Brazil's clean development mechanism governance in the context of Brazil's historical environment-development discourses

Abstract

This article analyzes how Brazil governs the Clean Development Mechanism in the context of the nation's historical approaches to development. We examine how the Brazilian Interministerial Commission on Global Climate Change reviews and approves the sustainable development aspects of proposed Brazilian projects by comparing the Commission's balancing of competing objectives to the balancing of developmentalist and socioenvironmental priorities during Brazil's 1964-1985 military dictatorship, the ensuing period surrounding Brazil's 1985 return to democracy, and thereafter. In each case, development-related priorities are handled through substantive measures, while social and environmental concerns are addressed through procedural mechanisms, including participation. We consider the future of Brazilian climate governance, both domestically and in the context of proposed post-2012 multilateral governance regimes for the Clean Development Mechanism (or any successor mechanism). © 2011 Future Science Ltd.