Search

Abstract The article reviews Brazilian environmental policy, observing its central mechanisms, arguing that these are based on a conception of shared responsibility in the care for nature that has recently been undermined. From three approaches of political theory that discuss the problems of coordination of action, deliberation, and environmental justice, we analyze the institutional mechanisms of responsibility as protection, participation, and control, observing their relevance and justification for environmental policy. The article uses empirical documentary data to reflect on the potentials of the environmental policy model in the face of the possible implications of its deformation, concluding that the shared character of responsibility in environmental policy is the central focus of the changes that have been occurring, which puts an important democratic dimension at risk

Historically, the establishment of Protected Areas (UC's), part of Brazilian environmental policy, has constituted a face of the conflictive relationship between traditional peasant and indigenous communities and urban-industrial society UC's were implanted, especially from the 1950s, on territories historically occupied by traditional and original populations and became another factor in transforming the territoriality of these communities, which already suffered from the advance of the agricultural frontier and the modernizing project of the period. The struggle for territory, associated with a part of the environmental movement, led to the conquest of some rights, including access to land, through protected areas of sustainable use. However, environmental policy has been used to solve territorial issues and has therefore been a mediator of the territorialities of peasant communities. In this article we discuss how the establishment of protected areas tends to replace land policies, analyzing the contradictions that arise from the mediation of access to the traditional territory for environmental conservation, and we argue that this trend has been constituting at the same time a strategy for maintenance of the Brazilian agrarian structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sustainability in Debate / Sustentabilidade em Debate is the property of University of Brasilia, Center for Sustainable Development and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Intersecoes: Revista de Estudios Interdisciplinares is the property of Editora da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (EdUERJ) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)