In a year of record deforestation in the Amazon and international pressure to contain the destruction of the forest, the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government used only 41% of the available budget for enforcement – and the fines reached the lowest level in two decades.
The data are part of the report “The Account Arrived”, by the Climate Observatory, a network with dozens of civil society organizations, released this Tuesday morning (1st). The document analyzes and recalls environmental policy in the year 2021 under Bolsonaro.
With an available budget of BRL 219.4 million for use in inspection actions, only BRL 88.9 million had been used by the end of 2021, according to the Climate Observatory. The remainder was set aside for spending throughout 2022.
“This indicates that the planning made by Ibama to carry out operations throughout the country was not fully complied with. In the three years prior to Bolsonaro’s administration, the settlement of the budget for inspection ranged from 86% to 92%”, explains the entity.
The document also points out that, during the climate summit convened in April last year by Joe Biden, US President Bolsonaro, already pressured by consecutive years of increase and high rates of deforestation, committed to expanding resources for environmental inspection.
Then, however, the president cut funds for the Ministry of the Environment, later recomposed by a bill.
Meanwhile, deforestation in the Amazon reached the highest level since 2006. More than 13,000 km² of forest were cut down, an increase of about 22% compared to 2020. In 2006, the value was over 14,000 km².
The data are calculated by the Prodes program, from Inpe (National Institute for Space Research), always from August of one year to July of the following year.
Despite steady increases in destruction, only 2,534 notices of infraction were applied from August 2020 to July 2021 (the same period in which deforestation is calculated), a 40% reduction compared to the same period the year before the Bolsonaro government, points the Observatory.
“We stopped having big problems with the environmental issue. Especially with regard to the fine,” Bolsonaro said on January 17, during an agribusiness event.
Still on deforestation, the entity highlights the advance of forest destruction in the state of Amazonas.
“The Amazon is given over to crime and there is no reason to believe that criminals will act with temperance in 2022, the election year. This is particularly problematic in indigenous territories, preferred targets of the President of the Republic”, says the Climate Observatory.
In the report, the entity also states that the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP), “made the socio-environmental bombs advance”.
According to the Observatory, problematic projects only failed to advance due to the mobilization of civil society and the opposition. “In 2022, much more attention will be needed on Congress,” the document adds.
The Climate Observatory cites PL (Bill) 3,729, which amends environmental licensing, as worthy of attention. It passed the House in 2021 and is about to be voted on in the Senate. It also cites PL 2,633, seen by the entity as an amnesty for land grabbing.
For the group, a preview of what could happen in 2022 was the approval in December. in Congress, of easing the rules for protecting river banks in urban areas, an act criticized by experts. The project was sanctioned by the president.
Source: Folha
