The Brazilian Coastal Zone: the main environmental problems and their consequences for human health Paulo Garreta Harkot, Maria Regina Alves Cardoso. Programme of Information on Health and Environment (PROISA/USP), University of São Paulo The Brazilian coastline has around 8500 km of length. It is included in the tropical and sub-tropical climatic domains and its major part is influenced by tropical ocean streams, besides the waters from the Antarctic region that reach the south coastline. It is possible to identify six large coastline macro-compartments which present different characteristics. Among the main existing environments, with regard to biological productivity and biodiversity, one can highlight the mangroves, estuaries, dunes, reef banks, islands, coastal plain, lagoons, salt marshes and sand beaches, as well as the remain areas of the tropical rain forest. About 25% of the Brazilian population lives in this region (512 cities, 13 metropolitan regions, 14 capitals, and 17 states). This important contingent has been exposed to environmental problems similar to those experienced by developed countries (demise of the ozone layer and greenhouse effect due to petrol and chemical industrial production) and also to problems related to developing countries, such as shortage of adequate housing, lack of sewerage systems, urban violence and others. Tourism has increased in the last decades and this may lead to important environmental impact when it takes place in estuaries and mangroves. In addition to these direct impacts, different sociocconomic activities located out of the coastline, such as agriculture, mining, deforestation, and use of superficial hydrologic resources, have a high potential for disturbing the coastline environment. The main environmental problems that have been observed are: harmful algal blooms, discharge of contaminants, change of hydrologic patterns and mobilization of sediments, demise of coral reefs, habitat destruction, declines in mangroves and the loss of wetlands, over fishing and destructive fishing practices, the transfer of harmful species into coastal areas, climatic changes, sea level rise, floods, burden of the sewerage system of the cities in the coastline, reduce of biodiversity, endocrine disrupting chemicals, garbage, and air pollution. The main health problems observed in the populations are: increase in the incidence and re-emergency of diseases like yellow fever, dengue, malaria; acute and chronic effects of the exposure to UV-B, under-nutrition, changes of alimentary habits, obesity, water born disease (diarrhoea, hepatitis, typhoid fever, trachoma, cholera), virus diseases, and poisoning due to chemical compounds. In Brazil, the National Plan for Coastal Zone Management (NPCM) aims at harmonizing the use of coastal zone to ensure the biodiversity and the productive characteristics of this environment and the populations' life quality. To reach these goals, the method adopted was the coastal macro-zoning for organizing all existing and future information and for representing them in maps. However, after more than fifteen years from the beginning of the implementation of the NPCM, one can observe that the practical results are still scarce. The issues on environment and health problems are difficult to be tackled because of the methodological characteristics of the working plan adopted.