necessarily involves taking environmental considerations seriously. As long as the
protection of the environment is regarded as the Trojan horse of coastal states for
advancing national jurisdiction seawards, the health of the world’s oceans can be
expected to decrease.
Building on the theoretical framework discussed up to this point, Chap. 9 mapped
the seascape of marine environmental policies and laws in Brazil which apply to the
management of the “Brazilian Blue Amazon”. While a book is certainly not suited
for exhausting such a seascape, should this work have triggered greater awareness as
to the regulation and conservation of the Brazilian seafloor, it will have achieved its
goal. Brazil relies on a complex web of policies, plans, and concrete actions that
level the ground for the environmental governance of Brazilian waters and maritime
spaces. Despite such a complexity, the individual elements of such a network can be
said to complement themselves and to cover, in a fairly decent manner, the most
relevant aspects of marine environmental governance. The macro-policies for the
marine environmental governance of Brazilian seas are: the 1994 National Maritime
Policy, the 1981 National Environmental Policy, and the 1980 National Policy for
Marine Resources.
For the purposes of ocean governance, the 1980 National Policy for Marine
Resources (PNRM) was key to this study. It governs the development of maritime
activities focused on the use, exploration and exploitation of living, mineral and
energy resources of the Brazilian maritime spaces, in a rational and sustainable way,
in accordance with national interests and facing the country’s socioeconomic development. The PNRM relies on the principles of precaution in the exploitation of
marine resources; protection and conservation of biodiversity and genetic heritage in
marine areas under national jurisdiction; and respect for the internationally accepted
commitments by the Brazilian state.
Within the umbrella provided by the PNRM, several quinquennial plans thrive,
each containing actions and measures aimed at a specific axis of ocean governance,
such as conservation of biodiversity, monitoring of maritime activity, assessment of
a given area’s marine resource potential, etc. Currently, Brazil runs the IX Sectorial
Plan for Marine Resources (PSRM), which is mostly grounded on concerns with
“marine sustainability”. Of the several actions outlined in previous PSRM’s, those
concerning the marine environment of the continental shelf are of particular interest
to this study. The bulk of those policies, plans and actions amount to what could be
termed a “Brazilian ocean strategy”—which has informed municipal ocean legislation since the 1970s.
Under the quinquennial Sectorial Plans for Marine Resources, specific actions
have been designed and implemented, such as the REVIZEE or the LEPLAC—the
former mapped out the living resources of the Brazilian EEZ and published extensive reports with the resulting conclusions, and the latter enabled the collection of
massive amounts of data on the Brazilian seabed morphology which grounded the
country’s submissions for an outer continental shelf before the CLCS. Yet, not-sosuccessful actions also exist, and that is the particular case of REMPLAC. It was
designed to evaluate the mineral potential of the Brazilian continental shelf, while
simultaneously (i) depicting the physical environment of that continental shelf;
364
11 Conclusions
protection of the environment is regarded as the Trojan horse of coastal states for
advancing national jurisdiction seawards, the health of the world’s oceans can be
expected to decrease.
Building on the theoretical framework discussed up to this point, Chap. 9 mapped
the seascape of marine environmental policies and laws in Brazil which apply to the
management of the “Brazilian Blue Amazon”. While a book is certainly not suited
for exhausting such a seascape, should this work have triggered greater awareness as
to the regulation and conservation of the Brazilian seafloor, it will have achieved its
goal. Brazil relies on a complex web of policies, plans, and concrete actions that
level the ground for the environmental governance of Brazilian waters and maritime
spaces. Despite such a complexity, the individual elements of such a network can be
said to complement themselves and to cover, in a fairly decent manner, the most
relevant aspects of marine environmental governance. The macro-policies for the
marine environmental governance of Brazilian seas are: the 1994 National Maritime
Policy, the 1981 National Environmental Policy, and the 1980 National Policy for
Marine Resources.
For the purposes of ocean governance, the 1980 National Policy for Marine
Resources (PNRM) was key to this study. It governs the development of maritime
activities focused on the use, exploration and exploitation of living, mineral and
energy resources of the Brazilian maritime spaces, in a rational and sustainable way,
in accordance with national interests and facing the country’s socioeconomic development. The PNRM relies on the principles of precaution in the exploitation of
marine resources; protection and conservation of biodiversity and genetic heritage in
marine areas under national jurisdiction; and respect for the internationally accepted
commitments by the Brazilian state.
Within the umbrella provided by the PNRM, several quinquennial plans thrive,
each containing actions and measures aimed at a specific axis of ocean governance,
such as conservation of biodiversity, monitoring of maritime activity, assessment of
a given area’s marine resource potential, etc. Currently, Brazil runs the IX Sectorial
Plan for Marine Resources (PSRM), which is mostly grounded on concerns with
“marine sustainability”. Of the several actions outlined in previous PSRM’s, those
concerning the marine environment of the continental shelf are of particular interest
to this study. The bulk of those policies, plans and actions amount to what could be
termed a “Brazilian ocean strategy”—which has informed municipal ocean legislation since the 1970s.
Under the quinquennial Sectorial Plans for Marine Resources, specific actions
have been designed and implemented, such as the REVIZEE or the LEPLAC—the
former mapped out the living resources of the Brazilian EEZ and published extensive reports with the resulting conclusions, and the latter enabled the collection of
massive amounts of data on the Brazilian seabed morphology which grounded the
country’s submissions for an outer continental shelf before the CLCS. Yet, not-sosuccessful actions also exist, and that is the particular case of REMPLAC. It was
designed to evaluate the mineral potential of the Brazilian continental shelf, while
simultaneously (i) depicting the physical environment of that continental shelf;
364
11 Conclusions