Brazil Environmental Report

Brazil EnvironmEntal rEport

AMAZON FUND

Norway To Revive Amazon Fund

The narrow election victory of Brazil’s new president-elect Lula has turned the perception of Brazil’s environmental future from despair to hope. Gone is a future of four more years of the anti-environmental policies of President Jair Bolsonaro, replaced by the promises of Lula to reverse entire ly those policies. A new optimism is already palpable with Norway announcing it is ready to reactivate the Amazon Fund at the same time that the Supreme Court has formed a majority to force the government to restore the fund. The results of the Bolsonaro years, however, are continuing to surface. The area covered by the Deter deforestation alerts system of the National Insti tute of Space Research (inpe) totaled 9,277 square kilometers between Janu ary and October 21, the worst result on record for this period.

Bolsonaro will be president until January and the rural caucus of Con gress, which defends his environmental policies, said before the election that if Lula won, it would work for approval of three deadly measures before Bol sonaro leaves office-- a bill easing restrictions on the approval of pesticides, a second bill allowing state and local governments to set the rules for environ mental licensing and permitting self-licensing, and a third proposal legalizing Amazon land occupied illegally between 2008 and 2012.

Environmentalists

Astrini Bemoans Record Deforestation Alerts

Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, reacted to the record level of deforestation alerts this year by stating that deforestation in the Amazon region is out of control.

“There is no government action to stop the deforestation of the Ama zon. Reducing it is not a concern of the Bolsonaro government,” he said. “We had an increase of 81% in alerts for August, 48% in September and everything indicates that in October we will have the largest result of the historical series.”

The election victory of former Brazilian Presi dent Luis Inácio Lula da Silva over President Jair Bolsonaro led the Norwegian government to an nounce that it will reactivate the Amazon Fund which has been suspended since 2019…...........2

DEFORESTATION

Deforestation Alerts on Record Pace

The area covered by the Deter deforestation alerts system of the National Institute of Space Research (inpe) totaled 9,277 square kilometers between January and October 21, the worst re sult on record for this period…......................…3

FORESTS

Study Blames Humans for Amazon Fires

A study on fires in the Amazon between 2003 and 2020 concluded that the uncontrolled use of fires by human beings was more responsible for causing fires than were dry spells…..............….3

IBAMA

Thousands of Ibama Cases about to Expire

An audit conducted by the Federal Auditing Court (TCU) concluded that thousands of Ibama cases involving accusations of environmental crimes will expire between now and 2024 with out reaching a conclusion……...........................4

ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY

Amazon Fund

Norway To Revive Amazon Fund

The election victory of former Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva over President Jair Bolsonaro on October 30 led the Norwegian government to announce that it will reactivate the Amazon Fund which has been suspended since 2019.

“We had a very good and close collaboration with the government before Bolsonaro and deforestation in Brazil fell a great deal under President Lula. Afterwards we had the frontal collision with Bolsonaro whose approach was completely the opposite in terms of deforestation,” said Norway’s Environment Minister Espen Barth Eide.

Norway was the leading contributor to the fund between 2008 and 2018, donating U.S.$1.2 billion to be used to combat deforestation. Eide said the fund now has U.S.$500 million in non-utilized financing and he intends to enter into contact with the Lula team as quickly as possible to prepare for the resumption of the fund.

Supreme Court Gives Government 60 Days To Restore Amazon Fund

A majority of the Supreme Court voted on October 27 to give the government 60 days to adopt the neces sary administrative measures to reactivate the Amazon Fund, financed by Norway and Germany, and avoid further suspensions.

Court president Rosa Weber and six other ministers voted in favor of this position while Minister Nunes Marques, an appointee of President Jair Bolsonaro, voted against. The remaining three ministers were to conclude the voting this week

The position of the majority was that the government was incorrect in its unilateral extinction of the steering committee of the Amazon Fund which led to its suspension in 2019.

Weber accused the government with violating the constitution by eliminating a source of financing to combat environmental degradation without presenting an alternative.

The court is ruling on a suit filed by four opposition parties accusing the federal government with negligence in allowing the money from the Amazon Fund to go unused instead of employing it to combat deforestation and forest fires.

Environment Ministry

Ministry Launches Program To Replace Aging Vehicles

The Environment Ministry announced a new program to assist Brazilians replace old vehicles with less polluting and newer substitutes.

Currently, Brazil has 2.3 million trucks and 900,000 of them are more than 30 years old. Out of the country’s 45 million cars, 26 million were built before 2013. Under the ministry’s program, owners of old vehicles will be given access to low interest rate loans to purchase more modern vehicles with less pollution emissions.

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Soil use

Soy Productivity Linked to Reduced Deforestation

A Brazilian research study published in the magazine Nature Sustainability concluded that increasing the per hectare productivity of soy is one of the ways of reducing deforestation.

The study presents mathematical models that calculate how much production can be increased with technology. Increased productivity reduces the land necessary for soy production in the Amazon region, according to the study’s author Fabio Marin of the Superior School of Agriculture of the University of São Paulo

Deforestation

Deforestation Alerts on Record Pace

The area covered by the Deter deforestation alerts system of the National Institute of Space Research (inpe) totaled 9,277 square kilometers between January and October 21, the worst result on record for this period.

The total has already surpassed the area covered by Deter alerts for all of 2019, which was the highest on record at 9,178 square kilometers. This guarantees that 2022 will be the fourth consecutive year since President Jair Bolsonaro took office that the annual alerts surpassed 8,000 square kilometers.

At the COP26 climate control conference last year, the Bolsonaro government committed itself to eliminate illegal deforestation by 2028.

Lula Pledges To End Deforestation in Amazon

In a letter addressed to the Brazilian people by now president-elect Lula on October 27 outlining the policies he planned to adopt if elected, he pledged to eliminate deforestation in the Amazon and reach carbon neutrality for Brazil’s energy matrix.

He said that in his government he would support low carbon agriculture and family agriculture. He also prom ised to create a ministry for indigenous peoples, to eliminate illegal gold prospecting in indigenous territories and to restore the government’s environmental protection agencies.

Forests

Study Blames Humans for Amazon Fires

A Brazilian study on fires in the Amazon between 2003 and 2020 concluded that the uncontrolled use of fires by human beings was more responsible for causing fires than were dry spells.

According to the study, in a majority of the periods with a high number of forest fires, the main force behind the fires was agriculture. On the average 32% of the burned areas were on farmland, the result of burning to remove trees and create pasture, versus 29% in natural fields and 16% in mature forest.

The study was the subject of an article in the magazine Global Ecology and Biogeography. It concluded that the best way in the short term to combat forest fires in the Amazon would be to eliminate illegal deforestation and reduce land grabbing.

Amazon Dry Spell Impacts on State of Amazonas

An extended dry period in the state of Amazonas is affecting river navigation, tourism and the delivery of basic goods for residents of the state.

According to state officials, 34 cities are in a state of alert as the water level of one of the state’s major riv ers, the Rio Negro, is continuing to fall. This has resulted in the appearance of sand banks in the middle of the river, complicating navigation. The state department of civil defense is preparing to deliver emergency humanitarian aid to several affected areas.

BNDES Government Bank To Finance Wind Parks

The National Development Bank (BNDES) approved financing of U.S.$130 million for four wind energy parks in the northeastern state of Bahia. The installed generating capacity of the parks when finished will be 288 mega watts, sufficient to supply energy to 744,000 residences.

Ibama

Thousands of Ibama Cases about to Expire without Fines

An audit conducted by the Federal Auditing Court (TCU) concluded that thousands of Ibama cases involving accusations of environmental crimes will expire between now and 2024 without reaching a conclusion.

The court said that 5,000 cases will expire this year, 17,000 in 2023, and 37,000 in 2024. It warned that this would amount to absolute impunity for crimes such as deforestation. The court blamed this situation on a 2020 deci sion by Ibama to eliminate the authority of individual agents to proceed with fines and placed this power in the hands of state superintendents. The decision also said that any appeals would be decided by the Ibama president.

This policy has contributed to a massive delay in the handling of Ibama cases. In 2019, 96.4% of environmental crime cases were ruled on but after the new policy took effect in 2020, this fell to 23.5% and in 2021 it was 36.9%.

Former Ibama president Suely Araújo said the policy’s objective was to weaken Ibama’s ability to deal with environmental crimes.

Tasso Azevedo, general coordinator of MapBiomas, called this “normative corruption” through which “you take norms, and you work not to increase the efficiency of public service but to create a series of subterfuges that end up causing delays that expire deadlines.”

Environmental policy Association Issues Measures for Amazon Sustainable Development

The Amazon Concertation, uniting 500 researchers and business, government and NGO leaders, on October 26 released a list of measures for the sustainable development of the Amazon region.

The group defended that 14 of these measures be adopted in the first 100 days of the next government. The measures include the creation of a special secretariat for climate emergency linked directly to the presidency and a decree stating that the social and environmental analyses of infrastructure projects be conducted within the government’s investment partners program.

Also included was the restitution of social councils for food security and a program to assist the extremely poor living in Amazon Forest areas. The proposal recommends the elimination of the government’s program to de velop informal mining operations in support of what is today illegal gold prospecting.

Out of the 14 proposals, all but one could be approved directly by the next president without having to go through Congress.

Bolsonaro Attacks Environmental Policy

In a speech to members of the congressional rural caucus, President Jair Bolsonaro criticized the defense of the environment in Brazil.

According to Bolsonaro, the country does not need to defend its environment but does need to defend agri businesses.

Rural environmental registry

Status of Environmental Registry Called ‘Tragic’

João Paulo Capobianco, vice president of the Institute of Democracy and Sustainability, called “tragic” the status of the verification of data provided by farms that have completed the rural environmental registry.

Brazil’s Forest Code sets requirements for the preservation of native vegetation on rural properties. Farms completing the registry claim they have met these requirements. These claims, however, must be verified by inspec tions and thus far on.ly 0.49% of the 6.7 million registered farms have been inspected.

“We have to make the Forest Code work,” Capobianco said, adding that this is necessary for Brazil to take advantage of the opportunities appearing in the carbon market.

Agriculture

Land Used for Agriculture Expanded Three Times from 1985

According to a survey by MapBiomas, in 2021, Brazil’s agriculture sector occupied 62 million hectares, more three times the 19 million hectares it covered in 1985.

Over the same period, Brazil’s planted tree area increased from 1.9 million hectares to nearly nine million.

Carbon emissions

More Companies Revealing Carbon Emissions

According to a study conducted by the Center for Sustainability Studies of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation, the number of companies announcing their carbon emissions has doubled in the last three years.

In 2021, 305 companies published an inventory of their greenhouse gas emissions, 108% more than in 2018 when the total was 145 companies. Compared with 2020, the increase was 60%, from 192 companies to 305. A survey was taken among 200 companies who said they released their carbon emissions results because of pressure from clients, suppliers and investors. They stated that companies that do not do this will lose competitiveness.

Indigenous rights

UN Decries Brazil’s Treatment of Indigenous Peoples

The United Nations released a report on the treatment of indigenous peoples in several countries, including Brazil.

The report warned of cultural and physical threats faced by Brazil’s indigenous peoples. It said that the “ambivalence and complicity of the state is also a concern. The lack of regulation by the Brazil ian government for agriculture fertilizers has caused pollution in the waters in indigenous territories threatening waters that are spiritually significant.”

Indigenous territory

Indigenous Group Resumes Vigilance in Javari Valley

The Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (Univaja) on October 25 announced the resumption of the work of its vigilance group and the naming of a new leader for the group, geographer and indigenous expert Carlos Travassos.

Travassos replaces Bruno Pereira who was murdered together with British journalist Dom Philips in July allegedly because of Pereira’s efforts to combat illegal fishing in the valley. The purpose of the vigilance group is to gather information on illegal operations in the valley and provide this information to federal authorities for them to take action.

Travassos, however, said that the government’s Indigenous Peoples Foundation (Funai) has been at tempting to impede the vigilance group’s work.