FACT OR FAKE

FACT OR FAKE 

FAKE - Areas for agriculture are increasing rapidly, threatening conservation areas 

Brazil’s entire agricultural production is concentrated in 30% of the country's total 851.5 million hectares. Brazil’s productivity increased by 456% since 1976; over the same period, the country’s cultivated area increased around 55%. This data proves that more land has been spared, and that productive lands are used in the best way possible, through investment and technology. This is the “earth-saving” effect.

FACT – Fruit from the Brazilian Northeast are truly special 

Nature in the Brazilian Northeast is excellent for growing fruit: good quality water, low relative humidity and low incidence of diseases are the main ingredients in this recipe. The São Francisco Valley answers for 43% of Brazilian fruit exports. The main highlights are mango and grape: 97% and 95%, respectively, come from the Northeast.

Currently, 80% of the fruit produced for export are from the Northeast. Brazil ranks third in the world in fruit production: 58 million tons were produced in 2021. Melon is the national leader in exports; 100% of production is in the Northeast. 

FAKE – Agribusiness and the environment are enemies 

Brazil has been making environmental preservation a priority on all agribusiness fronts. Brazilian rural producers have adopted the decarbonizing production models of the country’s ABC+ Plan on over 52 million hectares of land – which corresponds to more than twice the area of the UK. As a result, emissions of over 170 million tons of CO2 equivalent have been mitigated, thus exceeding the plan’s mitigation targets.

FACT – Brazil is the breadbasket of the world

In only 50 years, Brazil has gone from being a food importer to one of the world’s biggest agribusiness players. While feeding 10% of the world population, Brazilian grain production has jumped from 38 million tons, in 1975, to 271 million tons in the 2021/22 harvest.

FSHEET 3 - FACT OR FAKE 

FAKE – The government controls fuel prices 

The price of fuels in Brazil has not been fixed since 2002. Pricing is controlled by the market. Brazil’s National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis/ANP) monitors these prices and, if it comes across anything irregular (such as cartels), it sends the information to the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica/Cade) for evaluation and necessary measures.

FACT – The gas that consumers buy is mixed

When filling up at a gas station, consumers buy “C” gasoline, which is a mixture – by distributors – of “A” gasoline plus anhydrous ethanol. “A” gasoline can be produced at Petrobras refineries, by other refiners in the country, by petrochemical plants or imported by companies that are authorized to do so by the ANP.

FAKE – Is fuel in Brazil one of the most expensive in the world?

In October 2022, the price of gasoline in Brazil was 29% lower than the world average. Comparing 168 countries, gasoline was more expensive in 138.

Over the same period, the price of diesel in Brazil was 4% lower than the world average. Comparing 167 countries, diesel was more expensive in 91. Its price, however, like that of gasoline, is linked to the international market and can go up or down daily. Taxes and other costs, in addition to distributors’ and gas stations’ profit margins, end up influencing final consumer prices at the pump.

FACT – Brazil’s New Gas Law puts an end to the monopoly of the natural gas market

Established in 2021, Brazil’s New Gas Market (Novo Mercado do Gás) is yet another measure by the Brazilian government to end the monopoly of natural gas and open the market to new investments. Brazil has been taking steps in this direction since 2009; the New Gas Law was the final step towards expansion of the sector. This led to an autonomous transport system being created, allowing stakeholders to trade freely amongst themselves, paying for entry and exit of gas and no longer for the entire route the product would have to cover from distributor to consumer.

FSHEET 2 – FACT OR FAKE 

FAKE – Brazil does not invest in actions against deforestation 

For more than 20 years, the Amazon Protected Areas Program (ARPA) has gathered efforts to care for fully protected conservation units, in addition to Indigenous and Quilombola Lands. In all, more than 60 million hectares are protected and monitored, which is twice the size of Germany. In addition, Brazil has integrated operations between security forces and environmental agencies to combat illegal deforestation. 

FACT – The Amazon goes far beyond the extension of dry land 

The vastness of the Amazon covers almost half of the entire national territory. 49.3% of Brazil is covered by the Amazon Forest, as shown by the IBGE. In addition to the mainland, about 20% of the biome's area is made up of wetlands, flooded lowland forest, igapó forests and brackish water mangroves.

FAKE – Brazil has no control over the Amazon timber trade

The country has adopted the mandatory adoption of wood traceability mechanisms and IBAMA uses more than 60 software in the management of information and in the work of environmental technicians.

FACT – Brazil aligns actions with the international community on the Amazon issue

Brazil and the United States work together to fight environmental crimes, blocking the use of international systems associated with illegal activities. As an example of cooperation, the Floresta+ Amazônia project brings together the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to encourage and remunerate actions that restore native vegetation and contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. 

FAKE – Brazil is experiencing the worst moment as to number of forest fires

Brazil registered its largest number of forest fires in 2010. That year, two records were broken in the historical series initiated in 1998: the annual man-made fire record and the record for the month with the most fires. In 2010, 7,291 fires were registered in green areas across Brazil. In August alone, 2,444 fires were detected by National Institute for Space Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais/Inpe) satellites.

FACT – The Amazon region is targeted by organized crime

Between March and July of this year alone, Operation Guardians of the Biome registered 1,468 qualified alerts for areas of illegal deforestation and mineral extraction. Thus, over the same period, the task force’s Deforestation front inspected over 80 sawmills, seizing more than 13.8 thousand cubic meters of timber. Around 350 people were arrested and BRL 863 million in fines were applied during these actions. Arrests led to a BRL 889 million in losses to organized crime. Between 2019 and 2021, operations Verde Brasil and Samaúma – coordinated by the Ministry of Defense – arrested over 450 people connected to environmental crime.

FACT – Operation of illegal mining puts environmental preservation areas at risk

Besides illegal logging, Brazilian forests are threatened by illegal mining, even in indigenous lands. In its Protection of Indigenous Lands front, Operation Guardians of the Biome has already seized more than 54 tons of ores that were illegally removed from the Yanomami Indigenous Land in the state of Roraima. Altogether, 53 people involved in mining in this region were arrested, and nearly a thousand units of ammunition were seized.