ENVIRONMENTAL LICENSING IN THE LIGHT OF CONTEMPORARY CONSTITUTIONALISM POTENTIAL OF THE INSTRUMENT FOR A STRUCTURAL ROLE IN THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

Abstract

This paper reinterpreted environmental licensing as one of the main instruments of the National Environmental Policy (Law 6,938/1981), in the light of contemporary constitutionalism. Hence, it aimed at harmonizing socioeconomic development and the protection of the dignity of human life with the use of environmental goods. From a literature review, the need to adapt the public administration to the context of enforcing fundamental rights was evidenced, due to the normative force of the Brazilian Constitution, by the development and/or improvement of the legal instruments made available to the Constitution in order to fulfill its goals. The design of Brazilian environmental licensing allows public decision-making to be based on scientific evidence and enables dialogical participation among all actors involved and/or affected by the licensing object. This potential for complementarity between technical practice and democratic dialogue, adding to the structuring character of complex socioeconomic arrangements, elevates this licensing to a paradigmatic position regarding the institutional design of the instrument. However, in Brazilian practice there are procedural flaws in its use, which need to be better studied, so that licensing be in line with its constitutional requirements.