Licenciamento ambiental simplificado na região sudeste Brasileira: conceitos, procedimentos e implicações

Environmental licensing is frequently criticized as time-consuming and excessively bureaucratic. In reaction, many public agencies have been promoting simplified approaches to licensing. This article analyzed a number of simplified models of environmental licensing in Brazil’s southeastern states. This study adopted a qualitative and descriptive methodological approach, based on data collected from state legislation and websites. It was found that simplified licensing leads to a decision-making processes that exempts environmental impact studies, and reduces the number of procedures in the process. The simplified model is decoupling environmental licensing from environmental impact assessment. It was also found that the simplified model, while reducing the degree of precaution in decision-making, may speed up the process and reduce costs to the State and entrepreneurs. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications of such models and suggesting research avenues.