PROPOSTA DER PADRONIZAÇÃO DE PROCEDIMENTOS NO LICENCIAMENTO AMBIENTAL: DESENVOLVIMENTO DE CHECKLIST PATA A AGRICULTURA IRRIGADA E BARRAMENTO NO VALE DO SÃO PATRÍCIO, GOIÁS.

Abstract

Environmental licensing is one of the main instruments of the National Environmental Policy (Law No. 6.938/1981), aimed at preventing, mitigating, and compensating impacts arising from potentially polluting activities. The decentralization of this process in Brazil is regulated by Complementary Law No. 140/2011, transferring the authority to municipalities to license local impact ventures, particularly in the agricultural sector. In the São Patrício Valley region, Goiás State, Brazil, this measure has become especially relevant due to the irrigated agriculture expansion and the dam construction, activities that demand intensive use of water resources and entail significant environmental risks. This paper aimed to analyze the environmental licensing procedures adopted by decentralized municipalities in the region — Itapaci, Ceres, Rialma, Nova Glória, Rianápolis, Rubiataba, and São Patrício — and to propose a standardized checklist for irrigated agriculture and dam construction. The methodology used was qualitative and descriptive, colleting data through questionnaires applied exclusively to the technicians responsible for issuing the licenses, complemented by on-site visits to the Municipal Environmental Secretariats. The data were processed by content analysis techniques, with triangulation among documental, normative, and some empirical information. The results highlighted the heterogeneity of municipal administrative structures, the lack of standardization in procedures, and the insufficiency of human and technological resources, factors that compromise the effectiveness of decentralization. The lack of uniformity in the requirements and the weakness in post-license monitoring create legal uncertainty and reduce the capacity to prevent environmental damage, although the municipality's proximity to local demands favors greater speed in the process. In this context, this paper proposes the adoption of a checklist as a harmonization tool, able to support municipal technicians in the process analysis, without disregarding local specificities. It is concluded that the decentralization of environmental licensing in the São Patrício Valley presents important advances but still requires investments in technical training, technological infrastructure, and mechanisms of normative standardization. The developed checklist by this paper offers a practical tool to strengthen municipal environmental management, ensure greater legal certainty, and promote sustainability in the use of regional water resources.