Institutions and environmental governance in Brazil: the local governments’ perspective

Abstract

This paper explores some of the institutional factors that guide the environmental action of municipalities in Brazil. The starting premise is that there are particular institutional factors that empower the Brazilian state and society, guide processes and provide a unique profile to local environmental policy. Regulations for environmental protection are analysed from a historical perspective, taking into account the federal organization of the Brazilian state and its particular distribution of powers. Five factors emerge as the driving forces behind the actions taken by municipalities in relation to the environment: the federal status of municipalities, the inclusion of the environmental protection provision in the Federal Constitution, the lack of consistent funding for environmental policy, the coexistence of several regimes within environmental rules, and the discretionary power, held by environmental bureaucracy, related to the indeterminacy of environmental regulation.