Brazil's Congress lower house passed on Thursday a bill to further reduce state-conducted environmental assessments and allow companies to carry out their impact study instead, a decision widely rejected by activists and human rights organizations.
RELATED:
Brazil: Environment Minister Sued for Promoting Amazon Logging
The bill lifts control over a series of economic ventures from the construction of roads to agriculture, which used to require a state-led environmental study to be approved. According to the previous mechanism, a federal government entity would carry out the analysis alongside the Brazilian environmental agency Ibama.
Con apoyo de Bolsonaro la Cámara de Diputados aprobó el proyecto que restringe o retira las herramientas de análisis, prevención y control de impactos ambientales. El Estado abandonará esas funciones y quienes puedan cometer crímenes ambientales se otorgarán “autopermisos”. https://t.co/dqLW9yi3Au
— Nacho Lemus (@LemusteleSUR) May 13, 2021
The new regulation leaves some of these projects completely exempt from environmental licensing, a major blow to conservationist groups who continue denouncing the devastation of the Amazon rainforest and the human rights violations of its Indigenous peoples.
According to the journal Biological Conservation, the government of Jair Bolsonaro has passed 57 legislation to weaken environmental conservation since the far-right president took office. In addition, in April, Bolsonaro cut the Environment Ministry budget by 24 percent, a day after promising that he would double it to fight deforestation.
#FromTheSouth News Bits | Brazil: The Senate begins an investigation on the government's handling of the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/pN0pXog0Hj
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) April 28, 2021