Notícias
CLIMATE CHANGE
Federal and state governments launch integrated strategy to combat and prevent fires
Federal Government calls for permanent federative cooperation in tackling wildfires - Credit: Henrique Raynal / CC
Brazil’s Federal Government, states and municipalities will enhance coordination of efforts to combat wildfires and droughts nationwide, including ongoing emergency operations and future preventive measures. On Thursday, September 19, the federal officials met with governors and representatives from the Amazon, Cerrado, and Pantanal regions to discuss expediting wildfire suppression efforts nationally. Some states have already formalized their requests, but the majority is expected to submit them over the next few days.
Our aim is providing greater capillarity through the states and consortia, using municipal support, training municipal guards for these rescues. The sooner you take action, the smaller the damages”
Brazil’s Chief of Staff Rui Costa
In addition to the BRL 514 million in extra credit already published in the Federal Official Gazette to combat fires in the Amazon, the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) will provide an additional BRL 400 million to strengthen containment efforts. This funding, set to be released in the coming days, will support the Fire Departments of the Legal Amazon states in purchasing equipment, materials, and vehicles. "Additional credits will be made available as governors submit their requests and finalize their needs," said Brazil’s Chief of Staff, Rui Costa.
According to the minister, the Federal Government intends reorganize regional rescue and firefighting support structures for faster action. “Our aim is to provide greater capillarity through the states and consortia, using municipal support, training municipal guards for these rescues. The sooner you take action, the less damage you have, so we want to use municipal units too, communities, so that they can be trained with government support and funding,” he explained.
The regions will be equipped with aircraft, helicopters, materials, equipment and a regional Civil Defense force that would provide faster and more effective assistance, at lower cost. “Today, we end up adapting a lot of equipment from the national security forces, from the Armed Forces, which isn't necessarily the right equipment for this type of purpose; it ends up being very large, with much higher operating costs and less mobility, because it is designed for war, not rescue,” said Rui Costa.
WORKING TOGETHER — The Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, spoke in favor of working together and said that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's guidance is to serve the population. “We're working together. The crisis is serious and difficult to handle. Actions are being fine-tuned all the time, and we want to work in an integrated way. President Lula has told us that our job is to serve the population, because this is harming health, our economy, strategic interests in Brazil and outside Brazil — and it is destroying the environment in various biomes,” she said.
WORK PLANS — The Minister for National Integration and Regional Development, Waldez Góes, explained the recognition of calamity and emergency situations in states and municipalities. “As far as the drought is concerned, for the Midwest and Amazon region, 80 municipalities are facing emergency situations that are recognized by the Federal Government; 20 work plans have already been approved and another 20 under analysis. For these, BRL 28 million have already been approved. As for the fires, 141 municipalities are facing a recognized emergency situation, five work plans approved and one under analysis, which represents BRL 54.3 million in approved resources,” he said.
RECOGNITION — The Federal Government representatives listened to all the governors' suggestions, pleas and reports on the situation faced by each region. The states’ leaders offered their collaboration, and thanked the Federal Government for its support in dealing with the situation, as well as for its commitment to promoting a joint solution to the issue.
We're working together. The crisis is serious and difficult to deal with. Actions are being adjusted all the time, and what we want is to work in an integrated way. President Lula has told us that our job is to serve the population, because it is harming our health, our economy and destroying the environment in various biomes"
Marina Silva, minister for the Environment and Climate Change
CRIMINAL FIRES — During the meeting, the governors’ unanimous opinion is that the fires are criminal. In the words of Minister Rui Costa, “the basic reason is the prolonged drought, but clearly, there are a number of criminal fires, and arrests have already been made — and therefore these fires will be investigated from a criminal perspective.”
“Many governors have complained about the way in which the people arrested were released immediately on payment of derisory sums after having set fires in extensive areas, and all of them are released immediately,” said the minister, stating that, given the extent and occurrence of simultaneous fires in different areas, the criminal nature of the actions is clear. Rui Costa also said that the Federal Police [Polícia Federal] are investigating the cases.
According to the Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, every integrated action has brought positive impacts. “But we all have to recognize, above all because of the deepening drought situation and also because of criminal actions, that we all have a great consensus here that there are criminal actions related to the fire situation today, whether orchestrated or not, whether combined or not, whether in more articulated or disjointed ways, but which have had an impact on everyone's territory,” he stressed, pointing out that each governor and mayor is fighting against criminal actions. “We can do more in terms of preparation, investment, cooperation and even more forceful actions about what we are doing,” he assured.
IMAGES — During the meeting, the governors mentioned a request for support to hire satellites or use existing contracts to provide online images that measure up to 3 m² so that state governments can have more accurate information. “So we are going to use these resources, for example, to set up thermal monitoring, camera monitoring, to identify hotspots, and camera monitoring to identify any criminals who access the road. In the future, this will make it possible to investigate and hold these people accountable,” said Rui Costa.
HARDER PENALTIES — In Marina's opinion, from a legislative point of view, the penalty for those who commit this type of crime needs to be toughened. The minister criticized the current penalties and considers them inadequate to effectively combat fires. “This must be intensified by changing the law. So we have several agendas. One is emergency measures; another is to work on emergency measures in a way that is more compatible with climate change; and the other are preventive measures,” she said.
MATO GROSSO DO SUL — Mato Grosso do Sul Governor Eduardo Riedel said that the realities of each state were described. He highlighted that, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, the local government and the Federal Government have been investing for more than four months to combat the effects of the drought. “We've certainly prevented fires in more than a million and a half hectares in the Pantanal,” he calculated. The governor said that the BRL 514 million announced by President Lula this week “immediately follows up on a series of expenses that include per diems, aircraft fuel, demands from the states in relation to civil defense.” Riedel said that an advance in the structuring of prevention will require not only work by the federal government, but also by the states, with the submission of proposals for this to happen. “So that we can raise the level of combat from next year and of prevention, which is the main thing,” he said, pointing out that the federal government has also been present in the state with visits from President Lula and ministers such as Marina Silva and Rui Costa.
AMAZONAS — According to the governor of Amazonas, Wilson Lima, the joint effort will expand humanitarian aid and make it possible to dredge the region's rivers. “In the state of Amazonas, for example, we have humanitarian problems that, at the moment, some communities are isolated and people are having difficulty accessing drinking water and food. Large ships are no longer arriving in the city of Manaus with supplies for the Free Trade Zone, and also for commerce. We need to work together,” he said.
PARÁ — The state of Pará, for its part, declared an environmental emergency on Wednesday, September 18, and has already presented a work plan so that it can increase the presence of firefighters in the region and the number of people fighting the fires. “The government has signaled that this provisional measure of BRL 514 million is just the first. As far as this work plan is concerned, Pará is requesting BRL 146 million to combat the fires, but also to support the areas that are suffering from isolation due to the reduction in river levels. We are talking about food support, with food baskets, with the supply of gallons of water, also support for production that is compromised, associating production with a request to include the Amazon in the productive guarantee strategy, since, inevitably, we will have compromised production and, consequently, family farming will not be able to meet its bank commitments due to the reduction in expected income,” said Governor Helder Barbalho.
ATTENDANCE — The following governors attended the meeting: Helder Barbalho (Pará); Ronaldo Caiado (Goiás); Mauro Mendes (Mato Grosso); Wilson Lima (Amazonas); Gladson Cameli (Acre); Ibaneis Rocha (Distrito Federal); Eduardo Riedel (Mato Grosso do Sul); Wanderlei Barbosa (Tocantins); and Antonio Denarium (Roraima). The meeting also included the vice-governors of Rondônia, Sérgio Gonçalves da Silva, and Amapá, Antônio Pinheiro Teles Júnior. The following ministers took part in the meeting on behalf of the Federal Government: Alexandre Padilha (Secretariat of Institutional Affairs/Secretaria de Assuntos Institucionais); Ricardo Lewandowski (Justice and Public Security/Justiça e Segurança Pública); and Simone Tebet (Planning and Budget/Planejamento, Orçamento e Gestão), as well as representatives from various agencies such as the Federal Police; the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources [Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis/Ibama]; the Federal Highway Police [Polícia Rodoviária Federal]; the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation [Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade/ICMBio]; the National Civil Defense [Defesa Civil Nacional], among others.