Marina Silva takes office and says that Brazil has a challenge to honor the Paris Agreement

Marina Silva took office as Minister of the Environment and Climate Change this Wednesday (4) and stated that the country will have the challenge of complying with the Paris Agreement, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 37% by 2025, compared to what it was in 2005.

The minister also revealed the first name of the portfolio’s top echelon: environmentalist João Paulo Capobianco was chosen to be executive secretary, a position he has already held in Marina’s other terms at the head of the ministry.

“Brazil has a challenge to honor the commitment of the Paris Agreement”, he said. This is an area in which there has been a setback due to the increase in carbon emissions resulting from deforestation, which has intensified in the last four years.

Under the Bolsonaro (PL) government, Brazil has increased rather than reduced greenhouse gas emissions. In 2021, for example, the increase was more than 12% compared to the previous year.

She also celebrated the return of the Forest Service and ANA (National Water Agency) to the umbrella of the Environment, bodies that were transferred to other portfolios by former Bolsonarist minister Ricardo Salles. And he highlighted the creation of a council for environmental issues within the structure of the Presidency.

He also praised the efforts of civil society and public servants in combating the dismantling of the area during the Bolsonaro administration, and recalled the murder of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips as a symbolic symptom of this process.

“The only reason the damage wasn’t greater was the organizations, civil servants and parliamentarians who took the lead in this entire process of dismantling. shields of resistance in the environmental fight”, said Marina.

“Enough of persecution and institutional harassment. You deserve and will be respected”, he added, with regard to public servants, and also said that the fight against environmental racism will be one of the paradigms of his management.

Finally, she also said that, in addition to combating activities such as illegal mining and deforestation, the country’s goal is to recover 12,000 hectares of degraded areas.

“That we stop being the worst business card for our strategic interests and become the best. If people want sustainable base products, this should be the address”, he added.

Marina’s inauguration took place at the Planalto Palace, in front of a crowded hall, with a queue of dozens of people — most of them ended up staying outside, due to the occupation of the place. The vice-president and Minister of Industry and Commerce, Geraldo Alckmin, the Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, the First Lady, Janja, and the Minister of Women, Cida Gonçalves, were on stage, among others. authorities and people from the environmental area.

Rui Costa reinforced that the environmental issue will be transversal in the government and that representatives of the portfolio will act from the beginning of the conception of proposals, not only reviewing their viability, as is currently the case.

“There is no theme more relevant than sustainability, the theme of life and humanity”, added Alckmin.

“Parrots and parakeets are now celebrating” after learning that environmental policy is at the top of the government’s priorities, said Marina.

Marina Silva returns to the portfolio after almost 15 years and under a scenario of weakened inspection in recent years and empowerment of crime in the Amazon, with organizations articulated and active in the exploration of gold in indigenous lands, land grabbing and illegal logging schemes.

On the other hand, the environmental agenda received special protagonism from Lula during the presidential campaign, elevated to one of the main agendas of the then candidate, as opposition to Bolsonaro. The theme was present in all of the PT’s important speeches, including those at his inauguration, when he promised to fight for zero deforestation.

One of the innovations in his portfolio will be a special secretariat dedicated exclusively to controlling and combating deforestation. She also proposed the creation of the Climate Authority, an autarchy that should only be founded in March, and managed to have the name of the folder receive the addendum of “Climate Change” – the acronym MMA, however, was maintained.

In the first acts after taking office, the president also reinstated instances of the Environment that had been removed from the portfolio in the previous administration.

Among other things, a set of six measures served to reestablish the Amazon Fund, make room for the restructuring of Conama (National Council for the Environment) and revoke the decision that made the laws to combat illegal mining more flexible.

Lula also signed another decree that, among other points, reestablishes the PPCDAm (Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon). The measure had already been announced by Minister Marina Silva on her first day after being appointed to head the portfolio.

The text also determines that there are specific plans for the cerrado, caatinga, pampa and Pantanal biomes, in addition to creating a Permanent Interministerial Commission for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation —a body that will be responsible for monitoring the application of strategies to combat forest destruction .

Also the Forestry Service and the CAR (Rural Environmental Registry), which under Bolsonaro became the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture, returned to the Ministry of the Environment.

Marina Silva was minister between 2003 and 2008, during the entire first term and part of Lula’s second term. Leaving her, at the time, was troubled and generated deep attrition with PT leaders, the party that is at the origin of her political militancy.

Born in a rubber plantation in Acre, former maid and historian, Marina is 64 years old and has held public office for over 35 years. She worked with rubber tapper leader Chico Mendes and helped found the CUT (Central Única dos Trabalhadores) in Acre.

She has been a councilwoman, state deputy and senator. Now, she is back as Minister of the Environment to try to revive an environmental policy in the country.

Despite the initial expectation, after the election results, that the portfolio would be one of the first to have its head announced, Marina’s name was one of the last to be defined.

This is because, along the way, the PT tried to get her to accept heading the Climate Authority in an organization chart in which the body would be subordinated to the Presidency —different from what the former minister had proposed to Lula, who was an entity under the umbrella of the Ministry.

The party’s intention, with this strategy, was to place Simone Tebet in the Environment. Both are seen as fundamental allies in the electoral campaign that defeated Bolsonaro.

Tebet, however, replied to the PT that he would only accept the position if Marina did not want it. The environmentalist, in turn, anticipated the invitation and made it clear that she would not command the authority.

Thus, the former minister regained control of the Environment, while Tebet was chosen to head Planning.

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}