Descentralização do licenciamento ambiental em Minas Gerais

Abstract

Environmental licensing is one of the instruments of the National Environmental Policy necessary for any development that may cause damage to the environment. In Brazil, licensing has being carried out primarily by the federal government and by the states, but with the increasing requests for licenses, decentralization is an alternative to deal with the high demand also passing this competence to the municipal sphere aiming for greater agility in the process of these licenses. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the current situation of the environmental licensing decentralization process in the State of Minas Gerais. The methodology followed a qualitative approach, the data collection was done through a literature and documentary review, and also through the use of a semi-structured questionnaire sent to all municipalities of Minas Gerais that have an agreement signed with the State for municipal licensing. As a result, it was verified that seven municipalities have an agreement with the State to execute the municipal licensing and was also verified the peculiarities that each municipality passed during the adoption of the local licensing. It was concluded that the State of Minas Gerais is behind in the descentralization process, and that this attribution it is really important for the municipality to acquire autonomy and promote its sustainable development.