A responsabilidade civil ambiental e o direito ao meio ambiente equilibrado: o caso de Santo Amaro (Ba)

Abstract

The right to a balanced environment is at the same time a fundamental individual right and at the same time the right of every collectivity. In Brazil this right was enshrined in 1988, with Article 225 of the Federal Constitution. It is everyone's responsibility to care for the environment, but it is the duty of the State to preserve it for future generations. The disordered exploration of natural space hinders the regeneration of nature. In 1960 the Brazilian Lead Company (Cobrac) settled in Santo Amaro (BA) to work with lead processing, while ore extraction took place in another municipality of Bahia. The ores were mined in Boquira and taken to Santo Amaro to be transformed into ingots through the synthesis process. The plant produced about 500 tons of slag, and an expectation of progress and financial growth for the municipality in its 32 years of operation. In 1993 the company abandoned all plant facilities without meeting the recommendations proposed by the environmental agency. The objectives to be achieved with this research was to understand the notion of environmental civil liability of the Santa Marense society in relation to the remaining impacts of the ore processing activity in the municipality of Santo Amaro (BA), as well as to discuss the applicability of environmental civil liability in solving the problem. The research was submitted and approved by the Ethics and Research Committee. In a second moment, semi-structured questionnaires were applied to understand the perception of residents about the contamination of the site, and to whom they attribute such responsibility. The population was very dissatisfied with the lack of commitment of public managers to environmental problems. In conclusion, it is clear that condemning the Plumbum company to a pecuniary penalty provides subsidies to the municipality so that they can mitigate the remaining negative impacts of that location. Restoration of the environmental damage needs to take place, as the population has already been greatly affected. Such actions are fundamental, since the environmental imbalance directly impacts the quality of life of residents. Furthermore, a healthy environment is a human right recognized by the UN in Resolution 36/300 in respect of the principle of human dignity and the preservation of biodiversity for future generations.