National Council for the Environment
The National Council for the Environment was created in 1981, through the National Policy for the Environment Act as part of the National Environment System?s structure. The council is a collegial body, deliberating and advisory in character, and is in charge of advising, studying and proposing guidelines and policies for the environment to the Government Council and other environmental agencies, and deliberating, to the extent of its competences, on norms and standards for an environment that is both ecologically-balanced and essential for healthy living standards. It is of the council?s responsibility to establish standards and criteria for the licensing of polluting or potentially polluting activities upon the request of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), and other organs of the National Environment System and advisers to the council, when granted by the federal government, states, the Federal District and municipalities and overseen by the institute itself. The council is also responsible for conducting studies, when deemed necessary, on alternatives and potential environmental consequences of projects (public or private), therefore requesting information essential to the consideration of previous environmental impact studies and their respective reports to federal, state and municipal authorities, as well as to private entities in the case of works or activities of significant environmental degradation, in particular in areas under national heritage. In 2016, the council had a total of 108 counselors representing five sectors, which are unequally represented (in terms of the number of councilors): federal government (39 councilors); state governments (27 councilors); local governments (eight councilors); business entities (eight councilors); workers' associations and civil society (22 councilors); board members without the right to vote (three councilors); honorary member (1).
Institutional design
Formalization: is the innovation embedded in the constitution or legislation, in an administrative act, or not formalized at all?
Frequency: how often does the innovation take place: only once, sporadically, or is it permanent or regular?
Mode of Selection of Participants: is the innovation open to all participants, access is restricted to some kind of condition, or both methods apply?
Type of participants: those who participate are individual citizens, civil society organizations, private stakeholders or a combination of those?
Decisiveness: does the innovation takes binding, non-binding or no decision at all?
Co-governance: is there involvement of the government in the process or not?
- Formalization
- embedded in the constitution/legislation
- Frequency
- regular
- Mode of selection of participants
- restricted
- Type of participants
- citizens civil society private stakeholders
- Decisiveness
- democratic innovation yields a non-binding decision
- Co-Governance
- yes
Means
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Ends
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