THE IMPORTANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN LICENSING PROCESSES: AN ANALYSIS FROM THE MUNICIPALITY OF ITABUNA-BA

Abstract

Legislation related to environmental issues highlights the inseparable role of environmental education in the licensing process. Thus, recognizing the transformative and emancipatory role of education, the need to investigate environmental education actions within the environmental agencies responsible for licensing and inspection is becoming increasingly imperative. In this way, this work sought to investigate how environmental education participates in the process of obtaining environmental certification in the municipality of Itabuna-Ba. The general aim of this article was to analyze the theme of environmental education in the process of obtaining certification carried out by the Department of Environmental Licensing and Inspection of the Municipality of Itabuna-Ba. This research is qualitative and exploratory in nature. In order to meet the proposed objective, an interview was chosen as the instrument for producing information. The interview was then transcribed and submitted to the retextualization technique. The analysis was qualitative in nature and the information produced was submitted to the Textual Discourse Analysis technique. The results obtained on the process of Environmental Licensing and Environmental Education indicate that the two instruments of the National Environmental Policy are being taken into account by the municipality of Itabuna. However, the analysis of the results reveals the difficulty of monitoring Environmental Education actions in the context of the projects, as well as the quality and perspective of Environmental Education developed with the workers. Therefore, it is possible to see that despite the difficulties reported, it is in the environmental agency space that Licensing and Environmental Education come to the fore in the mediation of economic interests and the preservation of an ecologically balanced environment.