Minister Rosa Weber, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), through an injunction, overturned, this Friday (17), the modification in Conama (National Council for the Environment) made by Jair Bolsonaro and Ricardo Salles, former minister of Environment. With the change carried out in 2019, seats for civil entities were cut and the federal government gained greater presence and decision-making power within the important body.
Reporter of the allegation of non-compliance with fundamental precept 623, Weber suspended the effectiveness of Decree 9,806/2019 until the end of the judgment on the merits.
The progress of the process has been stopped at the STF since the beginning of March this year, when minister Nunes Marques, nominated by Bolsonaro for the seat on the Supreme Court, asked for views.
The lawsuit was filed by Raquel Dodge, at the time head of the Attorney General’s Office.
The contested decree was responsible for the cut in the council, which, from 96 members —among public entities and NGOs—, now has 23. In addition to the cut in the seats of civil society, the ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute of Conservation) was also excluded from the council. of Biodiversity) and Ana (National Water Agency).
In a request to file for action as amicus curiae —entities present in the process to provide information on the case —, WWF-Brasil, Isa (Socio-environmental Institute), Transparency International, Climate Observatory, the Network of Non-Governmental Organizations of Mata Atlântica, and Conectas claim that there is an interest of the “current Federal Public Administration in unduly repressing the actions of civil society organizations and restricting social participation in public decisions”.
According to the entities, the modification in Conama, much contested since the moment it took place, caused a deep representative imbalance in the collegiate, “concentrating decision-making power, disproportionately, on the Federal Executive” and “destroyed the democratic nature of the Council, by putting an end to the election to choose the representatives of the environmental entities”.
Instead of an election to choose the various entities that make up the council, the Bolsonaro government determined the holding of a draw to occupy the representative seats.
During the work at Conama after the change in composition, some decisions drew attention, due to the possible environmental impact they could cause. One of the most striking was the decision by Conama, chaired by Salles, to revoke resolutions 302/2002 and 303/2002.
Resolutions 302 and 303 directly affect APPs (Permanent Preservation Areas). While 302 concerns the edges of urban springs (such as the Billings dam in São Paulo), 303 deals with coastal strips, such as mangroves and restingas —both areas of great importance for preservation, due to the environmental services they provide.
The revocation benefited real estate developments close to beaches, known as “foot in the sand”.
Earlier this week, unanimously, the STF restored the rules for the protection of restingas, mangroves and urban springs.
Conama was established in 1984 and had an important voice in the elaboration and implementation of Brazilian environmental policy, helping to define norms for environmental licensing and pollution control, for example. Its main articulator was Paulo Nogueira Neto, creator of Brazilian environmental policy who died in February this year.
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