• Agro
  • Civil Society
  • Disinformation
  • Exploitation & Control
  • Forests & Land Use
  • Geopolitics
  • Indigenous & Traditional Communities
  • Oil
  • Research
  • Violence
  • Water & Sanitation
  • Stakeholders
Parliamentary inquiry about NGOs worries civil society with fears of persecution

A Brazilian Senate in session

Credit: Marcos Oliveira/Agência Senado

10 Apr 23

Parliamentary inquiry about NGOs worries civil society with fears of persecution

Opposition senators celebrated the reading of the request for the establishment of the CPI [Parliamentary Inquire Comissions] of NGOs in the Federal Senate this week. The collegiate will be responsible for investigating the actions of non-governmental organizations operating in the Amazon, with investigative powers similar to those of judicial authorities. The expectation is that the CPI will be used to persecute and criminalize the actions of civil society, as was done in an institutional manner by the Bolsonaro government.

Sources:
House of Representatives approves measures that go against the Atlantic Forest and its traditional populations

Representatives during a vote in the House

Credit: Marcos Oliveira/Agência Senado

30 Mar 23

House of Representatives approves measures that go against the Atlantic Forest and its traditional populations

The House of Representatives approved, on Thursday afternoon (30), two provisional measures (MPs), from the Bolsonaro government, with considerable socio-environmental setbacks. Both now go to the Senate for approval.  The [Provisional Measure] MP 1.150/2022 opens the way for more deforestation in the little that remains (12%) of the most threatened biome in the country: the Atlantic Rainforest. In this case, the proposal was made through an amendment unrelated to the main theme of the MP – the Forest Code (Law 12.651/2012). The idea of changing the Atlantic Forest Law (11.428/2006) came from União Brasil and party leader Elmar Nascimento (BA), who insisted on including it in the approved text. The final text also extends for another year the deadline for rural producers to join the Environmental Regularization Program (PRA), foreseen in the Forest Code.

The other MP (1.151/2022) approved in the House plenary changes the rules of forest concessions, opening the possibility of exploitation of other environmental goods and services, besides timber, including in protected areas occupied by indigenous and traditional communities. Only PDT and the PSOL/Rede federation voted against. According to the final text, the concessions will be able to generate carbon credits and use the genetic heritage of plants and animals, for example. 

Sources:
Deforestation in the Amazon drops 61% in January, but Cerrado saw only a 10% decline

Deforestation in the Cerrado causes concerns for environmentalists and tradicional populations

Credit: Marcos Vergueiro/Secom-MT

10 Feb 23

Deforestation in the Amazon drops 61% in January, but Cerrado saw only a 10% decline

Deforestation in the Legal Amazon region showed a reduction of 61% in January 2023, compared to the same period last year, according to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The total deforested area in the region was 167 km², compared to 430 km² in January 2022.

On the other hand, deforestation in the Brazilian Cerrado more than doubled compared to the Amazon, reaching 441.85 km² in January. The deforested Cerrado area saw a 10% decline compared to the same period last year, when the figure was 491.64 km². Nevertheless, the deforested area is larger than the entire city of Curitiba – the capital of Paraná state -, which covers 434.892 km².

Sources:
Bolsonaro's Ministry of Environment gave up on defending 8 million hectares in the Amazon, Pantanal, and Cerrado

Number of conservation units created per government

Crédito: Júlia Coelho/The Intercept Brasil

8 Feb 23

Bolsonaro’s Ministry of Environment gave up on defending 8 million hectares in the Amazon, Pantanal, and Cerrado

During Ricardo Salles’ tenure as Minister of Environment in the Bolsonaro administration, the Ministry of the Environment decided to abandon the creation of protected areas in 167 federal lands, without making a fuzz or consulting technical staff. These areas are located in the Amazon, Cerrado, and Pantanal regions, covering eight Brazilian states across three regions of the country, including the states of Amazonas, Amapá, Pará, Roraima, Rondônia, Tocantins, Maranhão, and Mato Grosso.

Furthermore, on October 29, 2020, the ministry announced that it “has no interest in acquiring new areas for the creation of conservation units.” The decision was made without considering the concerns previously expressed by the ministry’s technical staff regarding these areas, according to an investigation by The Intercept Brasil.

However, there are at least 39 areas that should not have been discarded, according to ICMBio’s own technicians. These are large, well-preserved forest masses, totaling more than 8 million hectares – almost twice the size of the state of Rio de Janeiro – and are located in the states of Mato Grosso (16), Amazonas (10), Pará (9), Rondônia (2), and Roraima (2).

Sources:
When the lights go out, Agro maneuvers the last herd of the Bolsonaro government

Campanha em Guarapuava (PR) alerta para perigos dos agrotóxicos

Crédito: @samuelfbueno/Mídia ECO

21 Dec 22

When the lights go out, Agro maneuvers the last herd of the Bolsonaro government

This Monday afternoon (19) the Brazilian Senate Agrarian Reform and Agriculture Commission approved a favorable opinion on the Poison Package (PL1459/2022).

The Poison Package is a compilation of legislative projects that aims to replace the current Pesticides Law (Law 7.802/1989) with a new text, even eliminating the word “agrotoxic” [as it is commonly known in Brazil], and replacing it with a milder term: pesticide. The text makes the release and use of pesticides more flexible in the country, in addition to leading Anvisa and Ibama to a secondary role in the registration, inspection and analysis of substances. At the end of the meeting, Congress also approved an urgent request for the consideration of the bill in the plenary of the House.

On the same date, Greenpeace Brasil filed an appeal with the Court of Justice of Rondônia in response to the lawsuit filed by Senator Acir Gurgacz (PDT – RO) for his position against the approval of the “Poison Package”. More than 300 health and environment organizations, government agencies – such as Ibama, the National Cancer Institute (INCA), the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), Fiocruz and Anvisa – and even the United Nations have already protested against this measure.

On Tuesday night (20), the Senate approved in plenary the Law Project of Self-Control, a bill that will allow the agricultural industries to supervise their food production themselves. These activities are currently carried out exclusively by inspectors from the Ministry of Agriculture. “Outsourced inspection”, which removes part of the role of federal agricultural inspectors, subordinated to the Ministry of Agriculture, has been contested by the Union of Federal Agricultural Inspectors (Anffa Sindical). The Project has already passed through the Chamber of Deputies and is now going for presidential sanction.

Sources:
Congress Environment Committee approves Destruction Package bills

Bill 364 allows the exploitation of predominantly non-forest areas

Credit: Oswaldo Braga de Souza / ISA

24 Nov 22

Congress Environment Committee approves Destruction Package bills

The Environment Commission of the Lower House of Congress approved a “Destruction Package” of bills that weakens environmental protection and may increase illegal deforestation, attending to the interests of the rural caucus. They will now head for vote.

The collegiate approved a bill that amnesties all invasions made in areas called ‘altitude fields’ in the Atlantic Rainforest biome. PL 364 allows the exploitation of predominantly non-forest areas, such as native fields, and amnesty the occupation of these areas carried out before July 22, 2008, the milestone in the Brazilian Forest Code.

With pressure from the Agriculture and Livestock Parliamentary Front (FPA), more radical and comprehensive proposals against conservation were included in the talks or appended to the original project. The approved text is more favorable to deforesters than the original proposal, which proposed changing the Atlantic Forest Law to allow the exploitation of the so-called “altitude fields” within the biome, giving amnesty to the occupation of these areas without temporal restriction.

Besides this proposal, two other PLs were approved by the Commission: PL 2168, which changes the Forest Code to authorize the indiscriminate damming of water courses, and PL 195, which weakens controls over timber transportation. 

Sources:
Anti-environmental caucus grows in Congress and Legal Amazon houses will be dominated by the right after 2023

Queimadas em Novo Progresso (PA)

Crédito: Cícero Pedrosa Neto/Amazônia Real

14 Nov 22

Anti-environmental caucus grows in Congress and Legal Amazon houses will be dominated by the right after 2023

The new Congress is not only further to the right – it has also become more anti-environmental. The Institute for Democracy and Sustainability (IDS) did a survey through its Green Panel that identified the growth of the anti-environmental caucus and the reduction of the environmental caucus. The percentage of mostly anti-environmental federal deputies rose from 37% to 42.6%, while the percentage of green federal deputies fell from 30% to 27%. The Senate loses two votes aligned with environmental issues and decreases its power to avoid setbacks on the agenda.

André Lima, coordinator of the IDS Green Panel evaluates, however, that “there is room to increase adherence to the environmental vote, working on the dialogue with the caucuses”.

In the specific case of the Legal Amazon region, the IDS report assesses that “the voices that will speak on behalf of Amazonian voters have low adhesion to the climate and environmental agendas”.

A survey by Amazônia Real indicates that the nine states in the region will see the advance of anti-environmental and anti-indigenous agendas and that Bolsonarism has been consolidated by the popular vote. In the state houses of the Legal Amazon, the five parties with the most representation, starting in 2023, will be: MDB (29 seats), União Brasil (26), Republicans (24), PL (22).

Sources:
Politicians elected in 2022 total R$ 24 million in environmental fines

Ibama team fights deforestation at Indigenous Land Tenharim do Igarapé Preto, in 2018

Vinícius Mendonça/Ibama/via CC BY-SA 2.0

15 Oct 22

Politicians elected in 2022 total R$ 24 million in environmental fines

A survey by Folha de S. Paulo showed that a total of 34 people elected on the October 2nd elections owe R$ 23.8 million in environmental fines, according to Ibama’s, Brazil’s federal environmental agency, database.

Bolsonaro’s party, PL, together with PSD and União Brasil are the parties with the highest number of fined politicians, with five each. Most of the violators found by the survey are in state assemblies and at the House of Representatives, but senators and governors are also included.

 

Sources:
2022 Elections: Brazil's Congress keeps a large majority of ruralists, but resistance increases in the Lower House

Indigenous Caucus grew in 2022

Credit: Roque de Sá/Agência Senado

3 Oct 22

2022 Elections: Brazil’s Congress keeps a large majority of ruralists, but resistance increases in the Lower House

Brazil held general elections for the federal and state legislatures, and the first round for the presidency and state governments. The results raised concerns for Human Rights defenders and environmentalists.
We emphasize:
– In the 100 Brazilian municipalities with the highest Gross Agricultural Production Value (GVP), the president and candidate for re-election, Jair Bolsonaro (PL), ended the 1st round of the presidential elections ahead in 75.
– 9 indigenous candidates were elected, 5 identifying with leftist parties, such as Sônia Guajajara (PSOL-SP), Juliana Cardoso (PT-SP) and Celia Xakriabá (PSOL-MG). “The “indigenous bench will drive cattle, mining and loggers out of the territories,” APIB said. Joênia Wapichania (Rede-RR) was not reelected, despite having increased her vote.
Sources:
FUNAI president offers support to member of the military arrested for "renting" indigenous land

Marcelo Xavier (left) has the support of president Bolsonaro

Credit: Reproduction

25 Aug 22

FUNAI president offers support to member of the military arrested for “renting” indigenous land

“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)”.

 

Sources:
Invasions of indigenous lands increased by 180% under Bolsonaro, study finds

Invasion in the Piripkura Indigenous Land, where isolated indigenous people live

Credit: Christian Braga/Greenpeace

17 Aug 22

Invasions of indigenous lands increased by 180% under Bolsonaro, study finds

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.

Sources:
Tool launched by Repórter Brasil shows Congress representatives voting on socio environmental matters

According to reserach, two in every three representatives vote against the environment

Credit: Repórter Brasil

16 Aug 22

Tool launched by Repórter Brasil shows Congress representatives voting on socio environmental matters

The investigative journalism agency Repórter Brasil launched the second edition of the tool that monitors how Congress representatives are positioned in relation to the environment agenda and rural workers. The “Ruralômetro 2022” shows that 68% of the representatives voted against the environment. 

That means that these are representatives who “presented bills and voted on legislative changes that harm environmental inspection, favor predatory economic activities, to make labor legislation precarious, to make access to social benefits difficult and to stop agrarian reform, among other setbacks pointed by socio-environmental organizations”, says the story that presents the project.

To measure the “rural fever” of parliamentarians, the tool gave each representative a score, ranging from 36⁰C to 42⁰C. The more aligned with the work of the ruralist caucus, the higher its temperature.

The evaluation was based on the analysis of 28 roll call votes and 485 bills presented in the current legislature.

Sources:
Amazon region records highest number of fires in June in the last 15 years

Imagem de satélite registra os focos de incêndio durante estação da seca em 2019.

Crédito: NASA via Wikimedia Commons

1 Jul 22

Amazon region records highest number of fires in June in the last 15 years

The Inpe (National Institute for Space Research) registered 2562 fires in the Amazon in June. The figure is the highest in fifteen years and confirms two trends: that every June sets a new forest fires record under Bolsonaro and that, in view of the election year, environmental criminals are taking advantage of the leniency of Bolsonaro’s environmental policy to carry out illegal fires.

The increase, compared to May, was of 11%. The biome is now entering the fire season, which lasts from July to October. Every year, more than 120,000 people are hospitalized in the region for respiratory problems during the season.

 

Sources:
Forest burning doubles in the Amazon and Cerrado fires increase by 35%

Firest in the Cerrado are at their highest since 1998, when the measurements started

Credit: Agência Fapesp

2 Jun 22

Forest burning doubles in the Amazon and Cerrado fires increase by 35%

Data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) released on June 1st showed that environmental devastation continues to grow in the country. The Amazon, with 2,287 outbreaks of forest fires, had the highest number of fires since 2004 and was 96% higher than last year.

In the Cerrado, the increase was 35% compared to May 2021, with 3,578 fires, the highest number since 1998, when measurements started. The tendency, according to specialists, is to get worse, since the most intense fire season has not yet arrived. Most of the burning, according to scholars, is done by the agricultural sector.

 

Sources:
Supreme Court postpones for the third time the continuation of trial that could define future of indigenous lands

Trial can define future of indigenous land demarcation in Brazil

Credit: Reproduction/De Olho Nos Ruralistas

2 Jun 22

Supreme Court postpones for the third time the continuation of trial that could define future of indigenous lands

The Supreme Court (STF) has again postponed the continuation of the trial on the “Marco Temporal” [time frame thesis], which will define the future of the demarcation of indigenous lands in Brazil. The trial was scheduled to return to the plenary session on June 23. Voting began in August 2021 and has since been suspended on two occasions.

The trial is about the Extraordinary Appeal 1017365, which asks for a resolution of the Ibirama-Laklãnõ Indigenous Land case, filed by the government of Santa Catarina against the Xokleng people, which has the “thesis” of the “time frame” as a premise. The thesis postulates that which indigenous people can only claim lands that were under effective occupation at the time of the enactment of the Constitution of 1988. The STF’s decision on the case will have general repercussion, that is, it should be followed by the justice system in  similar cases.

So far, the score is tied at 1-1. Justice Edson Fachin, the rapporteur, voted against the Marco Temporal and defended the original right of indigenous peoples over the lands they traditionally occupy. The minister Nunes Marques, nominated by Jair Bolsonaro, declared his vote in favor, stating that it is the proposal “that best reconciles the interests at stake”. The president has said in statements that he will not respect the decision of the STF if it is unfavorable to the agribusiness thesis.

 

Sources:

UOL

Pesticides kill one Brazilian every two days, study shows

Pesquisa revela crescimento do lobby agroquímico estrangeiro no Brasil

Crédito: charlesricardo/Pixabay

28 Apr 22

Pesticides kill one Brazilian every two days, study shows

Two days. That’s the time span that separates one death caused from agrochemical poisoning from another in Brazil. Among the victims, 20% are children and teenagers up to 19 years old. The data comes from a report published by the environmentalist network Friends of the Earth Europe, which maps the alliance between European agrochemical companies and the agribusiness lobby in Brazil.

Bolsonaro administration is the record holder in releasing new agrochemicals. Of the 3748 agrotoxic products marketed in the country, 1682 were approved during his administration, according to data from Robotox, a bot created by Agência Pública and Repórter Brasil to monitor the release of new pesticides.

 

Sources:
Report shows that deaths in land dispute conflicts rose by 75% in 2021

Bolsonaro administration caused an all time high in conflicts

Credit: CPT

18 Apr 22

Report shows that deaths in land dispute conflicts rose by 75% in 2021

The Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) launched the 36th edition of its annual report, which gathers data on conflicts and violence suffered by rural workers in Brazil. The survey “Conflicts in Rural Brazil 2021” registered 1,768 conflicts, of which 1,242 were land disputes, 304 water and labor disputes, and 169 labor disputes.

Despite the 14% drop in total occurrences compared to 2020 (2,054, the highest rate since 2011), there was a 75% increase in murders (from 20 to 35), 80% (28) occurred in the Legal Amazon region.  Most of the victims were indigenous people (10).  The organization also highlights the occurrence of two massacres: the massacre that killed at least three Moxihatëtëa indigenous people in the Yanomami Indigenous Land (RR), and the murder of three landless people in the Ademar Ferreira Camp (RO).

In three years of the Bolsonaro government, the CPT registered 5,725 conflicts in the countryside, the highest number since 1985, the first year of publication.

 

Sources:
Tereza Cristina leaves Agriculture Ministry with 1654 pesticides liberated during her term

The newly appointed minister is a former president of the agribusiness caucus

Credit: Creative Commons

31 Mar 22

Tereza Cristina leaves Agriculture Ministry with 1654 pesticides liberated during her term

“We did a lot with very little, President, because there was no corruption in your government”. On March 29, this was how the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Tereza Cristina, said goodbye to the position, in a speech, next to Jair Bolsonaro. A great ally of the president and of the agribusiness agenda, Cristina left to run for the Senate in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.

Since the beginning of her administration, which started on January 1, 2019, she tried to loosen the rules for pesticide approval. This administration has released 1654 new pesticide products, a record high.

The executive secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Marcos Montes, was announced as the new minister and took office on March 31. Pontes is former president of the Parliamentary Front for Agribusiness and federal representative for the PSD party in Minas Gerais. In a statement about the change, the Federal Government said that the new minister takes office “with a policy of continuity of the management implemented in the last three years”.

Sources:
Ministry awards Bolsonaro with medal for indigenist work under protest from leaders

A number of high echelon members of the government were awarded


Credit: Isaac Amorim/MJSP

18 Mar 22

Ministry awards Bolsonaro with medal for indigenist work under protest from leaders

The Ministry of Justice and Public Security awarded President Jair Bolsonaro the Medal of Indigenist Merit, “a recognition for his services related to the welfare, protection and defense of indigenous communities.”

Another 25 people received the homage, including the Ministers Braga Netto (Defense); Tereza Cristina (Agriculture); Damares Alves (Women, Family and Human Rights); Augusto Heleno (Institutional Security); Luiz Eduardo Ramos (Secretary General); Tarcísio Gomes (Infrastructure); João Roma (Citizenship); Marcelo Queiroga (Health), as well as the General Attorney, Bruno Leal, the president of the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), Marcelo Xavier, and officials from other agencies.

The Indigenous Peoples of Brazil Networl (Apib) rejected the award due to the “constant violations committed against the indigenous peoples in Brazil” since the beginning of the current government. In response, Apib symbolically presented Bolsonaro with the Indigenous Genocide Medal.

 

Sources:
Federal Police arrest a soldier who occupied the regional coordination of Funai for illegal leasing of indigenous land

He received around 180,000 US$ per month

Credit: Rede Sementes do Xingu

17 Mar 22

Federal Police arrest a soldier who occupied the regional coordination of Funai for illegal leasing of indigenous land

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.

Sources:

71 news

Link successfully copied!