*Neo-Developmentalism and Regional Integration: IIRSA Impact in the Environmental Agenda… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93983*

*Ecosystem and Biodiversity of Amazonia*

**2.2 Integration projects in the Amazon and environmental regulation**

regulation norms have systemic efficiency limits.

*Map of the IIRSA hubs. Source: GEOSUR, 2018.*

lines, mostly found without environmental licenses.

stage without an environmental license.

in the four IIRSA integration hubs located in the Amazon region.

The lack of environmental regulation coordination among the Amazonian countries is notorious in dealing with transboundary water resources management issues. In this regard, an integrated analysis of environmental regulations for the Amazon detects absences and impossibilities of consolidated regulatory arrangements for effective cooperation in the region [21]. This fact certainly has had an impact on the possibility of developing infrastructure on a sustainable basis, as in Amazonian areas, the command and control instruments used by environmental

In addition to the increasing environmental deregulation in the Brazilian political scenario, IIRSA became an effective instrument for government interests in expanding jobs and increasing economic growth rates and market agents seeking to ensure their investment return in electoral campaigns. An example of this deregulation is the Bill N° 1876/1999, which "provides for Areas of Permanent Preservation, Legal Reserve, forest exploitation and other measures" approved in 2013. According to their environmental licensing situation, **Table 1** shows the infrastructure projects

Of the total 191 projects, 54.5% do not comply with environmental licensing norms. Noteworthy are many unlicensed waterway and railroad projects in the Amazon Hub: 18 of 27 projects, i.e., 66.6% of those in the same condition. Another situation worth mentioning is the hydroelectric plants and fiber optic transmission

The data presented in the 2013 and 2014 reports - organized in **Table 2** - show the projects' typology. Systematized data of each type of integration show the infrastructure projects' situation according to the execution stage and the environmental license condition. The environmental licenses were obtained only for 45.5% of the projects, and several of them are still being executed or are at the pre-execution

The data presented in **Tables 1** and **2**, and **Figure 2**, indicate the fragility of the regulatory actions undertaken at the beginning of the implementation of

**186**

**Figure 1.**

IIRSA projects. Especially projects related to energy generation (63% without EL), waterways, and railroads (60.6% without EL) – according to Graphic 1 – express the dysfunctional character between IIRSA and the environmental agenda.


#### **Table 2.**

*IIRSA hubs projects in the Amazon, according to the project stage and environmental licensing (EL) condition - 2013 and 2014.*

**189**

*Neo-Developmentalism and Regional Integration: IIRSA Impact in the Environmental Agenda…*

The graphic shows that between the years 2013 and 2014, none of the activities that characterize the integration of IIRSA respected the environmental dimension and sustainability goals, as advertised by the governments. It is important to notice that in Bolivia and Brazil, many voters believed in the proposed administration's developmental agenda, and these popular governments took compliance with

*IIRSA projects in the Amazon hubs, according to the environmental license condition. Source: IIRSA – Data* 

*Bank of COSIPLAN project portfolio (<http://iirsa.org/proyectos/Principal.aspx>).*

Specifically, in the Amazon countries, environmental regulatory instruments exist without a coordinating scope of environmental policies and have a low level of institutionalization [21, 22]. Brazil's actions in the coordination of regional integration projects show this country as a hegemonic power who imposed, at that moment, models of environmental regulation. In the case of IIRSA in the Amazon, these projects would operate throughout the territory where regulatory compliance projects were already underway. For instance, in the Andean Hub runs the Project: Armonización regulatoria: eléctrica, gasífera y petrolera; operating in Bolivia, Perú, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela; and the Amazon Hub, where the largest stocks of natural resources on the planet are located, and the lowest degrees of institution-

The connection of the Amazon region with the execution of projects with preliminary studies of social and environmental impact to subsidize licensing processes and the respective socio-environmental conditions for the projects' execution puts this territory in a degree of vulnerability never experienced before. The conception of development follows an ideology that relegates the environmental agenda to a secondary place. Companies that used to capture the agenda of construction works for IIRSA hubs during the FHC administration were the same at the time of the Latin American popular governments and influenced the decisions of left and center-left governments elected. These companies changed their performance operating in close connection to state structures, introducing their demands and exercising their influence through a plural strategy in supranational arenas as a movement of political capture. They have more flexibility to act due to the redefinition of Latin America's role in the global crisis of 2008 and the conversion of Brazil into a global player in the world scenario in that period [6, 23]. The dualism environmental regulation and developmentalism started

alization of environmental regulations were imposed (see **Figure 3**).

to be obscured, and sustainability stayed as a corporation's discourse.

The World Investment Report indicated that after the 2008 crisis, the most significant increase in foreign investment occurred in South America. Investments were in the order of US\$ 86 billion, with Brazil accounting for 56% of this amount.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93983*

environmental laws to second place.

**Figure 2.**

*Neo-Developmentalism and Regional Integration: IIRSA Impact in the Environmental Agenda… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93983*

**Figure 2.**

*Ecosystem and Biodiversity of Amazonia*

**Ports and bridges**

**Waterways and railways**

**Roads and border crossings**

**Hydroelectric plants and fiber optic transmission lines**

**Airport and logistics centers**

IIRSA projects. Especially projects related to energy generation (63% without EL), waterways, and railroads (60.6% without EL) – according to Graphic 1 – express the

**Projects Project stage IIRSA hubs in Amazonian territories Total**

**Peru-Brazil-Bolivia Guyanas Amazon Andean**

Pre-execution 2 1 8 1 **12** AP. to begin 1 4 4 — **9** Execution — — 6 3 **9** Completed 1 3 3 2 **9 Total 4 8 21 6 39 With EL 2 4 8 3 17**

Pre-execution 3 8 **11** AP. to begin 1 1 6 1 **9** Execution — — 5 — **5** Completed — — 8 — **8 Total 4 1 27 1 33 With EL 4 0 9 0 13**

Pre-execution 2 2 5 8 **17** AP. to begin 2 1 3 11 **17** Execution 3 4 11 15 **33** Completed 2 2 4 10 **18 Total 9 9 23 44 85 With EL 3 3 11 25 42**

Pre-execution 1 — — — **1** AP. to begin 2 1 — 4 **7** Execution 1 — — 3 **4** Completed 1 1 1 4 **7 Total 5 2 1 11 19 With EL 3 0 1 3 7**

Pre-execution — — 1 — **1** AP. to begin — — 6 — **6** Execution 3 — 2 1 **6** Completed — — 1 1 **2 Total 3 — 10 2 15 With EL 3 — 3 2 8**

**Grand total 25 20 82 64 191 Total projects with EL 15 07 32 33 87 % Projects with EL 60.0 35.0 39.0 51.5 45.5**

*IIRSA hubs projects in the Amazon, according to the project stage and environmental licensing (EL) condition -* 

*Source: IIRSA – Data Bank of COSIPLAN Project Portfolio (http://iirsa.org/proyectos/Principal.aspx).*

dysfunctional character between IIRSA and the environmental agenda.

**188**

**Table 2.**

*2013 and 2014.*

*IIRSA projects in the Amazon hubs, according to the environmental license condition. Source: IIRSA – Data Bank of COSIPLAN project portfolio (<http://iirsa.org/proyectos/Principal.aspx>).*

The graphic shows that between the years 2013 and 2014, none of the activities that characterize the integration of IIRSA respected the environmental dimension and sustainability goals, as advertised by the governments. It is important to notice that in Bolivia and Brazil, many voters believed in the proposed administration's developmental agenda, and these popular governments took compliance with environmental laws to second place.

Specifically, in the Amazon countries, environmental regulatory instruments exist without a coordinating scope of environmental policies and have a low level of institutionalization [21, 22]. Brazil's actions in the coordination of regional integration projects show this country as a hegemonic power who imposed, at that moment, models of environmental regulation. In the case of IIRSA in the Amazon, these projects would operate throughout the territory where regulatory compliance projects were already underway. For instance, in the Andean Hub runs the Project: Armonización regulatoria: eléctrica, gasífera y petrolera; operating in Bolivia, Perú, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela; and the Amazon Hub, where the largest stocks of natural resources on the planet are located, and the lowest degrees of institutionalization of environmental regulations were imposed (see **Figure 3**).

The connection of the Amazon region with the execution of projects with preliminary studies of social and environmental impact to subsidize licensing processes and the respective socio-environmental conditions for the projects' execution puts this territory in a degree of vulnerability never experienced before. The conception of development follows an ideology that relegates the environmental agenda to a secondary place. Companies that used to capture the agenda of construction works for IIRSA hubs during the FHC administration were the same at the time of the Latin American popular governments and influenced the decisions of left and center-left governments elected. These companies changed their performance operating in close connection to state structures, introducing their demands and exercising their influence through a plural strategy in supranational arenas as a movement of political capture. They have more flexibility to act due to the redefinition of Latin America's role in the global crisis of 2008 and the conversion of Brazil into a global player in the world scenario in that period [6, 23]. The dualism environmental regulation and developmentalism started to be obscured, and sustainability stayed as a corporation's discourse.

The World Investment Report indicated that after the 2008 crisis, the most significant increase in foreign investment occurred in South America. Investments were in the order of US\$ 86 billion, with Brazil accounting for 56% of this amount.

**Figure 3.**

*Map of the IIRSA area of influence in the Amazon. Source: IIRSA, 2014.*

Companies such as Vale, Gerdau, Camargo Correa, Votorantim, Petrobras, and Braskem made acquisitions in the iron ore, steel, food, cement, chemicals, and oil refining sectors, as well as other industries in Latin American countries [24]. From a domestic perspective in Brazil, Brazilian companies have met their demands through the association between the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), a developmental program, and IIRSA actions. In this sense, hydroelectricity gains momentum, given its centrality as a structuring element of regional integration, simultaneously with the violation of environmental sustainability.
