installed in 2009, the instituto estadual do ambiente - inea is an organ of the government of rio de janeiro that took over the responsibility of three formerly separate government branches in charge of environmental policies: the fundacão estadual de enegnharia do meio ambiente - fema, the superintendencia estadual de rios e lagoas - serla, and the instituto estadual de florestas - ief.  

the central work of inea is to integrate the environmental politics of the state and attend to the demands of the society in relation to environmental issues, with the mission is to protect, conserve, and recover the environment to promote sustainable development.

in total, inea is responsible for rio's 18 conservation units of full protection (parks, biological reserves and ecological stations), and the 13 units with sustainable use (protected areas) - on this link, the instituto estadual do ambiente- inea provides a daily suitability report for several beaches in rio de janeiro, city and state - and all of inea's departments can be contacted via the information on this page.