Everybody knows that Brazil is being seen as an outcast in the international scenario. Whether it is by ignoring and being ineffective to control the pandemic or by taking conservative ways that diverge from every position the country has held before in the United Nations. But one factor stands, and it is the minister of the environment itself.
Certainly the higher rate of deforestation since 2016, in May, is not what we expect from a government committed to preserving the environment. Ricardo Salles, who is in charge of the ministry, is a central point of this policy.
Despite his job, he is investigated in various inquiries that involve the environment, like the one he is accused of administrative misconduct for possible interference in the management plan of an environment protection area. Since his name was placed in the ministry, he suffered critics, some of those saying that if he was put in charge, it would be “catastrophic”, and that it would put at risk the environmental policies in Brazil.
Since the beginning of his mandate, at least 124 measures could have led to risk to the environment protection policies, according to researchers from the Institute for Socioeconomic Studies. In a meeting in 2020, Salles said it was time to “pass the herds” and change the regulations to simplify norms since society was focused on controlling the pandemic.
In 2021, during the climate summit, Bolsonaro committed, during his speech, to reach climate neutrality by 2050, erase deforestation by 2030, and reduce in 50% all the emissions until this date. For that, he said, “Given the magnitude of the obstacles, including financial ones, it is fundamental that we can count on the contribution of countries, companies, entities, and people who are willing to act in an immediate, real, and constructive manner to solve these problems”.
While speaking, the government approved a cut of 24% in the environment budget for 2021, on the contrary of what it was being promised. This can justify the fear of other countries to commit to Brazil. Like said before, we are outcasted. Many of them propose boycotts if nothing is done in the matter of deforestation, like some supermarkets in the United Kingdom, who will seek soy from other sellers. The agreement between European Union and Mercosur also is at stake, with many of the EU members, amongst other reasons, not wanting to commit to a country that does not preserve the environment.
John Kerry, United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, said the US is “willing to talk to them [Bolsonaro government], but we are not doing it with a blindfold on, but with an understanding of where we have been. But if we don’t talk to them, you can be sure that that forest will disappear”.
With all of this in the matter, it is typical, but bizarre, that Ricardo Salles missed a meeting with the National Council of Legal Amazon, on May 26, and did not take representatives.
Early in the year, Alexandre Saraiva, superintendent of the Federal Police of Amazonas, presented a crime report against Ricardo Salles for trying to stop the largest confiscation of illegal timber in the history of Brazil. Some days after, Saraiva was replaced from the superintendency.
On May 19, Salles also began being investigated for a scheme that facilitated the smuggling of forest products, along with Eduardo Bim, president of the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, or Ibama, the body responsible for inspection and certification of compliance with environmental norms. The minister of the environment, unlike the others investigated in the action, was not removed from the job.
In this case, Salles is under suspicion of the crimes of administrative advocacy, hindering environmental inspection, and hindering the investigation of an infraction involving a criminal organization. The funny thing is that it was American authorities that reported irregularities in wood exported to the United States, and that launched the operation.
Do you think that is it? No, it could not be. In the last week of May, the Federal Police carried out an operation against illegal mining. In response, prospectors attacked the village of the Munduruku leader, Maria Leusa Munduruku, burning her house and firing gunshots.
After the event, president Jair Bolsonaro visited a Yanomami village, when he said, “You do not want mining, you will not have mining. You have other Indian brothers in other places, inside and outside the Amazon who wish to mine land and cultivate the land and we will desire those wishes of theirs. We would never pass a law that the land is exploited by anyone. That will never happen”.
The visit came after the attack on the Munduruku land, but also after a polemic photograph of a child of eight years old and weighing 12 kilos, suffering from malaria, pneumonia, and malnutrition.
All of this represents only a little of what is happening in the government and the ministry of the environment since 2019. Better, what is not happening. Represents negligence while protecting our land and people. And even with everything that is happening and some of the people protesting, these men remain silent, in all matters.
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The article above was edited by Gabriela Sartorato.
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