hydrocarbon sites corresponded to a staggering 96.7% of the entire oil production in
Brazil in February 2020, while production in the pre-salt layer alone (deep-sea wells
located at approximately 7000 m below the water surface) corresponded to 66.0% of
the total.
25 For the abovementioned reasons, Brazil faces gigantic challenges of
raising popular awareness to the country’s dependency on the ocean, while simultaneously adopting domestic measures to foster the sustainable management of those
maritime areas.
Given such dependency, it comes with little surprise that Brazil has been an active
actor—together with other Latin American neighbors—in stimulating the development of the law of the sea. From a foreign policy perspective, Brazil is an original
signatory to UNCLOS and has exercised a prominent in the realm of oceans debates
within the UN System. In addition, since 1967, the country has been permanently
re-elected to the Council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and hosts
the Regional Office of one of the most relevant programs of the International
Oceanographic Organization (IOC), the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS),
in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil has also been consolidating its leadership role in the South
Atlantic in recent years through cooperation initiatives on marine issues in various
regional fora, such as the South Atlantic Zone of Peace and Cooperation
(ZOPACAS),
26 the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), and
the India, Brazil and South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA). The country was the
second state to forward to the CLCS a submission for the delineation of the outer
limits its continental shelf, as early as 2004. Regarding the Area, or the international
seabed, Brazil implemented in 2009 the Program for the Prospection and Exploration of Mineral Resources of the International South Atlantic and Equatorial Area
(PROAREA) and, after an official request to the ISA, has been granted a slot for
prospecting and exploring mineral potentialities thereof.
Such an emphatic international projection of interest over the oceans has been
accompanied by domestic ocean-related policies and legislation. Brazil has had
interests in ocean policies and regulations during the twentieth century, when
international discussions on the depletion of fish stocks, the endangerment of certain
species of marine mammals, as well as on a fairer oceanic order were at the
the sharing regime, in which the coastal state is the final owner of the oil exploited by private
contractors. Besides, a “social fund” was created by the Federal Act 12.351/2010, charged with
collecting and directing royalties of exploitation in the pre-salt layer to health and education
programs internally. Those rules were believed to instrumentalize the offshore oil sector towards
domestic socioeconomic development.
25 Latest data published by the National Oil Agency (ANP), Boletim Mensal da Produção de
Petróleo e Gás Natural, February 2020.
26 In the last years of the Dilma Rousseff government (2010–2016), the ZOPACAS initiative
experienced a boost from regional partners, including Brazil. The 2013 Montevideo Declaration
emphasizes the plans for enhanced cooperation in the South Atlantic region, namely on matters such
as mapping and exploration of the seabed; maritime environment; air and maritime transportation
and port security; maritime safety and security; coastal defense and peacekeeping operations; public
security and combating transnational organized crime; and capacity-building in trade, culture,
science and technology. See Duarte (2016), p. 99.
9.1 Marine Environmental Governance in Brazil: Policies and Institutions
253
Brazil in February 2020, while production in the pre-salt layer alone (deep-sea wells
located at approximately 7000 m below the water surface) corresponded to 66.0% of
the total.
25 For the abovementioned reasons, Brazil faces gigantic challenges of
raising popular awareness to the country’s dependency on the ocean, while simultaneously adopting domestic measures to foster the sustainable management of those
maritime areas.
Given such dependency, it comes with little surprise that Brazil has been an active
actor—together with other Latin American neighbors—in stimulating the development of the law of the sea. From a foreign policy perspective, Brazil is an original
signatory to UNCLOS and has exercised a prominent in the realm of oceans debates
within the UN System. In addition, since 1967, the country has been permanently
re-elected to the Council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and hosts
the Regional Office of one of the most relevant programs of the International
Oceanographic Organization (IOC), the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS),
in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil has also been consolidating its leadership role in the South
Atlantic in recent years through cooperation initiatives on marine issues in various
regional fora, such as the South Atlantic Zone of Peace and Cooperation
(ZOPACAS),
26 the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), and
the India, Brazil and South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA). The country was the
second state to forward to the CLCS a submission for the delineation of the outer
limits its continental shelf, as early as 2004. Regarding the Area, or the international
seabed, Brazil implemented in 2009 the Program for the Prospection and Exploration of Mineral Resources of the International South Atlantic and Equatorial Area
(PROAREA) and, after an official request to the ISA, has been granted a slot for
prospecting and exploring mineral potentialities thereof.
Such an emphatic international projection of interest over the oceans has been
accompanied by domestic ocean-related policies and legislation. Brazil has had
interests in ocean policies and regulations during the twentieth century, when
international discussions on the depletion of fish stocks, the endangerment of certain
species of marine mammals, as well as on a fairer oceanic order were at the
the sharing regime, in which the coastal state is the final owner of the oil exploited by private
contractors. Besides, a “social fund” was created by the Federal Act 12.351/2010, charged with
collecting and directing royalties of exploitation in the pre-salt layer to health and education
programs internally. Those rules were believed to instrumentalize the offshore oil sector towards
domestic socioeconomic development.
25 Latest data published by the National Oil Agency (ANP), Boletim Mensal da Produção de
Petróleo e Gás Natural, February 2020.
26 In the last years of the Dilma Rousseff government (2010–2016), the ZOPACAS initiative
experienced a boost from regional partners, including Brazil. The 2013 Montevideo Declaration
emphasizes the plans for enhanced cooperation in the South Atlantic region, namely on matters such
as mapping and exploration of the seabed; maritime environment; air and maritime transportation
and port security; maritime safety and security; coastal defense and peacekeeping operations; public
security and combating transnational organized crime; and capacity-building in trade, culture,
science and technology. See Duarte (2016), p. 99.
9.1 Marine Environmental Governance in Brazil: Policies and Institutions
253