Lost at SEA? Environmental assessment and offshore oil and gas planning in Brazil

Bibliographic Data

ID21153485
AuthorsCristiano Vilardo (0000-0002-8089-4635, IBAMA – Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, corresponding author), Emilio Lèbre La Rovere (0000-0002-9186-7069, Head of the Environmental Sciences Laboratory at the Energy Planning Program of the Institute of Research and Graduate Studies of Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (PPE/COPPE/UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), José Eduardo Matheus Evora (0000-0001-9405-0858, IBAMA – Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), Marcelo Montaño (0000-0003-0001-8801, Research Cluster of Environmental Policy Studies (NEPA/EESC/USP), Sao Carlos School of Engineering (EESC), University of Sao Paulo (USP), Sao Carlos, Brazil)
Year2020
Volume38
Issue3
Pages261-268
Publication date2020-05-03
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueImpact Assessment and Project Appraisal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-5517 • E-ISSN: 1471-5465
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14615517.2020.1720378
OpenAlexW3004151848
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited23

Early assessment of environmental issues is key for sound decision-making about licensing of offshore oil and gas exploration sites. In this paper, we recall the historical background of such early assessments in Brazil showing that a simple consultation process in place for the last 15 years was able to steer oil and gas exploration away from sensitive areas. A more structured SEA-type instrument was designed in 2012, but its actual contribution to the effectiveness of early assessments remains to be seen as the first assessment reports are still to be delivered. Recent changes in the institutional and political context in Brazil have enabled the new government to ignore both the established consultation process and the ongoing SEA-type process. This shift of orientation led to the inclusion of environmentally sensitive areas in bidding rounds in 2019. Following this government decision, various initiatives to preserve the recommendations from the previous consultation process have illustrated the relevance of environmental/impact assessment not only to ease decision-making processes but also as a tool to safeguard environmental protection

Bidding · Business · Environmental impact assessment · Environmental planning · Environmental protection · Environmental resource management · Geography · Offshore oil and gas · Political science · Strategic Environmental Assessment · Submarine pipeline · Arctic and Russian Policy Studies · Computer Science · Engineering · Environmental and Social Impact Assessments · Environmental Science · Law · Mining and Resource Management · Psychology · Marketing

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