EVALUATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS BY THE SOCIETY: A CASE STUDY OF BAHIA SUL CELULOSE S. A.

Abstract

An environmental management system presupposes the evaluation of aspects and environmental impacts, which is a continuous process and determines the past, present and potential impacts of the activities of an organization upon the environment. Several models may be found as ways of representing an evaluation of environmental aspects and impacts, however, we may divide those models in three basic representations: Simple Mathematical functions, dynamic models and verbal declarations. Based on those models the organizations are able to perform an evaluation system of aspects and of impacts directed to an environmental management system defined by ISO 14,001. These methodologies, being numerical or just conceptual, always take the requirements of the affected parties into consideration in the significance criteria. This work aims at describing a methodology used by Bahia Sul Celulose SA, for the evaluation of aspects and environmental impacts, basically following the model of Leopold et al (1971); Antunes e Camara (1992), with the necessary adaptations to attend to the internal demands and the specific requirements of ISO 14,001. Bahia Sul Celulose SA, in its model of evaluation of aspects and impacts, made use of the debate with several groups of the preponderant factors for its significance criteria, what has contributed for the environmental management system and for the global performance of the enterprise.