Environmental impact assessment in Brazil: a review of its rise (and fall?)

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is primarily used in Brazil in environmental licensing – an administrative procedure that authorizes the construction and operation of undertakings. The Brazilian EIA system has been influencing development decision-making for over 40 years, but it is often criticized by academics and civil society organizations for its limited contributions to the environment and local communities. Implementation is highly variable across jurisdictions, as statutes and managerial capacities vary substantially. The existing body of knowledge suggests that EIA's roles in the Brazilian society sway from a quasi-notarial document-checking procedure to a fundamental tool of sustainability-based territorial development and deliberative decision-making. There have been growing pressures to streamline and simplify procedures. Proposed reforms seek to increase efficiency by limiting interagency review and narrowing assessment scopes, potentially leading to a box-ticking exercise emptied of scientific basis and meaningful deliberative approaches to decision-making.