Conflicts in the Environmental License of SHPs: The Cases of Dois Saltos and Água Limpa

Abstract

The National Environment Policy (Law 6.938/1981) was a milestone that included the environmental component in the management of public policies, as well as a democratic progress in political life. Its instrument, the environmental licensing, is responsible for establishing potentially impactful projects, such as hydroelectric power, but its process has incited the emergence of numerous social conflicts and clashes. Therefore, the research aims to understand the dynamics of the controversy surrounding the environmental licensing, specifically in small hydropower plants (SHPs) of Paraná. It is characterized as qualitative and explanatory; bibliographic methodological design; and applied, about nature and result. It is based on books, scientific articles, and preliminary environmental studies of the Environmental Institute of Paraná, information from the National Electric Energy Agency and reports from local media. Based on two studies of conflicting cases. The data demonstrates that Paraná has aimed to SHP; that permeates different actors and conflicts. It appears that the problem is not about the capability of the instrument, but in the inability of his management, made by their managers, which has conditioned this scenario. The identification of the institutional issue (arrangement, rules and actors – with their perceptions about the process), is what provides a better understanding of this scenario and the opportunities for improving the instrument.