PROPOSTA DE UM PLANO DE RECUPERAÇÃO DE ÁREA DEGRADADA POR ATIVIDADE DE MINERAÇÃO

Abstract

A series of legal instruments, starting with the Federal Constitution, regulate the activities of potential polluters, by dictating norms and procedures for those operations that should occur under controlled conditions. Article 225 of the Constitution, known as the Chapter on the Environment, establishes that, “All shall have the right to a balanced ecological environment, with proper use of public access areas being essential to health and quality of life, empowering the public and the collective the duty to defend and preserve it for future generations.” This Article requires that the government provide, according to law, environmental impact studies to the public prior to execution of work or potentially degrading activities to the environment. Further, it is indicated that, by law, the activities for the exploitation of mineral resources be required to recuperate the impact to the affected environmental conditions, according to a technical solution provided by a competent public organ. The recuperation of regions impacted by mining operations normally involve activities of with the objective to reestablish the vegetation. The degradation of the soil constitute a socioeconomic threat and represent an enormous risk to future generations because these areas lose the vegetation leaving the soils uncovered and undernourished, suffer erosion and potential drainage instabilities. Therefore, it is important that the affected areas be reestablished to its natural balance and equilibrium. (English) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]