During the ministerial meeting in which he presented the results of the first 100 days of government, President Lula said that Brazil will meet the goal of zero deforestation in the Amazon by 2030 and that the federal government will fight devastation in all Brazilian biomes. The commitment to zero deforestation in the Amazon was made by Lula during his presidential campaign last year and reaffirmed at his inauguration ceremony in January. However, the president warned that the task will not be easy, since the country’s environmental policy was dismantled during the four years of the previous government.

Since mid-January, the federal government has resumed operations to inspect and fight deforestation in the Amazon, resulting in a 219% increase in the number of fines for deforestation and other infractions in the Amazon region in the first quarter, compared to the average of the previous four years. The intensification of the fight against the devastation of the Amazon forest brought an 11% drop in deforestation in the region in the first quarter of this year, compared to 2022, but experts point out that more rigorous enforcement and fewer concessions to agribusiness are still needed to meet the goal of zero deforestation by 2030.

During a speech on the 100 days of the government, President Lula said that the proposal includes transportation, social infrastructure, digital inclusion and connectivity, urban infrastructure, water for all, and energy transition. Among the planned measures are the holding of auctions for contracting solar and wind energy, the expansion of Transpetro’s fleet of ships, and the resumption of Petrobras’ leading role in investments.

To create memory and help elaborate on the tragedy of mineral policy under the Bolsonaro government, The Mining Observatory [Observatório da Mineração] and Smoke Signal [Sinal de Fumaça] have launched the bilingual report “Pure Dynamite: how Bolsonaro’s Government (2019-2022) Mineral Policy Set Up a Climate and Anti-Indigenous Bomb” an independent production that brings a timeline of the mineral sector and details the dismantling of regulatory bodies, rights violations, scandalous agreements and other measures adopted by the former government to satisfy the mineral market lobby in the country and the world.

In its thorough and investigative work, Observatório da Mineração closely followed the work that Bolsonaro’s government undertook at the national and international levels to dismantle public policies and sell mining and metal goods. Investigations have shown that his administration promoted legal and infralegal changes that benefited large mining companies, caused the criminal networks of illegal mining to soar, and made institutions such as the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the National Mining Agency totally subservient to vested financial interests. Smoke Signal Socio-Environmental Monitor, which has recorded facts and movements related to Brazilian socio-environmental policies over the last four years, joined Observatório da Mineração to produce this unprecedented report.

In addition to exposing the sophisticated articulations made between the mining market lobby, transnational companies and the federal government behind closed doors in the National Congress, the publication also brings a brief summary of the first measures adopted by Lula’s government and a list with 20 initial suggestions for the recovery of public governance and the reduction of negative effects of mining in the country. 

Click here to read our report in english. Also available in portuguese.

The administration of president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) took broad action and exonerated at once practically all regional and state superintendents for Ibama (Brazilian environmental agency). The dismissals were published on a special edition of the Official Diary of the Union on the evening of Friday, January 13th. 

Ibama has 26 state offices across the country; according to newspaper Folha de São Paulo, during Bolsonaro’s administration the agency was used to accommodate his allies in strategic positions. Former minister Ricardo Salles and former Ibama’s president Ricardo Bim, for instance, appointed several military police officers to lead the civil agency’ s offices. In some cases, those nominated were accused by public servants and experts of harassment, persecution and conflict of interests. 

The current administration now changed 20 out of 26 Ibama’s chiefs at states; the move also affected first tier officials for the Minister of Climate and Environment and its associated secretaries, agencies and governing bodies. 

A week before, on January 2nd, Lula’s government had already exonerated 1.204 public servants who worked under Bolsonaro.  Advisors and directors occupying positions of trust in the previous administration were dismissed following orders signed by Lula’s chief of staff, Rui Costa, as published in the Official Diary of the Union. 

This first wave of exonerations hit federal ministries and agencies, as well as the Presidency structure. A total of 7 ministries were affected, including the Ministry of the Environment, as well as direct advisors and staff for the president ‘s personal team.  The dismissals also swept through the Secretary for Strategic Issues (Homeland) and federal autarchies such as the National Indigenous Foundation (FUNAI), Instituto Chico Mendes for Biodiversity and Conservation as well as the above mentioned environmental agency Ibama. 

Sônia Guajajara became the first minister at the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples on Wednesday (11). She is also the first indigenous woman to occupy a ministry. The ceremony took place at the Planalto Palace, in Brasília. According to TV Cultura, the auditorium was packed to watch the event, with the presence of president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and other members of the government. 

Guajajara presented the ministry’s team, formed by Eloy Terena, Executive Secretary; Jozi Kaigang, Chief of Staff; Eunice Kerexu, Secretary of Environmental and Territorial Rights; Ceiça Pitaguary, Secretary of Environmental and Indigenous Territorial Management; Juma Xipaia, Secretary of Articulation and Promotion of Indigenous Rights; and Marcos Xucuru, Special Advisor to the MPI.

“I cannot fail to remember the relatives who were removed from our coexistence by the speech of the fascism that reigned in Brazil in recent years spilling without shame, much indigenous blood. Let us remember the strength of those who fell in the struggle like Paulino Guajajara Ivanilde, Janildo, Jael and Antônio Guajajara ali Uruê Auau, Daiane Gaingang, Estela Vera Guarani Carilar, Wellingto Ariane Oliveira and the girl Raissa. And so many other relatives victimized by illegal mining, by invasions of their territories. And by so many other actions and omissions of the State. Furthermore, I need to highlight the strength of Bruno Pereira and memories that all of our allies and allied defenders of the environment and human rights this brutal murder cannot remain unpunished”.

“If, before, demarcations were focused mainly on the preservation of our culture, new studies have been demonstrating that the maintenance of these areas has an even more comprehensive importance, being fundamental to the stability of ecosystems across the planet, ensuring quality of life, including in large cities. Hence the importance of recognizing the original rights of Indigenous Peoples over the lands where they live,” said Guajajara.

For Guajajara, the protection of biomes, resulting from the preservation of indigenous lands, conservation units and territories inhabited by traditional communities, is “essential” for any agricultural production. “It guarantees water, the presence of pollinating agents and many other factors without which nothing can be produced. Indigenous lands are important allies in the fight against global warming and fundamental for the preservation of our biodiversity,” he said.

The minister recalled that the Paris Agreement and the New York Declaration for Tropical Forests of the United Nations recognized the knowledge of traditional peoples and communities as scientific knowledge and as one of the “last alternatives to contain the climate crisis”. “It is necessary that this knowledge goes beyond international treaties, and be valued in practice, throughout the national territory, through local policies, considering the diversity of peoples, cultures, and territories,” she pointed out.

Minister Anielle Franco, of Racial Equality, also took office on Wednesday. The joint ceremony had several symbolic moments, marked by the sound of African culture and indigenous music. The National Anthem was sung partly in the Tikuna language by Djuena Tikuna, and partly in Portuguese by Marina Íris. The Terena people performed the Dança da Ema, or dança do Bate-pau, a ritualistic manifestation that consecrates great warriors.

According to Sônia Guajajara, one of the first measures she will take in charge of the ministry will be to move forward with the process of ratifying 13 indigenous lands that were already in the final stages of being recognized.Jota made a profile of all 37 ministers that are part of Lula’s government.

On his first day in office, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) signed the first decrees revoking or repealing measures adopted by his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. The so-called “revogaço” (a package of repeals) was promised during Lula’s election campaign and targeted firearms policies, environment and secrecy practices involving public data. 

With regards to the environmental agenda, the president signed the following decrees: determined a 45-day deadline to finalize a proposal to regulate the National Council for the Environment (CONAMA, which was strongly damaged under Bolsonaro); ; reestablishment of rules to reopen the Amazon Fund (shut down by Bolsonaro in the first few months of this government) – both Norway and Germany announced R$ 3,3 billion of Fund resources for immediate release; revoked a decree permitting gold mining inside protected and sensitive areas that was signed by Bolsonaro;  resuming the Action Plan to Prevent and Control Deforestation, including all Brazilian biomes to reach the zero deforestation target; reviewed the norms for environmental fines and sanctions, excluding practises that led to impunity for environmental criminals (that were also weakened by Bolsonaro); established the permanent Interministerial Commission to Prevent and Control Deforestation engaging 19 federal ministries, including the Ministry of Climate and Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, Agrarian Development and Indigenous Peoples; the decrees also rearranged the civil society participation on the board of the National Environmental Fund and gave back to the Ministry of the Environment the control over the Rural Property Database (which was moved to Agriculture under Bolsonaro). 

On Monday January 2nd, Funai had its name changed: created in 1967 as the National Indian Foundation, it is now called National Foundation for Indigenous People.  FUNAI is now part of the structure of the newly established Ministry of Indigenous People. For the first time also, Funai is presided over by an indigenous woman, the former federal deputy Joenia Wapichana. 

On the same day, Minister Marina Silva canceled a norm created by former minister of the Environment Ricardo Salles that took away important technical attributions to Ibama’s environmental agents. According to  Brasil de Fato publication, the norm paralyzed Ibama’s inspections and law enforcement capacities. A survey by Estadao media showed that out of 1,154 infractions and fines issued after October 2019, when Salles changed the rules, 98% were not enforced or charged. Marina Silva also determined that infractions and fines must be made publicly available on the internet. During Bolsonaro’s government, the database on infractions and fines were made inaccessible. It was also determined that 50% of money raised with fines will be destined to the National Environmental Fund (FNMA), to support environmental policies. Minister Marina also said that more repeals and changes will be published in the upcoming days and weeks.

The president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) was sworn in and took on as president of Brazil on Sunday, January 1st. In his inauguration speech at the National Congress, Lula included several promises and ambitious goals for his government ‘s socio environmental agenda. He said that the goal is to reach zero deforestation in the Amazon and to promote an economic transition that puts Brazil on the path to sustainability. 

“No other country has the conditions of Brazil to become an environmental super power based on creative bioeconomy and biodiversity entrepreneurship”, said the president. “We will kick start the energy-ecological transition to more sustainable agribusiness and mining, with a greener industry and a stronger small scale agriculture” (…)”We want to reach zero deforestation in the Amazon and also zero GHG emissions from our energy matrix. We want to recover and use already degraded areas such as pastures. Brazil does not need more deforestation to keep and expand its strategic agriculture frontier”, he added, reassuring that the government will continue to secure farmers the “freedom and opportunity to sow, plant and reap”.

“However we can not admit a “lawless land”, and we won’t tolerate violence against small farmers, deforestation and environmental degradation that caused far too much harm to our country”, he stressed. According to Lula, the need to protect the forest is one of the key reasons for the creation of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples. “Nobody knows our forests, or is better prepared to stand for them, than those who have been here since immemorial times. Each demarcated indigenous land is a new environmentally protected area”(…) “we bear a historic debt and owe these Brazilians respect; we will revoke all injustices committed against the indigenous peoples”. 

The indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire, 90, ancient leader of the Kayapo people, told the press he was happy to be invited by Lula to join him at the inauguration ceremony. Chief Raoni is internationally recognized as a historic defender of indigenous people and was attacked several times by former president Bolsonaro; he was one of seven representatives of Brazilian social diversity to pass on the sash to president Lula at the presidential palace. 

“Now, we have approached the government and want the indigenous people to be remembered. I asked Lula to help indigenous people and reminded him of the still non demarcated lands. I hope that the government demarcates the lands to secure peace to indigenous people. To my indigenous relatives, I declare I did my part, took the opportunity to speak to the president and called his attention to us”, affirmed Raoni.

Two weeks before the end of its mandate, Jair Bolsonaro (PL) decided to authorize “forest management” within indigenous lands. In practice, this means allowing the exploitation of lumber in protected areas.

At the beginning of the month, Bolsonaro had already published a decree that allowed for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) as a method to extract oil and gas. Civil society organizations are asking the Environment workgroup of Lula’s transition team to revoke these and other decrees.

The year 2022 has not ended, but the Amazon is already experiencing its most devastating calendar year in records. According to the DETER/INPE system, the accumulated deforestation alerts between January 1st and October 21st is 9,277 km2. With two months until the end of this year, the total area affected by deforestation in 2022 already exceeds the total of the worst year of records so far, 2019, when the alerts totaled 9,178 km2.

Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, says that deforestation in the Amazon is out of control and the scenario for the environmental crime “has never been so favorable.” “There is no action by the federal government to stop deforestation in the Amazon. Decreasing it is not a concern of the Bolsonaro government,” he explained.

In addition, the Amazon also set a new record for deforestation in September, with a high of almost 50% compared to the previous year.

A company linked to Jair Renan, Jair Bolsonaro’s had 18 mining licenses granted in just two days. Amid an investigation into the crime of influence peddling and money laundering, Gramazini Granitos and Mármores Thomazini, linked to Jair Renan, youngest son of Jair Bolsonaro, got at the end of last year 18 more permits to mine in the south, southeast and northeast regions of the country. The decrees were published in the Diário Oficial da União (DOU) of December 29 and 30, 2021, and are valid for two to three years.

The group from Espírito Santo state, composed of 17 mining companies, is the same one that gave the Renan an electric car valued at R$ 90,000, as reported by O Globo newspaper early last year. A month after the donation, in October 2020, the firm scheduled a meeting with the Minister of Regional Development, Rogério Marinho, which Jair Renan also attended.

The situation drew the attention of the Federal Public Prosecution Office (MPF), which opened a preliminary procedure to investigate the case. Shortly afterwards, in December, the president’s son was summoned by the Federal Police to testify in the investigation.

Decree 11.226, signed by Jair Bolsonaro (PL), excluded FUNAI’S (Brazilian Indigenous peoples agency) the Regional Committees and their instances such as the Ethnoenvironmental Protection Fronts and Local Technical Coordinations, provided for in the 2017 Statute.

Civil society organizations and indigenous rights advocates showed concern and warned that “the new statute and changes in the staff of the National Indian Foundation should make the demarcation of indigenous lands unviable and reduce the agency’s autonomy in the construction and application of public policies.”

“Bolsonaro promised to give Funai a whack, remember? First he cut the members, and now, with this decree, he cuts off the head of the institution. It practically ends with the institution,” said Antonio Eduardo Cerqueira de Oliveira, executive secretary of the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi), to InfoAmazônia.

After the murders of the indigenous activist and licensed FUNAI employee Bruno Araújo Pereira and the English journalist Dom Phillips at the Javari Valley, earlier in June this year, the federal government cut R$ 8.2 million in discretionary spending of the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), the agency responsible for the care and protection of indigenous peoples. 

Data obtained by the Data Fixers project, in partnership with the public data agency Fiquem Sabendo, show that the foundation received a supplementary credit of R$ 12.3 million after the crime. However, a large part of this amount was cut at the request of the federal government itself, with the justification of compliance with the public spending cap.

Since the deaths of Bruno and Dom, employees and agents have been complaining about the negligence of the Foundation’s command, which is helmed by the Federal Police delegate Marcelo Xavier. They have pointed out the need for more resources to solve the deficit of personnel and structure. The employees are asking for the purchase of boats and motors, rafts for fuel and boat storage, computers, and electric generators, among other things.

A group of Brazilian researchers linked to INPE(National Institute for Space Research) has submitted a paper to the scientific journal Nature that claims carbon emissions doubled under Bolsonaro, specifically between 2019 and 2020, when compared to 2010 to 2018. The main reason for the emissions was human action driven by the dismantling of environmental enforcement and governance, says the study, which assessed the loss of the ability of the world’s largest tropical forest to act as a carbon sink and mitigate the effects of climate change.

According to the research, led by chemist Luciana Gatti, the effect was similar to the damage caused in 2010 and 2015/16 by El Niño, a climate phenomenon that makes the Amazon drier and more flammable. In 2019, the increase in emissions was of 89%. In 2020, 122%. More recent data show that deforestation records continued to be broken in 2021 and 2022, possibly worsening this scenario.

The businessman Luis Felipe Belmonte, an ally of Jair Bolsonaro, gave money to people in the president’s close circle while lobbying for the approval of laws that allow for mining on indigenous lands, according to messages intercepted by the Federal Police (PF). The information is from the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo. The messages were obtained by the Federal Police as part of an operation aimed at investigating the financing of antidemocratic acts in April 2020.

More than 2 million reais were distributed by Belmonte between Jair Renan, Bolsonaro’s son (R$10,000), the lawyer Karina Kufa, that represents the president (R$634,000), and the marketers Sergio Lima and Walter Bifulco, responsible for his reelection campaign (R$1.5 million). In one of the messages, when asked by his wife, Representative Paula Belmonte, about the expenses, the businessman said that “the goal was to come closer to the palace and make the ‘indigenous project’ viable,” says the report.

“You can rest assured,” said Marcelo Xavier, president of FUNAI, the Brazilian indigenous people agency, to Jussielson da Silva, who replied, “You are my support. Knowing you’re with me makes happy”. At the time, Silva was the head of FUNAI in Ribeirão da Cascalheira (MT). Today, the former Marine, sworn in during Bolsonaro’s government, is in jail for collecting bribes to illegally rent pastures in the Marãiwatséd indigenous reserve.

Silva, and two former police officers, are being investigated for embezzlement and criminal association. The Federal Police investigations found 70,000 head of cattle in 42 locations in the reserve. A Federal Police report forwarded to a Federal Court states that “it is possible to conclude that the president of the agency, Marcelo, is aware of what is going on and that it is possible that he is supporting the illegal activity under investigation (leasing on indigenous land)”.

A new annual report by the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) points to the increase in violence against indigenous people in Brazil, associated with the dismantling of inspection and assistance bodies for the native population. In 2021, there was a 180% increase in cases of invasion, illegal exploitation and damage to the patrimony of Indigenous Lands in the country compared to 2018, reported the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo. There were 305 episodes, against 109 recorded in 2018.

Regarding cases of violence against the person, the number jumps to 355 in 2021, the highest since 2013, when the organization changed the methodology used for counting cases.

The publication “Violence Against the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil – 2021” highlights how the advance of crimes against the indigenous population has a close relationship with the socio-environmental policies of the federal government. “FUNAI, the official indigenous agency, has become a regulatory agency for criminal businesses in demarcated or demarcated territories. land grabbing and the subdivision of Union lands – after all, indigenous lands are assets of the Union […]”, says an excerpt from the article by Lucia Helena Rangel, CIMI Anthropological Advisor, and Roberto Antonio Liebgott, missionary and Coordinator of CIMI’s Regional South, in the document.

According to a survey by the Igarapé Institute, the violence in the 9 states that make up the Legal Amazon region is aggravated by the increase in the circulation of firearms in the territory. Between December 2018 and November 2021, the registrations increased 219%. For the organization, it is especially worrying the growth of records in the 12th Military Region, which covers the states of Amazonas, Acre, Roraima and Rondônia. The growth reached 450% in the period.

The third edition of the bulletin “Descontrole no Alvo” indicates that the facilities created by the federal government in the policy of access to weapons contributed significantly to the increase in violence, especially in a territory marked by socio-environmental conflicts. “In the place where you have low state presence, where you have a very large conflictive environment, the firearm is a recipe for disaster”. stated Melina Risso, research director of the Institute.

“These are the facts. I ask you to send it to friends who live abroad.” That’s how President Jair Bolsonaro rallied his troops in a video published on his official Twitter profile. The video narrated in English with false information about Brazilian environmental policy and deforestation in the country.

Bolsonaro claimed that the material tells “the truth of environmental preservation, when comparing Brazil to the world.” Among the lies present in the video is the claim that the country is “extremely preserved” and that it has 85% of its energy coming from renewable sources.

In the first quarter of 2022, the Amazon registered a new deforestation record, for example, according to monitoring data from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) itself.

By March 2022, over 97% of the deforestation alerts issued since the beginning of Bolsonaro administration weren’t answered to, according to a survey by the MapBiomas initiative. The area with enforcement operations, however, represents 13.1% of deforestation detected since January 2019.

The data comes from the “Deforestation Surveillance Monitor” online platform, which presents “in a direct, updated, and transparent way the data on deforestation authorizations and enforcement actions by the federal government” and the state governments of Goiás, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, São Paulo, and Pará, explains the project’s website. “There are important advances, especially in the states, but the Monitor data show that impunity still looms large when we talk about illegal deforestation in Brazil,” says Tasso Azevedo, general coordinator of MapBiomas.

According to a report released by the Climate Observatory at the beginning of the year, the environmental agency Ibama failed to execute about 60% of the budget for environmental crime control in 2021, a year in which the country broke successive deforestation records.

The inactive member of the Navy, Jussielson Gonçalves Silva, regional coordinator of the National Indian Foundation (Funai) in Ribeirão Cascalheira (MT), was arrested by the Federal Police. He was accused of aiding the sale of indigenous lands of the Xavante people to local farmers. Appointed by the Bolsonaro administration Silva had held the position since March 18, 2020. 

The official received payments from landowners in the region for 15 “properties” within the Marãiwatsédé Indigenous Land (TI), located in the municipalities of Alto Boa Vista, São Félix do Araguaia, and Bom Jesus do Araguaia, in Mato Grosso. The amounts he received reached R$ 900,000 reais per month, about US$ 180,000 dollars.

The arrest is the result of Operation Res Capta, carried out by the Federal Police in alliance with the Federal Public Attonery (MPF) to dismantle a scheme involving employees of Funai, ranchers, and a leader of the indigenous territory Marãiwatsédé.