Ministério público e sociedade civil: alcances e limites para a ação ambiental em Minas Gerais

Abstract

This study aims to demonstrate the importance of the Public Ministery and civil society to protect the environment, understood not only as standalone material, but as a reference and expression of a bundle of meanings and values assigned to it by the strength of cultural and ideological diversity of the various social segments that interact with the place. Thus, at first the study includes the years before the promulgation of the 1988 Constitution, to follow the path trailed by the Public Ministery to reach the current status of defender of the environmental rights and the paths traveled by the popular movements formed by various social segments, which begin their action with the anti-authoritarianism resistance and soon expand, seeking autonomy and integration of its values and visions in the economic, political and cultural areas. The ecological movements and its network are evidenced. Finally, the study analyzes two cases of environmental conflict occurred in Minas Gerais that, transformed into formal litigation, had different procedures and outcomes and were proportional to the different degrees of interaction and articulation of the social subject involved. Concludes with the observation that, in environmental conflicts, the 'investment' of technical, social and political equities as well as the network articulation by the civil society are key factors for positioning the Public Ministery as an actor-network and enable its actions to reach solutions that recognize the different meanings, values and culture inserts particular to the area.