Ibama, Brazil’s environmental protection agency, has approved a plan to curb deforestation in 2022. According to the document, published on today’s Federal Register, the federal government will prioritize actions to keep illegal Amazon deforestation in check by way of increased oversight.
The plan falls in line with Brazil’s recent pledges to reduce carbon emissions, made at the latest UN Climate Summit in Glasgow. Given the track record of the Jair Bolsonaro administration, however, it is hard to take these promises at face value.
Under the far-right president Brazil has loosened environmental protection laws and looked the other way while fires spread across the rainforest. A recent study by the Institute of Environmental Research in the Amazon (Ipam) shows that deforestation in the region has gone up by 56 percent since August 2018. Mr. Bolsonaro took office in January 2019.
More recently, the president signed a decree favoring illegal wildcat mining, a practice notorious for contaminating rivers and soil with mercury, posing a major threat to nearby communities. A study published in 2020 found worryingly high levels of mercury in blood samples taken from an indigenous population living in the state of Pará.
Environmental crime does pay
As a candidate, President Bolsonaro vowed to “end the industry of environmental fines” which, in his words, is detrimental to “upstanding citizens.” He has stood by his words, enacting 57 legislative measures weakening conservation laws and favoring agricultural interests as of mid-2021, per researchers at the Federal...
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