Good practices of transparency, electronic procedures, and social communication in Brazil's environmental impact assessment and licensing system: a comparative analysis of the websites of state-level agencies

ABSTRACT:

This article analyzed the good practices of transparency, electronic procedures and social communication in the websites of State-level Public Agencies in charge of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Licensing in their jurisdictions. The methodology was based on content analyses of the websites of all 26 states and the federal district, based on a checklist of 28 good practices. It was found diverse levels of implementation of each good practice analyzed. The study also showed that the websites vary greatly in terms of good practice adoption, thus suggesting the existence of significant differences in institutional capacity across State-level agencies. Many good practices, particularly those related to electronic procedures and social participation, have a clear potential for replication across jurisdictions. The article concludes with a discussion of the research implications and suggesting future research agendas.

Keywords:
environmental licensing; environmental impact assessment; good practice; Brazil; environmental policy