The problem of public environmental policies in Brazil

The public environmental policies involve a set of complex, innovative and lasting collective action issues that impact on society and the environment. Laws, regulations, public agencies, and participatory mechanisms multiply the difficulty of their institutional framework and the resolution of the problems to which they are linked. Even with the improvement of environmental legislation, the complexity involved has generated conflicts and social difficulties. The objective was to analyze the influence on the local context and understanding of the critical aspects of public environmental policies in Brazil, enabling a reflection on the challenges, possibilities and means used for sustainable development. It was concluded that the management of public policies can contribute to the mitigation of environmental problems as it can set precedents capable of generating and aggravating social conflicts.