TCU and Brazilian environmental management - latest experience

Abstract

The 1988 Brazilian Constitution increased and strengthened the environmental mandate of the Tribunal de Contas da União - TCU, Brazilian Supreme Audit Institution. Since 1998, with the definition of its environmental strategy, TCU has been an increasingly important player on the assessment of federal government environmental policies. The execution of many operational audits in government institutions and programs has resulted in detailed diagnostics and relevant rec-ommendations towards increasing the effectiveness of environmental public policies. The paper describes and comments the evolution of TCU’s inspections in recent years over the environmental management in Brazil. Comments are made about the environmental performance of other countries’ Supreme Audit Institutions. TCU’s environmental strategy crite-ria are analyzed, as well as the determinations and recommendations of some recent decisions involving water resources management, environmental licensing and strategic environmental assessment. TCU’s environmental performance is as-sociated to the preventive, pedagogic and orienting model of control as opposed to the traditional a posteriori compliance model. To conclude, TCU’s environmental action is assessed as positive for society and its intensification is recommended.