Since the discovery of oil in Nigeria, way back in 1950s, the country has invariably suffered some negative environmental consequences such as oil pollution resulting from gas flaring and oil extraction, loss of mangrove trees, which before now was a source of livelihood for the indigenous people and habitat for the area’s biodiversity. Oil production activities have caused contamination of marine life, and habitat, which in turn have had negative consequences on the health of humans, who consume the sea food. Inadequate attention had been paid by the successive Governments of Nigeria and the oil companies to these environmental problems over the years. In this study, an assessment of the effects of oil and gas exploration and exploitation on the nearby communities in some of Chevron’s operational areas was carried out using the Ugborodo community as a case study. Furthermore, investigations were carried out on the toxicity effects of the Escravos crude oil on aquatic organisms like Tilapia and a terrestrial organism such as the Earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris,). The study established the effect and the impact of crude oil when exposed to such organisms mentioned above. The rate of death of barbus fingerlings of Tilapia and the Earthworm (Lumbricus Terrestris) at different concentrations of crude oil was determined and reported. The community survey undertaken by polling data shows the dwindling of the natural resources of the area due to oil exploration and the survey indicate the impacts on natural resources from pollution by crude oil and the consequences on the affected communities using the Ugborodo community in the Chevron’s Nigeria Limited Operational base as a case study. / Environmental Sciences / M.Sc. (Environmental Management)

En se basant sur le principe organisationnel des deux types d’ensembles politiques rencontrés au Bénin, le but de cette recherche est d’explorer un ou des modèles conjoints, classiques et coutumiers, de participation en vue de promouvoir une démocratie participative plus proche des citoyens. Trois échelons spatiaux ont constitué le terrain de la recherche : l’Afrique, le Bénin centre et les milieux proches des anciennes royautés. La documentation et les données d’observations et d’entrevues ont été analysées par la démarche de théorisation ancrée et l’appréhension des phénomènes socio-spatiaux. Des quatre modèles originaux avec les critères endogènes d’appréciation de la participation mis en évidence et caractérisés dans les cultures du Bénin, deux, Togbésso-Hon-Togbassa et Daŋnou, émergent comme représentatifs des exigences d’une démocratie avec des formes territorialisées de la participation. La mise en perspective de la participation au Bénin avec les États d’Afrique montre une bonne performance qui le fait référencer comme le plus performant pour ses procédures et pratiques et comme source d’inspiration de mise en place des dispositifs participatifs dans le palmarès des grandes démocraties. Ses deux instruments de la décision, l’analyse participative et l’audience publique, restent perfectibles. La première, une innovation intéressante à encadrer, limite la participation à des acteurs choisis selon des critères généralement non énoncés. L’audience publique reste insatisfaisante par son inadéquation à la production de la décision collective et un modèle antinomique de la pensée politique africaine qui vise le consensus dans une démarche inclusive à essence délibérative sous forme de palabre. Fondement de la démocratie participative, la palabre offre le soubassement pour un modèle synergique basé sur les principes de délibération collective, d’offre de l’initiative de la décision au citoyen, de l’invitation aux débats et de l’écoute active (DROIE), d’un dispositif décisionnel flexible et adapté, au centre duquel se trouvent la délibération, le huis clos, la validation populaire et la reddition de compte, le recours et la réparation ainsi que le contrôle de qualité de la décision, essentiels à la gestion, et structurants à l’évaluation environnementale. / Based upon the organizational principle of two types of political entities found in Benin, the purpose of this research is to explore one or several joint, classic and traditional participation models in order to promote a participative democracy closer to citizens. Three spatial scales have been used for the field research: Africa, central Benin and communities close to ancient kingdoms. Documents and data generated through observation and interviews were analyzed using grounded theory principles and ”appréhension des phénomènes socio-spatiaux”. Among the four original models including endogenous criteria for assessing participation which correspond to Benin’s cultures, two – Togbésso-Hon-Togbassa and Daŋnou – appear as properly suited to meet the requirements of a democracy with territorialized forms of participation. When participation in Benin is compared with that of other African States, its good performance elevates it as a reference in terms of effectiveness of procedures and practices. As such, Benin has become a source of inspiration for implementation of participatory mechanisms within major democracies. Both its decision making instruments – namely participatory analysis and public hearing – may still be perfected. The first of the two –an interesting innovation which nonetheless deserves to be highlighted – limits participation to players selected according to criteria which generally remain implicit. Conversely, public hearing remains unsatisfactory by inadequately allowing the production of collective decision making, as well as by instituting a model in contradiction with African political thought, which rather seeks consensus through an inclusive and deliberative approach known as ”la palabre”. At the founding of participative democracy, “la palabre” provides a synergistic, flexible and responsive model based on the DROIE principles for decision making, at the center of which prevail deliberation, ”le huis clos”, popular validation and reporting, use and repair, as well as quality control of decision. All of these are essential as much to management as to the structure of environmental assessment.

In environmental impact assessment (EIA), accident risk should be considered as one impact. However, few studies have compared assessed risk levels with documented accidents. There is thus a need for assessing accuracy of risk assessment methodologies. The aim of this study was to develop and examine a risk assessment guideline based on environmental assessment. The guideline examination was carried out along the railway and the road between Kiruna and Narvik, Northern Scandinavia. The examined hazards were avalanches, debris flows, rock falls, slush flows, torrents, moose and reindeer. Documented accidents were quantified into an accident level. For each hazard type, six sections/sites were assessed. The propensities of these hazards were analysed through environmental assessments, especially by utilising geomorphology. Then, the accident densities along the sections/sites were compared with assessed accident phase indices describing risk and hazard in both spatial and temporal dimensions. The average uncertainty factors for both the risk and the hazard indices were about 5. This implies a fairly good precision. Risk and hazard indices were also rated and compared to the accident density rates. Thereafter, railway and road information was split up as different proposal alternatives in an EIA context. The total risk for each proposal was compared with the total accident density. The risk assessment guideline proved to be cost-efficient, rapid and relatively reliable in comparing accident risk.

In environmental impact assessment (EIA), accident risk should be considered as one impact. However, few studies have compared assessed risk levels with documented accidents. There is thus a need for assessing accuracy of risk assessment methodologies. The aim of this study was to develop and examine a risk assessment guideline based on environmental assessment. The guideline examination was carried out along the railway and the road between Kiruna and Narvik, Northern Scandinavia. The examined hazards were avalanches, debris flows, rock falls, slush flows, torrents, moose and reindeer. Documented accidents were quantified into an accident level. For each hazard type, six sections/sites were assessed. The propensities of these hazards were analysed through environmental assessments, especially by utilising geomorphology. Then, the accident densities along the sections/sites were compared with assessed accident phase indices describing risk and hazard in both spatial and temporal dimensions. The average uncertainty factors for both the risk and the hazard indices were about 5. This implies a fairly good precision. Risk and hazard indices were also rated and compared to the accident density rates. Thereafter, railway and road information was split up as different proposal alternatives in an EIA context. The total risk for each proposal was compared with the total accident density. The risk assessment guideline proved to be cost-efficient, rapid and relatively reliable in comparing accident risk.

Le secteur de la construction est considéré comme un des facteurs principaux qui affectent la dépense énergétique et les émissions des gaz à effet de serre. Dès lors, la valorisation de la qualité environnementale des bâtiments constitue une réponse importante aux enjeux du développement durable. Dans ce contexte, notre recherche aborde le problème de l'incertitude inhérente aux démarches HQE®, notamment dans l'évaluation de la qualité environnementale des bâtiments tertiaires. Notre étude s'appuie sur la théorie des possibilités qui présente des atouts intéressants au regard de notre problématique, notamment sa capacité à modéliser l'expertise humaine et la présentation simple et unique des incertitudes et des imprécisions sur la base d'un volume limité d'informations. Ce travail vise à associer une crédibilité à l'évaluation de la qualité environnementale du bâtiment en traitant des paramètres tant quantitatifs que qualitatifs. La modélisation des incertitudes permet aux concepteurs de mieux hiérarchiser les impacts des différents paramètres contribuant à l'amélioration de la qualité environnementale d'un bâtiment et d'identifier les informations qui nécessiteraient en priorité une instigation plus poussée afin de crédibiliser l'évaluation environnementale / It is well known that the construction sector is considered one of the main factors that affect the energy consumption and the emissions of greenhouse gases. Thus, the enhancement of the environmental quality of buildings is an important response to the challenges of sustainable development. In such context, this research discusses the problem of the uncertainty inherent in the French approach HQE®, particularly the assessment of the environmental quality of tertiary buildings. In fact, this study is based on possibility theory, which presents interesting advantages in terms of our problem, especially its ability to model human expertise or knowledge in addition to simple and unique presentation of uncertainties and inaccuracies on the basis of a limited amount of information. Moreover, this work aims to associate a credibility assessment of the environmental quality of buildings by handling two types of input parameters which are the quantitative and the qualitative ones. This uncertainty modeling offers the designers a better prioritization of the impacts of the different parameters, which thus contribute to the improvement of the environmental quality of a building, and identify the information that would require more instigation to enhance the credibility of the environmental assessment

The increase of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generation along with the current inadequate waste management and the issue of the Solid Waste National Policy (PNRS) in 2010, have brought a bigger concern in regards to the matter to Brazilian municipalities. Besides all the demands of the Policy, improper waste disposal sites still represent 40% of the destination of the waste collected in Brazil. In addition, only about 3.6% of recyclables are currently recovered. Campo Grande is the state capital of Mato Grosso do Sul and has a sanitary landfill with two more years of lifespan. The city has recently published its new tool to aid waste management – the Selective Collection Plan (PCS), which is comprised of planning and goals for the next 20 years. Facing this situation, the aim of this research was to analyze and compare different waste management systems for Brazil (Chapter 2) and Campo Grande (Chapter 3). A consequential Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was employed, with the software EASETECH for modelling. The general results showed that the improper disposal sites (i.e. dumps) have the highest environmental impacts due to the untreated landfill gas and leachate. The combination of high recycling rates and low amounts of waste disposed in landfills presented overall good performance in both cases. From all the scenarios assessed, the best performance was achieved by anaerobic digestion of the biowaste, with biogas utilization as fuel substitute, combined with a material recovery facility and a mixed waste mechanical biological treatment, with residue derived fuel directed to cement kilns avoiding coke combustion. In conclusion, the environmental awareness must be raised towards the population and the decision-makers are entitled to the changes that need to happen in order to decrease the environmental impacts of the systems and comply with the Brazilian waste legislation. / O aumento da geração de Resíduos Sólidos Urbanos (RSU) juntamente com a atual gestão inadequada de resíduos e a promulgação da Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos (PNRS) em 2010, trouxeram uma maior preocupação em relação ao assunto nos municípios brasileiros. Apesar de todas as exigências da Política, os locais de disposição inadequados ainda representam 40% do destino dos resíduos coletados no Brasil. Além disso, apenas cerca de 3,6% dos recicláveis são atualmente recuperados. Campo Grande é a capital do estado de Mato Grosso do Sul e possui aterro sanitário com apenas dois anos de vida útil. O município publicou recentemente sua nova ferramenta para auxiliar a gestão de resíduos sólidos – o Plano de Coleta Seletiva (PCS), que é composto por planejamento e metas para os próximos 20 anos. Diante desta situação, o objetivo desta pesquisa foi analisar e comparar diferentes sistemas de manejo de resíduos para o Brasil (Capítulo 2) e Campo Grande (Capítulo 3). Foi utilizada a Avaliação do Ciclo de Vida (ACV) consequencial, com o software EASETECH para modelagem. Os resultados gerais mostraram que os locais de disposição inadequados (ou seja, lixões) possuem os maiores impactos ambientais devido à falta de tratamento do gás de aterro e do lixiviado. A combinação de altas taxas de reciclagem e baixa quantidade de resíduos dispostos em aterros apresentou bom desempenho global em ambos os casos. De todos os cenários avaliados, o melhor desempenho alcançado foi através da digestão anaeróbia dos resíduos orgânicos, com a utilização de biogás como substituto de combustível, combinada com uma unidade de triagem e um tratamento mecânico biológico de resíduos misturados, e combustível derivado de resíduos destinado a fornos de cimenteiras evitando a combustão de coque. Em conclusão, a conscientização ambiental deve ser direcionada à população e a responsabilidade conferida aos tomadores de decisão para as mudanças que precisam ocorrer visando a redução dos impactos ambientais dos sistemas e o cumprimento da PNRS.

A agricultura é considerada uma das atividades antrópicas ambientalmente mais impactantes, sejam esses impactos em âmbito econômico, social e ambiental. Acarreta, portanto, interferência nos meios natural e socioeconômico, tanto positivos quanto negativos. Destaca-se, no Brasil, o cultivo da cana-de-açúcar, que utiliza práticas consideradas impactantes em todo o seu ciclo agrícola e industrial. Com o objetivo de praticar os valores de sustentabilidade, o setor sucro-alcooleiro precisa incorporar a variável ambiental na tomada de decisão desde as etapas iniciais do planejamento, permitindo a construção de cenários preditivos que tornem as atividades humanas menos impactantes negativamente para os sistemas ambientais, econômicos e sociais. Com isso, fazer esforços no sentido de praticar o desenvolvimento sustentável. Assim, o presente trabalho avalia as possíveis contribuições do instrumento de política ambiental Avaliação Ambiental Estratégica - AAE - para o setor agrícola, tendo como referência o Projeto Ambiental Etanol Verde Estratégico (PAEVE), do Governo do Estado de São Paulo, tomando como estudo de caso da região da bacia do rio Pardo. Para tanto, após uma revisão bibliográfica internacional dos conceitos, procedimentos e resultados do uso do instrumento (AAE), com maior enfoque para os casos realizados na agricultura, são analisados os procedimentos utilizados para a elaboração do PAEVE como um plano setorial estratégico da cana-de-açúcar no estado de São Paulo, à luz dos procedimentos comumente utilizados em AAE, por meio de uma matriz de avaliação da qualidade, técnica SWOT e análise crítica. Posteriormente é utilizado Sistemas de Informações Geográfica para avaliar aspectos relacionados ao Zoneamento Agro Ambiental do PAEVE e seus condicionantes técnicos, tendo como estudo de caso a região da bacia do rio Pardo, no estado de São Paulo. Dentre os resultados, merece destaque a indicação dos procedimentos dos planos e programas relacionados ao setor agrícola sucro-alcooleiro que podem ser influenciados pela Avaliação Ambiental Estratégica a fim de endereçar a sustentabilidade ao processo decisório. / Agriculture is considered one of the most environmentally impacting human activities. These impacts are in the economic, social and environmental aspects. Therefore, it entails interference in the natural and socio-economic, both positive and negative issues. It stands out in Brazil the cultivation of sugar cane, which uses practices considered striking all along its life cycle. Aiming to incorporate the environmental variable into decision make since its initial stages of planning, an important task is to build predictive scenarios on sugarcane sector activities for a less harmful development into environmental, economic and social aspects. Thus, this study assesses the possible contributions of environmental policy instrument Strategic Environmental Assessment - SEA - for the agricultural sector, with reference to the Strategic Green Ethanol Project of São Paulo State, in a case study on Pardo´s river basin. To do so, it is established an international review of the use of the instrument, with greater focus on the cases used in agriculture. So, it is analyzed the procedures of Strategic Green Ethanol Project within a SEA framework, throughout a quality assessment matrix, SWOT and critical analysis. Its used Geographic Information System for evaluating aspects related to the Agro Ecological Zoning of Strategic Green Ethanol Project, its conditioning technical factors, having as case study the region of Pardo´s river basin, in the state of São Paulo, Among the results, deserves attention the indication of the procedures in plans and programs related to agricultural sector of sugarcane that could have beneficial influential of Strategic Environmental Assessment towards promoting sustainable development into the decision making.

O estabelecimento e manejo de áreas protegidas constituem importantes estratégias para a conservação e proteção da biodiversidade. Para as Áreas de Proteção Ambiental (APAs), os planos de manejo são essenciais para a consecução dos objetivos. Para melhorar os resultados, alguns países utilizam a Avaliação Ambiental Estratégica (AAE) na elaboração dos planos de manejo. Esta estratégia tem apresentado bons resultados, com a melhora do planejamento e da gestão da área protegida da categoria V da IUCN (equivalente à APA). No Brasil, a AAE não tem regulamentação e os planos de manejo não são submetidos a uma AAE. Para orientar a elaboração dos planos de manejo no Brasil, roteiros metodológicos são utilizados. Contudo, os planos de manejo das APAs têm apresentado uma baixa taxa de implementação. Ao constatar esse cenário, a presente pesquisa propõe diretrizes e procedimentos para a elaboração de planos de manejo de APAs a partir das contribuições da AAE. Para alcançar este objetivo, em um primeiro capítulo, as contribuições da AAE para os planos de manejo da categoria V da IUCN são avaliadas. Este cenário internacional é composto por uma avaliação de oito casos de dois Parques localizados na Escócia, onde os respectivos planos de manejo são submetidos a AAE. Para avaliar as contribuições da AAE para estes planos de manejo, critérios baseados nas diretrizes da IUCN para elaboração dos planos de manejo da categoria V e nas boas práticas da AAE (Diretiva Europeia (2001/42/CE), no Protocolo da UNECE e Therivel (2004) são utilizados. Um segundo capítulo avalia o cenário nacional do planejamento de 17 APAs localizadas nos Estados do Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná, Pernambuco e no Distrito Federal. Para a avaliação do planejamento destas APAs, a metodologia proposta por Faria (2004), que avalia a eficácia da gestão das unidades de conservação, é adaptada para o contexto do planejamento das APAs por meio das recomendações da IUCN. Os resultados do Capítulo I mostram importantes contribuições da AAE para os planos de manejo, a saber: a compatibilização dos objetivos das dimensões ambiental, social e econômica com a minimização dos conflitos entre estas dimensões; a promoção do acompanhamento da qualidade do estoque ambiental; a identificação e a avaliação do impacto do plano de manejo sobre os objetivos e a base de dados da AAE, com a avaliação de como as ações propostas podem afetar o estoque ambiental; e outros. O segundo capítulo apontou os pontos fracos e os fortes do planejamento das APAs avaliadas, como, por exemplo: a baixa execução dos planos de manejo; os planos de manejo apresentam-se com pouca utilidade prática para o dia a dia da gestão; e o monitoramento e a gestão adaptativa são precários. Em contra partida a estes pontos fracos, o zoneamento apresentou-se como uma ferramenta essencial para a gestão e como suporte às tomadas de decisão. A partir da análise do cenário nacional foi possível verificar de que maneira a AAE pode potencializar os pontos fortes e minimizar os pontos fracos. Com isso, verificou-se que a AAE apresenta potenciais contribuições para o planejamento das APAs no Brasil, como: a articulação e minimização dos conflitos entre os objetivos dos planos de manejo com outras ações estratégicas; a inserção da variável ambiental no planejamento do uso do solo; a avaliação de outras alternativas para alcançar os objetivos do plano de manejo; entre outras. Assim, ao considerar o potencial da AAE para os planos de manejo das APAs, verifica-se que a aplicação da AAE para a elaboração dos planos de manejo das APAs é necessária para otimizar potencialidades e minimizar fraquezas. Sendo assim, com base nos resultados e discussões obtidas no capítulo I e II, um terceiro capítulo é apresentado com as diretrizes e os procedimentos para uma base metodológica para a elaboração de planos de manejo de APAs com a avaliação da AAE. / The plans establishment and management for protected areas are key strategies for biodiversity protection and conservation. The management plans are essential to achieving the goals for Environmental Protected Areas (EPA), one of the conservation areas types in Brazil (equivalent to IUCN category V). Some countries use Strategic Environmental Assessment to make management plans and they are getting good results. On the other hand, in Brazil, the management plans preparation applied in EPAs follow a specific methodological guide and the SEA is not applied in the context of protected areas in Brazil. However, the management plan of EPA have shown low implementation rate. In this context, the present research proposes guidelines and procedures for the preparation of EPAs management plans from the contribution of SEA. To achieve this goal, the first chapter evaluates the SEA contribution to management plans of IUCN category V protected areas. This international scenario consists of an evaluation of eight case studies of two parks of the Scotland, where theses management plans are subject to SEA. To evaluate the contributions of SEA for theses management plans, criteria based on the management guidelines for IUCN category V protected areas and on the best practice of SEA (European Directive (2001/42/EC) in the UNECE Protocol and the Therivel author (2004)) are used. The second chapter evaluated the planning of 17 EPAs in Brazil located in the States of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná, Pernambuco and Distrito Federal. The method used to evaluate the planning of these 17 EPAs was proposed by Faria (2004) and adapted for planning context of EPAs in accordance with the recommendations of IUCN. The results show SEA important contributions for plans management, namely: the compatibility of the objectives of environmental, social and economical and the minimizing conflicts between these dimensions; the monitoring the quality of the environment stock; the impact assessment of the management plans on the objectives and baseline SEA, with the evaluation of how the management plan\'s actions can affect the environment stock. As a result of the second chapter showed the weaknesses and the strengths of the planning of the evaluated 17 APAs, such as: the low implementation of management plans; management plans present with little practical use for day to day management; and monitoring and adaptive management are precarious. In contrast to these weaknesses, the zoning is a good tool for the management and support decision-making. Based on these analyzes it observed how SEA can maximize the strengths and minimize the weaknesses. Thus, it was found that the SEA has potential contributions to the EPAs planning in Brazil, as an example: reconcile conflicts between the objectives of the management plan with other strategic actions; the integration of the environmental issue in land use planning; and the evaluation of other alternatives for achieving the objectives of the management plan. Considering the potential of SEA to EPAs management plans, it is found that the application of the SEA for the preparation of the APAs management plans is needed to optimize strengths and minimize weaknesses. Therefore, based on the results obtained and discussions in the first and second chapter, a methodology basis with guidelines and procedures for the preparation of EPAs management plans with the evaluation of SEA is presented.

L’idée de ce sujet de thèse a émergé du constat des difficultés auxquelles sont aujourd’hui confrontés les aménageurs de grands projets d’infrastructures linéaires. Le contexte actuel leur impose de prendre en compte les enjeux environnementaux, notamment en termes de préservation des milieux naturels et de la biodiversité, à différentes échelles, tout en veillant à faire aboutir leurs projets dans de bonnes conditions, sans surcoûts. Cependant, les maîtres d’ouvrage de grands projets d’infrastructures linéaires peinent pourtant à intégrer ces enjeux efficacement faute de méthodes et d’outils adaptés. Dans ce contexte, cette thèse propose une lecture et une analyse de l’évaluation environnementale au travers du prisme d’une géographie environnementale et d’une géographie de l’aménagement expérimentales et de l’étude d’un projet à enjeux environnementaux à échelles emboîtées, du niveau européen au niveau local, avec son lot de contradictions scalaires : le projet Seine-Nord Europe. Tout d’abord, au travers de la présentation et de l’évaluation de ce projet au regard de la prise en compte de ces enjeux, cette thèse se veut une contribution théorique à la connaissance des dynamiques et des stratégies d’aménagement et de leur trajectoire en matière d’intégration des enjeux environnementaux : la biodiversité et la question de la préservation des milieux naturels constituent l’enjeu environnemental plus particulièrement envisagé. D’autre part, cette thèse est aussi conçue comme une recherche-action et un accompagnement de la maîtrise d’ouvrage. Trois outils d’évaluation de la vulnérabilité écologique des milieux le long du tracé du projet ont ainsi été élaborés pour répondre à cet objectif. / This thesis is led by difficulties experienced by planners during linear infrastructure studies and developments. In the present context, they have to ensure a successful project without any extra cost while also taking into account environmental issues at different scales, as natural habitats and biodiversity protection. Until recently, these issues were not a main source of concern and studies were carried out to simply cover regulatory requirements as environmental assessment. Nevertheless, since The Grenelle Environment Forum, environment concerns have been considered as a key challenge for linear infrastructure projects in spite of difficulties due to a lack of process and efficient tools. Therefore this thesis provides an environmental assessment analysis based on environmental and experimental spatial planning geography and focused on the North-Seine canal project with some inconsistencies from European to local scale. Firstly, based on the description and analysis of this project, this thesis is a contribution to the knowledge improvement of planning strategies and the way they take into account environment issues: biodiversity and natural resources and environment protection are the main environmental concerns. Furthermore, this thesis is also designed as an “action research” and a help for project planners and managers with effective help. Three different ecological vulnerability assessment tools have been created to analyze natural resources and environments along the route proposition and they are described in this paper.

Essa pesquisa estuda as contribuições e potencialidades da Avaliação Ambiental Estratégica (AAE) como instrumento de planejamento urbano- territorial capaz de sugerir a implementação econômica, social e ambientalmente sustentável de políticas, planos e programas habitacionais e de prevenir os impactos socioambientais decorrentes, resultando na contribuição para sustentabilidade do desenvolvimento urbano. O objetivo do trabalho é avaliar o Programa Minha Casa Minha Vida no& Brasil e as possíveis contribuições da AAE para a tomada de decisão sobre o programa habitacional em questão. Desse modo, a AAE é analisada como potencial instrumento para assegurar a integração ambiental com o planejamento estratégico do setor habitacional, utilizando, como estudo de caso, o programa Minha Casa Minha Vida (PMCMV). Através da construção de moradias, o PMCMV visa incrementar a indústria da construção civil, criando empregos e contribuindo para a movimentação econômica do país. Entretanto, muitas vezes, o programa é implantado em áreas urbanas sem a devida infraestrutura e os serviços necessários, provocando, muitas vezes, a deterioração ambiental e social da região. Esta pesquisa conclui que a sistemática da AAE para implementar os princípios do desenvolvimento sustentável no PMCMV é, senão essencial, recomendável para a tomada de decisão, pois considera as variáveis ambientais sociais e econômicas nas etapas de planejamento. / This research studies the contributions and potential of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) as a tool for urban planning for ensuring economic implementation, social and environmental sustainability of policies, plans and housing programs, as well as preventing environmental impacts, resulting in the contribution to sustainable urban development. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the Minha Casa Minha Vida program in Brazil, and the possible contributions of SEA to decision making regarding this housing program. Thus, SEA is analyzed as a potential instrument to guarantee environmental integration with the strategic planning of the housing sector, using, as a case study, the Minha Casa Minha Vida program (PMCMV). Through the construction of houses, the PMCMV aims to stimulate the construction industry, creating jobs and contributing to the increase of economic activity in the country. However, sometimes the program is deployed in urban areas without adequate infrastructure and services, causing environmental and social deterioration of the region. This research concludes that the SEA process to implement sustainable development principles in the PMCMV is highly recommended, if not essential, to decision making, since it considers the environmental, social and economic variables during planning phases.