As the fire season approaches and in the face of international pressure on Brazil regarding environmental issues, President Jair Bolsonaro (non-party) assesses the maintenance of military forces to tackle environmental crimes in the forest Amazonian.
The reissue of a GLO (Guarantee of public order) for the dry season in the forest biome was discussed this Thursday (15) during a meeting between Vice-President Hamilton Mourão and the Ministries of the Environment, of Agriculture, Justice and Defense.
The idea is that the military forces will stay in the Amazon rainforest until November, when the rainy season returns. The format and timing of the initiative is expected to be discussed next week between government technicians and military commanders.
The debate over re-issuing a GLO would represent a setback in the government’s plans, which officially announced the departure of the military from these operations on May 1, and would take place on the eve of the Leaders’ Climate Summit, scheduled for the next. week.
For the meeting, which is expected to have the participation of 40 world leaders, Brazil’s strategy will be to defend the need for rich countries to invest in the fight against deforestation in the Amazon rainforest and to present a medium and long term plan. for the preservation of the natural environment. biome We are a family business.
At Thursday’s meeting, the ministries responsible for federal preservation agencies argued that they were facing financial and operational difficulties in resuming the fight against deforestation without the presence of military forces.
Ibama and ICMBio, linked to the Ministry of the Environment, live, for example, with resource restrictions and a lack of agents. The idea is that Mourão will submit the proposal to the president in the coming days, with the aim of making it workable for the next month.
The argument is that Brazil must send signs of commitment to the preservation of the Amazon rainforest ahead of the international summit, hosted by the President of the United States, Joe Biden. The Democrat criticizes the environmental policy adopted by the Bolsonaro administration.
For the palace advisers, the maintenance of the army highlights the difficulty of re-equipping the civilian agencies which traditionally carry out inspection activities and the fight against predators.
Thus, in the current situation, the lack of military support will make it even more difficult to present any positive results in the fight against deforestation by the end of the year, one of the demands of foreign nations for the release of resources in Brazil. .
Also at this Thursday’s meeting, those present understood that if the measure is reissued, it will have to have a lighter format, focusing on municipalities where deforestation has been most critical.
The Amazon plan, published Wednesday (14) in the Federal Official Journal, provides for priority actions in 11 municipalities: Porto Velho (RO), São Félix do Xingu (PA), Altamira (PA), Lábrea (AM), Pacajá (PA) , Portel (PA), Itaituba (PA), Colniza (MT), Novo Progresso (PA), Rurópolis (PA) and Apuí (AM).
The goal set in the same plan is to reduce illegal deforestation and fires in the Amazon rainforest to the historic average recorded between 2016 and 2020. But the initiative has been criticized by experts. According to them, the target set by the government represents higher rates of devastation than those found at the start of the current administration and, therefore, the ideal is that a more ambitious target be adopted.