Brazil's senate recently approved a controversial bill that strips away critical environmental protections, enabling various sectors including mining and agriculture to bypass strict licensing requirements. The legislation, criticized by activists as a major setback for climate action, threatens Brazil's pledges to eradicate deforestation and achieve net-zero emissions. Critics argue that the accelerated process allows projects to proceed without comprehensive environmental reviews, endangering natural resources and local communities. As it moves back to the lower house for final approval, it faces little opposition due to the dominance of pro-agribusiness lawmakers.
The proposed legislation would allow some projects to renew permits through a self-declaration process and loosen requirements for high-impact ventures such as mining, allowing potentially harmful developments to move forward without serious considerations of their impacts.
Environmental activists and policymakers have condemned the bill as a historical setback that ignores the reality of the climate crisis and undermines Brazil’s commitment to combatting climate change.
Natalie Unterstell, president of Instituto Talanoa, stated the bill jeopardizes Brazil's commitments of eradicating deforestation by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050, describing the situation as akin to getting rid of the brakes in a moving vehicle.
Most licensing procedures will become a push of a button without an environmental study or environmental impact assessment, highlighting the drastic reduction of environmental safeguards through the bill.
Collection
[
|
...
]