Marina Silva defends "structural" changes in bill that alters environmental regulations.
According to the minister, the eventual approval of a bill in Congress would represent a "demolition" of Brazilian environmental legislation.
Alex Rodrigues - Reporter for Agência Brasil
The new environmental licensing rules, approved by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, have once again been criticized by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva. According to the minister, any approval of the bill would represent a "demolition" of Brazilian environmental legislation.
“We are moving towards making structural changes [to Bill No. 2.159, which creates the General Environmental Licensing Law]. Because, as it was approved, it does not create any benefit, neither for environmental licensing, nor for speeding up the processes that are handled within state, federal or municipal licensing bodies,” Marina told media outlets of Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC) – Agência Brasil; Rádio Nacional and TV Brasil – this Friday (25).
"The technical teams from the Ministries of Environment and Climate Change, the Civil House, and the Secretariat of Institutional Relations are working, and we will present to President Lula suggestions for action to help repair this demolition of Brazilian legislation," the minister commented, without providing further details on the suggested "structural changes" that the government team is discussing.
Sent for presidential signature, the bill provides for a simplification of procedural procedures, with the creation of new types of environmental licenses and the reduction of review deadlines, among other measures. The president has until the 8th to sign or veto the final text, which the Chamber of Deputies approved on the 17th.
For enthusiasts, such as the bill's rapporteur in the Chamber of Deputies, Congressman Zé Vitor (PL-MG), the proposal establishes clearer and more objective rules for environmental licensing, favoring national economic development. Critics, however, like the minister, believe the initiative will weaken environmental protection, favoring the approval of projects with the potential to cause significant environmental degradation.
“We have to understand that, at this moment, what we have is an action to tie the hands of Ibama [Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources], ICMBio [Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation] and the Federal Police itself,” declared the minister, for whom the full presidential sanction of the law, as approved by parliamentarians, would be harmful to the environment.
"[As it stands] each municipality will be able to establish its own typologies for environmental licensing. [With this] we will create a real war [promoting the lowering of licensing standards], since, to attract [private] investment to the municipality, people will propose less preservation [with looser rules]," said Marina, adding that the changes could affect Brazilian commercial interests abroad.
“This could harm, for example, the European Union-Mercosur Agreement. And the President of the United States [Donald Trump] himself has already stated that one of the reasons why he is unfairly proposing a 50% tax on Brazilian products is due to his concerns about, among other things, environmental issues [in Brazil],” the minister concluded.
