Protected Areas approach in the Brazilian EIA system: Quality of Terms of Reference and Environmental Impact Statements of major projects in a remnant of the Atlantic Forest

Abstract

Several initiatives emerged to deal with environmental problems, such as Protected Areas and Environmental Impact Assessment, spread worldwide. The coast of Paraná State, southern Brazil, is 82.6% covered by protected areas to conserve the remnants of the Atlantic Forest and its associated ecosystems, whereas port activities date back to the colonial period and remain important, demanding expansions. The present study evaluated the Protected Areas' approach given by environmental licensing processes of port and industrial projects surrounding the Paranaguá Estuarine Complex. To this end, two checklists assessed the Terms of Reference (TR) and the Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) to classify them. EIS turned out to be of average quality, although they fulfilled about 70% of the Terms of Reference requirements. The point is that the TR are indeed poor.