Bolsonaro strips INPE of its managers to prevent it from fighting the devastation of the Amazon.

Responsible for monitoring deforestation rates in the Amazon, the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) currently has 732 employees, but holds only 10,4% of the commissioned and gratified positions in the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), headed by astronaut minister Marcos Pontes.

The same emptying and dismantling is happening in other bodies linked to the Ministry's environmental area, such as the National Institute for Amazonian Research (Inpa), which has 520 employees and only 9,8% of commissioned and gratified positions, and the National Center for Monitoring and Alerts of Natural Disasters (Cemaden), with 101 employees and only 6,9% of command positions.

While emptying environmental research institutes of public managers, Marcos Pontes' administration concentrates 65,2% of the ministry's commissioned and gratified positions in the information technology sector, as is the case with...

The Renato Archer Information Technology Center (CTI) has only 89 employees.

This situation has raised controversies within the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), suggesting that the dismantling of research units and the removal of their managers are inversely proportional to the growth of patronage jobs used to serve the...

The political bargaining that President Bolsonaro is doing in Congress to avoid impeachment is also due to his contribution to worsening the country's economic and social crisis during the escalating pandemic.

Released by the National Union of Federal Public Servants in the Area of ​​Science and Technology of the Aerospace Sector (SindCT), based on the Integrated Personnel Administration System (Siape) of 2020, the numbers and percentages of commissioned and gratified positions in the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) are at the forefront of the discussion about the current government's complete lack of commitment to combating the growing devastation of the Amazon, the largest and richest tropical forest in the world, considered essential to the planet's own climate balance.

It is worth remembering here that the blatant lack of commitment from the Bolsonaro government to the preservation of the Amazon has led, in recent weeks, to major international development funds threatening to withhold further resources from Brazil if the country's economic production continues without considering environmental and social issues. This is especially true regarding the elimination of deforestation and wildfires, and the respect, care, and attention that should be given to the indigenous peoples and other traditional communities of the region.

The chaotic administrative situation within the ministry is due to the actions of Minister Marcos Pontes, who has favored certain institutions outside the environmental field with appointed positions for those close to him and the government, leaving other areas neglected and lacking public managers. 

The future of INPE is increasingly uncertain. The SindCT (National Union of Science, Technology and Innovation Workers) has been monitoring the actions of the Bolsonaro government aimed at undermining the role of research units. According to the organization, these decisions are hindering the proper functioning of such units "because they have positioned themselves in conflict with the government's false narrative that it is solving the problem of the devastation of the Amazon."

“This is a situation that has been getting worse over the years. Not only INPE, DCTA and Cemaden, the institutions we represent, are facing this problem. All research institutes in the country are suffering from both a lack of human resources and a lack of funding, including for basic services such as building maintenance, payment of water and electricity bills, and even cleaning,” explains Acioli de Olivo, communications director of SindCT.

In addition to emptying INPE and other environmental institutes of public managers, the situation at MCTI is even more critical at the National Center for Monitoring and Alerts of Environmental Disasters (Cemaden). A single employee can be responsible for several incompatible functions, such as choosing suppliers, purchasing, and paying, while in institutions where the number of positions is excessive, it is evident that there is waste and idleness. 

“The number of appointed and remunerated positions at INPE falls short of the technological capacity and credibility of the systems developed by the institution. The future of INPE is becoming increasingly uncertain, given that the institute is now undergoing restructuring, led by an appointed administrator without the participation of the INPE community, and is also in the process of searching for a new director, which may be favoring the current interim director,” Olivo concludes.

According to SindCT, the incompatibilities of functions in the environmental control bodies of the Ministry of Science and Technology become an administrative risk, as it prevents the segregation of duties, which is considered an important element of internal control and prevents compliance problems.