Analysis of the various impacts by enterprises in protected marine areas in Brazil

Anthropogenic activities produces significant impacts and changes to the marine environment. In Brazil, there are few studies on the effectiveness of marine protected areas and the potential damage caused by various... [ view full abstract ]

Anthropogenic activities produces significant impacts and changes to the marine environment. In Brazil, there are few studies on the effectiveness of marine protected areas and the potential damage caused by various enterprises. For the implementation of an enterprise in these areas, an Authorization for Environmental Licensing issued by the managing government agency, the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), is required. Conditions of approval are assigned for each authorization, whose requirements must be attended by the enterprise in the federal environmental licensing process, aiming to minimize the incidental environmental impacts. The offers of approval conditions should also address the biodiversity conservation needs of these environments and still need to be evaluated for their effectiveness individually. Based on the classification proposed in 2018 by the work of the Global Environment Facility Marine (GEF-Mar) and by ICMBio specialists, a preliminary survey and analysis of 33 authorizations issued by ICMBio between 2009-2017 was carried out for different types of enterprises in 74 marine protected areas. The authorizations resulted in 10 enterprise typologies, such: oil and gas, mining, electricity transmission lines, roads, ports, civil works, among others. The authorizations include 291 specific conditions classified in 15 categories: monitoring, restriction, adjustment, capacitation, supervision and others. The evaluation of the effectiveness of these conditions of approval resulted from the authorizations may support ICMBio and GEF-Mar in supporting the creation of new marine protected areas dedicated to integral protection, viewing the enormous pressure and environmental impacts caused by the enterprises in the current marine protected areas.