A efetividade da gestão ambiental nas empresas de mineração no estado da Paraíba na ótica das comunidades.

Abstract

The mining activity is essential for the development of human societies and at the same time it causes degradations in high power. This activity developed by large companies is common in many countries, including Brazil. The installation and operation of these enterprises do not choose a place, mostly being dependent on a number of factors and having as one of determinants the closeness of exploration area. Thus, mining companies are present from big cities to rural areas far from large population centers. Due to environmental law compliance, this geographical location does not matter, though closer to communities can lead to higher level of social and environmental conflicts and thus require the adoption of instruments to improve environmental management. Based on this understanding, the present study chose three mining companies certified with the ISO 14001 environmental standard located on the municipalities of Boa Vista, João Pessoa e Mataraca in Paraiba State. The aim of this research is to understand how the environmental management of these companies is seen by people from nearby communities, requiring an understanding of the everyday actions of these companies in the environmental area, as well as obtain and record the opinions of homemakers in neighboring communities. From the obtainment of social and economical reality of these residents, the answers related to environmental management developed in these enterprises were handled by Pareto Diagram, allowing to check if there are differences on relationships between the three study areas in aspects such as environmental education, pollution, health and others. Finally, the understanding of the relationship between environmental impacts, environmental certifications and communities to the same branch of activity pointed out the peculiarities of environmental certifications for each locality with regard to the relationship with nearby communities.