Environmental information : an approach to pollution control in Brazil

The interconnection of environmental pollution and socioeconomic development is discussed, taking information as the starting point. Information in this field has been developed, and the ensuing problems considered, in the international forum by United Nations Agencies and Conferences, and at a national level by the Brazilian Federal Government. The main problems relating to the pollution of the Brazilian environment are introduced, and Governmental policy - internal and external - is shown on the national plane to be somewhat uncoordinated, and on the international plane to be rather resistant to external pressures. This limits both the development of a national environmental information system, and the participation of Brazil in the international exchange of information and ideas. Environmental information is focused at the international level through UNEP's systems, and the Brazilian situation is presented comprehensively through the data collected in sixty-two environmental agencies. These agencies were surveyed with the twofold objective of: a. analysing the generation of information and the pattern of its use by the Brazilian environmental agencies in their decision-making process, and b. investigating how the variables of region and task influence the pattern of information use by environmental managers. The analysis has been based mainly on the interviews conducted with the managers in charge of environmental pollution control in Brazil, and involved the following steps: a. the identification of managerial functions and tasks in the field of environmental pollution control; b. the identification of information needs related to each task; c. the analysis of regional characteristics related to tasks and information needs; d. the analysis of both regional and task characteristics related to the sources of information used by the managers. Some alternative solutions towards an environmental information policy are proposed, taking into account managerial information needs, information units already existing with greater potential for contributing to this field and the national and regional political background.