Meanings and social uses of expertise in the implementation of environmental management policies

This article examines the meanings and the social logics in the use of expertise resources in public policies for environmental management. The analytical procedures were centered in the analysis of the social history of the environmental protection sector and in an inquiry into the diversity of spheres and social networks articulated with family, educational, political and professional histories of the actors involved in the execution of forestry public policies in the Rio Grande do Sul state. The results obtained demonstrate that the meanings and the use of expertise in such situation are associated to diverse standards of reconversion, educational and professional, in different spheres of activity, on the basis of previous and/or simultaneous bonds established with diversified networks of organizations and 'social movements'.