A resolution approved by the National Environmental Council (Conama) andpublished last Friday(16) modifies the way projects are classified and the rules for environmental licensing based on the size and polluting potential of the project.
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The licensing process will depend on the size associated with the polluting potential of the cultivation system adopted by the business.
Modes
In practice, small businesses can perform the self-declaration process for License by Agreement and Commitment (LAC). Characterized as having low polluting potential, they include those that operate in open systems – which discharge used water into rivers and the sea – as well as closed systems.
Medium-sized businesses can only issue the LAC license if they use a closed cultivation system with low polluting potential.Medium-sized businesses with medium polluting potential, which use open cultivation systems, must obtain the Single Environmental License (LAU).
For this group, the required documents are similar to those in the complete licensing process, but the decision on the analysis is made in a single stage.
Large businesses using closed systems with medium polluting potential can also obtain the LAU.
Large-scale projects with open systems and high pollution potential will have to go through the ordinary licensing process in three phases: preliminary, installation, and operation.
Two stages of the licensing process can be combined into a bifunctional process, depending on the polluting potential of the cultivated species. For example, the cultivation of algae in open systems has a lower risk of pollution than other species such as fish, crustaceans, and mollusks.
Specific cases
The cultivation of exotic, allochthonous (from another habitat), or hybrid species will no longer be considered a factor that conditions the licensing procedure, considering that specific measures of prevention and mitigation of potential environmental impacts from escapes of these species into the natural environment in which they are cultivated remain mandatory.
The new rules will not apply to projects related to shrimp farming in coastal areas, which are regulated by specific legal instruments.