Compensações socioambientais de megaempreendimentos na Amazônia: desvendando a "caixa preta"

Abstract

The political cohesion in Brazil is going to great lengths to receive financial capital investments in order to overcome the economic recession and jolt the country's growth. One of the initiatives is the continuing large-scale government programs, acting as interventions toward the construction and granting huge real estate developments, specifically in the energy sector. Notoriously, there is evidence that the imperfect information, lack of transparency and without effective and qualified participation by the interested parties generate misunderstandings and conflicts, especially regarding the socio-environmental compensation of these huge real estate developments, also known as socio-environmental programs. In the Doctoral Dissertation entitled Socio-environmental Compensation of Infrastructure Mega-Projects in the Amazon: Unveiling the "Data Recorder", the means and cost of socio-environmental compensations (Socio-environmental Programs of the Mitigating Hierarchy of Impacts and Compensations by Significant Environmental Impact in Benefiting Conservation Units of the National Conservation Unit System – CA/SNUC) developed by real estate building corporations of typologies in protected areas in the Legal Brazilian Amazon (Indian Land - TI, Conservation Units - UC, Speleological Sites - SE, Archaeological Sites - SA and former African Slave Community Lands - Quilombola Lands - TQ) and the Management System applied by the licensed environmental agencies and executive institutions were analyzed for 8 large-scale development projects - the Hydroelectric Dams (UHE) of Belo Monte (UBM), Santo Antônio (UHSA), Jirau (UJ), and Teles Pires (UTP); of Coari-Manaus (GCM) and Araracanga (GA) Gas Lines; and, of the Transmission Lines (LT)/of Tucuruí Lot C (LTLC) and Manaus-Boa Vista (LMBV), the implantation stage of the latter of which had not yet begun. Besides this, the research also diagnosed the financial compensation and royalties for the economic exploration of natural resources raised from 2008 to 2018 by the State of Amazonas. The method used was quali-quantitative exploratory, developed based upon Case Study adopting bibliographic and documentation research with assistance of the "Content Analysis" technique, connected to the application of data and information-collecting tools. It was detected that the socio-environental compensations are segmented according to the potentiality or imminent occurrence of negative impacts and by specific legislation having different typologies, even though they have complementing or overlapping aspects. For this reason, they have a systemic quality because of the public policy needs in the territories affected by huge real estate developments, despite the existence of fields of distinct interest by the interested parties involved. Upon determining the cost of impact mitigation in Protected Area Typologies (TAP) measured in amounts of the 8 real estate developments researched, 739 impacted Areas were identified along with 70 conditioned licenses to the same end. A deficiency in systemization, transparence, and social control of the compensation costs and results was noticed, which affect the legacy of the huge projects, as well as the institutional memory and information access. Mitigation costs were estimated at R$5.7B, equal to 8.85% of the total of 6 large-scale developments (UBM, UTP, UHSA and UJ; LTLC and GCM). Mitigation of Protected Areas impacted by the LTLC, GA, GCM and UBM projects amounted to R$166.8M. The Protected Areas Typologies represent 4.22% of the LTLC, GCM and UBM mitigation budgets. Upon examining the Significant Environmental Impact in Benefiting Conservation Units of the National Conservation Unit System – CA/SNUC of the large-scale projects, except that of LMBV, a sum of R$287.7M of CA/SNUC, where 71 grantees came from, benefited 59 public Conservation Units. The Conservation Units (UC's) found in the Full Protection category were the most favored, as much in quantity (66%) as in financial resources (87%). The federal UC's were supported with a greater volume of resources (76%), while the state UC's received a larger number of supported Units (63%). It was observed that National (22%) and State Parks (17%) were the greatest receiving parties of CA/SNUC and the "foundry regularization" was the activity prioritzed by grants (52.97%). On the other hand, actions for financial sustainability of the UC's (1.76%), managing councils (0.25%), and environmental education (0.04%) were the activities that received the least investment. It was detected that there is no publicity on neither CA/SNUC nor of the possible accounts, just as much as the inexistence of evaluating indicators. As far as the financial compensation and royalties for economic exploitation of natural resources raised by the State of Amazonas from 2008 to 2018, a sum total of R$ 2.7B in compensations was found, equivalent to 1.85% of the state budget and third largest (7.9%) source of revenue apportioned to the State by the Union. The total sum is composed of 95.3% royalties of petroleum, though only 4.7% originates from funds granted by the Utilization of Water Resources and Mineral Exploration Resources Claim. Approximately R$2.4B were concluded, destined to 31 government sectors and 26 administrative agencies, applied in 30 kinds of expenditures. The largest beneficiaries were the State Departments (76%) and also, with 82.8% of the total, Departments of Police (20.3%), Treasury (19.1%), Culture (12.5%), Communication (11.9%), Administration (10.7%), and Justice (8.3%), while the Department of the Environment was lowest in ranking with 0.2% application of compensation in the same timeframe. Even adding funds given to scientific (7.5%) and environmental (0.2%) support within the decade, 20% of revenue for compensation entitled by the Amazonas State Constitution to the Environment, Science and Technology fund is not reached. It was noticed that 35.8% of resources were applied to outsourcing public administration maintenance services. This highlights that 14.4% of the compensative resources were transferred by the state to cities, the priority being Manaus, state capital (62%). The existence of quantitative financial accounts without detailed explanations or showing support programs and their respective ending results was also noticed. It was concluded that the legal and technical limitations could be reduced by formulating and regulating Specific Laws for each compensating category or a General Law, which regulates socio-environmental compensations from a mitigating hierarchy, and qualifies new forms of management such as the constitution of social control and financial mechanisms, imposing the admission of guarantees for complying with compensation, antecipated measures inside eventually effected territories, information transparence, and qualified accountability to society, connected to institutional strength and the creation of a National System of Transparence of Socio-environmental Costs. The solution pointed at to correct the debilities identified are adopting a participative system of granting and dividing resoures, linking social control and accountability mechanisms to broad communications which allow effective transparence in applying compensation. There is a need for regulating "financial compensation and royalties" in Amazonas, with the adoption of clear rules and criteria for its distribution, allocation, and application, foreseeing strategic programs and projects geared toward social, economic, and environmental development, connected to an effective transparence mechanism, containing quali-quantitative and social participative accountability.