Brazil’s Federal Police intensifies investigation of wildfires

Brazil’s Federal Police [Polícia Federal/PF] has ramped up efforts to combat environmental crime, especially wildfires that have been devastating the Amazon and Pantanal biomes, as well as other regions of the country. Currently, there are 5,589 PF investigations [inquéritos policiais/IPLs] underway on environmental issues, 32 of which directly focused on wildfires in the Amazon and Pantanal biomes and in the state of São Paulo, which began between 2023 and 2024.

As the federal judicial police, the PF works in coordination with other federal bodies, state governments and other police forces, within the limits of legal jurisdiction. Investigations are carried out with caution and based on solid evidence, including the use of satellite images to monitor wildfire outbreaks and determine their causes.

The next steps include sending specialized experts to the affected areas and using advanced technology to identify the places where wildfires began. The Federal Police is committed to identifying not only the perpetrators but also the possible ringleaders, seeking to link these environmental crimes with related prosecutable offenses. This approach aims to ensure that all individuals involved are held accountable for every crime committed to guarantee full accountability.

Special groups have been created to support the investigations by focusing on the most affected states, including those where airport operations have been affected.

Moreover, the Federal Police has made significant progress in environmental forensics to assess the direct damage caused by the wildfires and the cost of recovering the affected areas, but also calculate the ecosystem services that are no longer provided to the environment due to the devastation.

The investigations are being coordinated by the new Amazon and Environment Office [Diretoria Amazônia e Meio Ambiente], created to reinforce and prioritize the Federal Police's actions in combating environmental crime.

In addition to immediate actions, the Federal Police plays a central role in the AMAS Plan: Amazon, Security and Sovereignty [Plano AMAS: Amazônia, Segurança e Soberania], which aims to strengthen public security in the Legal Amazon. An essential part of this plan is the creation of the Amazon International Police Cooperation Center [Centro de Cooperação Policial Internacional da Amazônia/CCPI-Amazônia] coordinated by the Federal Police, to bring together liaison officers from several countries and representatives of the public security departments of the nine states of the Legal Amazon, in addition to the National Public Security Secretariat [Secretaria Nacional de Segurança Pública/SENASP] and the Federal Highway Police [Polícia Rodoviária Federal/PRF]. This center will provide for better international cooperation and for the coordination of government strategies to eliminate illegal deforestation.

The new Amazon Public Security System will operate under the guidance of the Amazon Strategic Public Security Program [Programa Estratégico de Segurança Pública da Amazônia/PESPAM] and the nine Amazon Integrated Tactical Public Security Plans [Planos Táticos Integrados de Segurança Pública da Amazônia/PTIs Amazônia], which were developed jointly by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security [Ministério da Justiça e Segurança Pública/MJSP] and the nine states of the Legal Amazon.