combined use of current, available, and easily replicable methodologies, SIA and DEA, in addition to an institutional arrangement that follows the needs listed in the scientific literature, it was possible to structure the PES as a methodological tool for CAT. The structure makes it possible to bring transparency, social control, advertising, and environmental education to the institutions involved. So that it is envisaged to obtain a better and more effective public policy to guarantee a response to the State of the application of the resource arising from a fine for acts harmful to the environment.