COLLECTIVE ACTION

To denounce the lack of dialogue with the government of Minas Gerais, seven civil society organizations collectively resigned from their representations on the environmental councils of this state. The collective cry of resistance was a protest against the transformation of the councils into “theaters” to “legitimize autocratic decisions.”

“I want to say now that there are not two planet Earths. We are a single species, called humanity, and there will be no future while we continue to dig a bottomless pit of inequalities between rich and poor,” recalled Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, in a celebrated speech at COP-27, the United Nations (UN) conference on climate change held in Egypt in mid-November. At the time, the president-elect proposed an alliance to combat hunger worldwide and demanded that rich countries fulfill their promise of resources to tackle the effects of climate change on poorer countries. He also promised to make an effort to end deforestation by 2030, punishing illegal mining, logging, and agriculture in Brazil.

While in Brasília, the new government signals the establishment of a task force to protect the environment, in Minas Gerais, the state government seems to be moving in the opposite direction. At least that’s what the collective resignation of seven non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from the State Council for Environmental Policy (Copam) and the State Council for Water Resources (CERH/ MG) suggests. The resignation letter was read at the Copam meeting on November 17 by a representative of the Minas Gerais Association for the Defense of the Environment (Amda). According to Marcus Vinícius Polignano, coordinator of the Guaicuy Institute and also Vice President of the São Francisco River Basin Committee (CBHSF), the councils have ceased to be forums for discussion and proposal of environmental policies for the state.

““The Copam and the CERH have ceased to be forums for discussion and proposal of environmental and water resources policies for the state, becoming a stage for ‘legitimizing’ autocratic decisions by the Executive,” he said. “The government, unilaterally, without discussion with society, revokes, modifies, and creates environmental standards against the will of society and even the Copam.”

The reasons for the collective resignation are many. Among these is dissatisfaction with the approval of an installation license for Taquaril Mineração S.A (Tamisa) in Serra do Curral, a postcard of Belo Horizonte, when the process of protecting the site was already underway. If the Tamisa project goes ahead, it plans to exploit an area equivalent to 1,200 soccer fields covered by Atlantic Forest and Cerrado. Another controversy involved the deforestation of almost 12,000 hectares of Cerrado in Bonito de Minas, near the Veredas do Peruaçu State Park in the north of the state. Aiming at the expansion of agribusiness, the Romeu Zema government treated the proposal as a priority, and the case only did not go ahead because the company interested in the area requested the project’s shelving.

“At various times, in discussions about licenses granted to enterprises, especially mining, civil society proposals were not considered and, in others, were even rebutted in the form of attacks,” complained Tobias Tiago Pinto Vieira, coordinator of the Paracatu Green Movement (Mover) and coordinator of the Technical Chamber for Collection and Granting of CBHSF. According to him, NGOs tried to reignite dialogue with the state at various times: “The only way to build a more balanced environment at the state level is through dialogue. Unfortunately, we did not make much progress. Staying on councils to not be able to build and always being overruled in decisions doesn’t make much sense. We were only present for decisions without being able to have a say.”

The Executive Superintendent of the Mineira Association for Environmental Defense (Amda), Dalce Ricas, also lamented the position of the Romeu Zema government: “We are certain that deliberative councils, with the participation of civil society, are fundamental for democracy. Therefore, we regret their departure, but our suggestions, complaints, and denunciations were not taken into consideration. Only the government is deemed to be right.” In her opinion, there is currently no room for debate, and decisions are always unilateral.

On the other hand, the State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainable Development (Semad) stated in an official note that it was surprised by the collective resignation of the seven entities, emphasizing that this position differs from the other 27 NGOs that remain on the Deliberative Council: “The secretariat continues to seek, democratically and through dialogue, to maintain balance, transparency, and seriousness in all environmental actions in Minas Gerais.” Despite the lengthy note in which Semase defended itself against the accusations, stating that the councils remain spaces for discussion, environmentalists took to social media to support the call for participatory environmental policy in Minas Gerais. “Serious,” wrote biologist André Aroeira, master’s degree in Ecology, Conservation, and Wildlife Management from UFMG. According to him, the state faces the “dictatorship of agribusiness and mining.”

By Andréia Vitório Economy