THE NEED TO BETTER DEFINE AND DELIMIT AREA OF INFLUENCE FOR INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

This technical note by Climate Policy Initiative/Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (CPI/PUC-Rio) argues for clearer definitions and more transparent methodologies in delimiting the 'area of influence' for land transportation infrastructure projects in Brazil. The authors contend that current practices often confuse the conceptual definition of the area of influence with the parameters used for its physical delimitation, leading to inconsistent assessments of socio-economic and environmental impacts.

• There is currently a lack of consensus and a clear definition regarding the 'area of influence' for infrastructure projects, which often leads to the concept being confused with the specific parameters used for its delimitation.
• Proposed legislative changes in Brazil, specifically Legislative Bill PL 3,729/2004 and Senate Bill PLS 168/2018, seek to restrict the area of influence to only the Area of Direct Influence (AID). This would eliminate the requirement to assess indirect effects and exclude them from future mitigation and compensation programs, while also limiting public participation in decision-making to those in the AID.
• Different Brazilian agencies use inconsistent definitions for the area of influence. The Brazilian Land Transportation Regulatory Agency (ANTT) defines it as the territory where transport offering effects are perceived, while VALEC uses a more comprehensive definition focusing on loading hubs and load flow diversion. The National Environment Council (CONAMA) provides a general definition as the geographical area directly or indirectly affected by impacts.
• Current practices for delimiting areas of influence in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) lack transparency and consistency. For example, the FICO (EF 354) and Ferronorte (EF 364) projects used different criteria for their direct and indirect influence areas despite being similar project types, and neither study provided a transparent technical rationale for these decisions.
• The 'market access' methodology developed by CPI/PUC-Rio demonstrates that using a simple distance radius to delimit the area of influence is inadequate. In the case of the EF-170 (Ferrogrão) railroad, many municipalities outside the project's trajectory experienced substantial accessibility gains, while some municipalities the railroad crosses did not, showing that economic impacts differ from the project's physical geography.
• The authors provide four primary recommendations: separate the concept of area of influence from its delimitation; include areas affected by changes in economic, social, and environmental dynamics in the definition; incorporate environmental parameters into the Feasibility Studies (EVTEA) early in the project cycle; and ensure methodologies are transparent and checkable to prevent discretionary decisions.

APA

Barros, A. C., Antonaccio, L., Chiavari, J., & Bragança, A. (2020). THE NEED TO BETTER DEFINE AND DELIMIT AREA OF INFLUENCE FOR INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Technical-Note-The-Need-to-Better-Define-and-Delimit-Area-of-Influence-for-Infrastructure-Projects.pdf

Chicago

Barros, Ana Cristina, Luiza Antonaccio, Joana Chiavari, and Arthur Bragança. THE NEED TO BETTER DEFINE AND DELIMIT AREA OF INFLUENCE FOR INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS. Climate Policy Initiative, 2020. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Technical-Note-The-Need-to-Better-Define-and-Delimit-Area-of-Influence-for-Infrastructure-Projects.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Barros |first1=Ana Cristina |last2=Antonaccio |first2=Luiza |last3=Chiavari |first3=Joana |last4=Bragança |first4=Arthur |title=THE NEED TO BETTER DEFINE AND DELIMIT AREA OF INFLUENCE FOR INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=August 2020 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Technical-Note-The-Need-to-Better-Define-and-Delimit-Area-of-Influence-for-Infrastructure-Projects.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{barros2020need, author = {Barros, Ana Cristina and Antonaccio, Luiza and Chiavari, Joana and Bragança, Arthur}, title = {{THE NEED TO BETTER DEFINE AND DELIMIT AREA OF INFLUENCE FOR INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2020}, month = aug, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Technical-Note-The-Need-to-Better-Define-and-Delimit-Area-of-Influence-for-Infrastructure-Projects.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }