A biodiversidade no contexto da Avaliação de Impactos Ambientais (AIA) brasileira: decisões baseadas em estudos falhos.

Abstract

In the global context of loss of biodiversity due to human pressures, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) within the scope of environmental licensing plays a key role in controlling impacting projects. However, limited studies may reduce the effectiveness of this instrument. The present study aimed to evaluate the quality of biodiversity baseline studies in the licensing of projects that cause impacts and the possible implications of this during the EIA processes of these projects. More specifically, the first chapter aimed to assess 1) the quality of baseline biodiversity studies; 2) the comprehensiveness of impact reports and their relationship to baseline studies; and 3) the role of baseline studies and impact reports in the respective decisions to grant the license, by the responsible environmental agency. For this, documents from 78 licensing processes of state of Minas Gerais, Brazil were evaluated, focusing on studies of medium and large-sized mammals. The second chapter aimed to further evaluate data from baseline studies and investigate which factors influence the probability of species detection in these studies, comparing with academic studies conducted in the same region. For this, a subset of 34 licensing processes was used, among those evaluated in the previous chapter (i.e., mining projects located in the Iron Quadrangle region), in addition to 31 academic studies. The first chapter showed that the technical quality of the evaluated baseline studies was lower than the desirable, being compromised by factors such as the lack of scientific rigor, analytical robustness, and transparency in the reporting of information. These failures limited impact the assessments, but not from obtaining environmental licenses. The second chapter showed that the effectiveness of baseline studies in correctly detecting species in the field may have been affected by factors related to the quality of these studies, in addition to the sampling methods used, when compared to scientific studies. Finally, we highlighted five opportunities for better practices to address biodiversity within the scope of the EIA and the importance of decisions based on good evidence. Thus, this process may be more than mere protocol compliance for obtaining environmental permits.