Impactos e medidas ambientais no meio físico de empreendimentos da bovinocultura e agroindústria leiteiras em Minas Gerais

Abstract

The dairy production chain holds high socioeconomic relevance in Brazil, being widely distributed across the territory and contributing significantly to employment and income generation. However, this activity is also associated with various environmental impacts, especially on the physical environment components—such as soil, water, and air—resulting from both primary production and agro-industrial activities. In this context, environmental licensing and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) play a fundamental role in identifying, evaluating, and mitigating these impacts, although the literature points out limitations in the quality of the environmental studies produced. Accordingly, this research aimed to analyze the environmental impacts on the physical environment components, specifically soil, water, and air, associated with dairy cattle farming and dairy agro-industry enterprises, as well as the environmental measures described in the environmental studies submitted for licensing at the Regional Environmental Regularization Units of Triângulo Mineiro and Alto Paranaíba, in Minas Gerais. To this end, environmental licensing processes available in the database of the Minas Gerais state environmental agency were analyzed, including studies such as Environmental Impact Studies (EIA), Environmental Control Reports (RCA), and Environmental Control Plans (PCA). The adopted methodology was based on a qualitative documentary analysis, with the systematization and classification of environmental impacts by physical environment component, alongside a critical evaluation of the conformity between the identified impacts and the proposed environmental measures. The results showed that the most recurrent impacts are related to soil contamination, water resource contamination by liquid effluents, and atmospheric emissions, with a predominance of simplified and, in many cases, superficial approaches in the analyzed environmental studies. Furthermore, an absence of described systematic impact assessment methodologies was observed, as well as a strong influence of standardized Terms of Reference (TRs), which limit the identification of project-specific impacts. Environmental measures, although present, were frequently generic and did not always correspond to the identified impacts. Finally, the results of this research indicate the need to improve the quality of environmental studies within the licensing framework, especially regarding the application of more suitable EIA methodologies and overcoming the excessive standardization of TRs.