Marina Silva presents overview of federal environmental protection results

Environment and Climate Change Minister Marina Silva presented an overview of federal environmental protection activities during an event at Planalto Palace on June 5, World Environment Day. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the minister signed environmental preservation decrees during the ceremony.

Reducing deforestation is not just about command and control, it is also about creating alternative economic activities for people. It is also the ability to show that the State is in control, that there is no impunity.”
Marina Silva, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change

Marina highlighted that the resumption of federal deforestation control efforts in Brazil have led to a 49.8% drop in deforestation in the Amazon between January and December 2023, and to a 40.5% drop between January and May 2024, both in comparison with the previous period. According to the minister,fighting deforestation in the Cerrado savanna continues to be a major challenge, because legislation has yet to establish greater legal reserves.

Federal intervention began to show positive results this year, following a 12.9% drop in deforestation over the first five months of 2024 compared to the same period last year—in sharp contrast to the 43.6% increase during 2023.

“We have brought back the Plan to Combat Deforestation [Plano de Combate ao Desmatamento], PPCerrado, and plans for the Pantanal, Pampa, Atlantic Forest, and Caatinga biomes. We are working to create a protection fund for the Caatinga.

Deforestation in the Cerrado has increased and this is a big challenge. The big challenge with current legislation is that people are allowed to use 80% of the Cerrado land. The problem is: the legislation exists, but nature does not assimilate any of this. We cannot go on destroying the Cerrado, also because there is the risk of hurting economic activity,” said Marina.

— Lula (@LulaOficial) June 5, 2024

The Federal Government's efforts to preserve Brazil’s biomes include the United with Municipalities [União com Municípios] Program to support the 70 priority cities in controlling deforestation and wildfires. This program will have access to BRL 600 million from the Amazon Fund by 2025, and BRL 130 million from Floresta+, for initiatives that reduce deforestation. An agreement with the government of the state of Pará will also facilitate actions to control deforestation and forest degradation.

SUPERVISION — The minister also pointed out that oversight by the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis/Ibama) increased in 2023 when compared to the 2019-2022 average. For example, Ibama issued 53% more fines. In monetary terms, the destruction of illegal equipment rose by 1,119%, while illegal asset seizures rose by 240%. Regarding illegal mining, there was a 77% reduction in the area controlled by invaders within the Yanomami Indigenous Lands in 2023, compared to 2022. Over the same period, there was a 32% drop in forest clearcutting by illegal mining across Brazil.

“Reducing deforestation is not just about command and control, it is also about creating alternative economic activities for people. It is also the ability to show that the State is in control, that there is no impunity. Another lesson learned is: I know there are efforts by state governments, but, when they work in isolation, they cannot reduce deforestation by themselves. We acknowledge that several states took action, but, when we started working together, we managed to reduce deforestation within states as well, proving that the work of the Federal Government is crucial,” stated Marina.

STRUCTURE — Another result was the increase in the institutional capacity of the Ministry of the Environment (Ministério do Meio Ambiente/MMA), Ibama, the Chico Mendes Institute for Conservation of Biodiversity (Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade/ICMBio), the Botanical Gardens (Jardim Botânico), and the Brazilian Forest Service (Serviço Florestal Brasileiro), by reestablishing staff, authorizing a new tender, and creating new structures such as the Bioeconomy and of Climate Change secretariats. Six new Conservation Units were established, and three were expanded, covering 607 thousand hectares altogether.

CONSERVATION — The Federal Government reinstated and implemented the Bolsa Verde Program, which provides income to families living within Conservation Units who work in environmental conservation. The value of the benefit doubled to BRL600/quarter. More than 33,000 families have benefited.

RESTORATION — In the field of sustainable use and forest restoration, concessions for sustainable forest management have expanded by 1.1 million hectares, and concessions for forest restoration have been registered across 6,842 hectares. The goal established by the National Policy for the Recovery of Native Vegetation [Política Nacional de Recuperação da Vegetação Nativa] is to recover 12 million hectares by 2030.

PARTNERSHIP — The minister pointed out that progress achieved in the government’s environmental protection agenda stem from the Ministry's partnerships with other ministries and agencies, as well as state and municipal governments, civil society, the scientific community and private enterprises.