Hamilton Mourao (vice-president) and federal ministers (listed below) participated in a videoconference with foreign capital investors (also listed below) to discuss matters related to the Amazon forest. Mourao coordinates the Conselho da Amazonia (national council for the issue of Amazonia), and he proposes to recover the structure of environmental fiscalization. He says that today, the fiscalization agencies do not have the capacity to combat the illegal actions of deforestation. The current administration inherited the reduced structures of IBAMA (Institute for Environment) and ICMBio (Institute for Biodiversity), currently facing problems related to budget and hiring restrictions.
Brazilian entrepreneurs are worried about the negative image that the national environmental policy is gaining internationally. In the beginning of this week, 38 Brazilian entrepreneurs sent a letter to the vice-president, asking for measures to contain deforestation. According to INPE (Institute for Spacial Research), registration of fire incidents in the Amazon forest in june of 2020 reache the highest numbers since the year 2007.
Fund: The Amazon fund (Fund Amazonia) is managed by BNDES (National Bank for Social and Economic Development), and had contributions interrupted by Germany and Norway in 2019 after the scandals related to fires in the forest.
Programs: Ricardo Salles (minister of environment) points to projects which international investors can help Amazon preservation: Floresta+ (payment for environmental services) and Adote1Parque (partnership between the 132 conservation units in Brazil).
Follow up: Another meeting with Brazilian entrepreneurs is expected for Friday (July 10), and Ricardo Salles informed that next week a new decree will be ready for presidential signature, which will suspend authorization of use of fire in the Amazon forest and Pantanal. Other biomes will remain with exceptions currently authorized in legislation.
List of federal ministers who participated in the videoconference with international investors:
- Walter Souza Braga Neto (Casa Civil)
- Tereza Cristina (Agriculture)
- Ricardo Salles (Environment)
- Ernesto Araujo (External Relations)
- Fabio Faria (Communications)
- Roberto Campos Neto (Central Bank)
List of capital investment groups who participated in the videoconference with Brazilian government representatives:
- Legal and General Investment Management (United Kingdom)
- Nordea Asset Management (Sweden)
- SEB Investment Management (Sweden)
- Storebrand Asset Management (Norway)
- KLP (Norway)
- Robeco (Netherlands)
- AP2 Second Swedish National Pension Fund (Sweden)
- Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management (Japan)
Limitations of this article: all information in this briefing was gathered through G1 news portal, although I focused in compiling information of a technical nature. My intention is to provide a basic framework for policy analysis on the issue, but more research needs to be done. Meanwhile, feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
References
Conselho da Amazonia [Online] Available at: https://www.gov.br/planalto/pt-br/conheca-a-vice-presidencia/conselho-da-amazonia. Published on: April 23 2020. Access on: July 09 2020. Planalto. Presidency. Vice-presidency.
A frente do Conselho da Amazonia, Mourao tera como foco ‘proteger, preservar e desenvolver’ a regiao. [Online] Available at: https://g1.globo.com/politica/blog/valdo-cruz/post/2020/02/11/a-frente-do-conselho-da-amazonia-mourao-tera-como-foco-proteger-preservar-e-desenvolver-a-regiao.ghtml. Published on: February 11 2020. Access on: July 09 2020. G1 Politica, Blog do Valdo Cruz.
Cobrado por empresarios, Mourao diz que agira para melhorar political ambiental. [Online] Available at: https://g1.globo.com/politica/blog/valdo-cruz/post/2020/07/07/empresarios-enviam-carta-a-mourao-pedindo-combate-ao-desmatamento-e-ele-diz-que-agira-para-melhorar-politica-ambiental.ghtml. Published on: July 07 2020. Access on: July 09 2020. G1 Politica, Blog do Valdo Cruz.
Mourao e ministros fazem videoconferenca com investidores estrangeiros para falar da Amazonia. [Online] Available at: https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2020/07/09/mourao-e-ministros-fazem-videoconferencia-com-investidores-estrangeiros-para-falar-de-amazonia.ghtml. Access on: July 09 2020. G1 Politica, por Guilherme Mazui.
Investidores querem ver resultado, e governo busca reduzir desmatamento, diz Mourao. [Online] Available at: https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2020/07/09/investidores-querem-ver-resultado-e-governo-busca-reduzir-desmatamento-diz-mourao.ghtml. Access on: July 09 2020. G1 Politica, por Guilherme Mazui e Pedro Henrique Gomes.
Instituto aponta aumento de 54% em alertas de desmatamento na Amazonia nos ultimos dez meses. [Online] Available at: https://g1.globo.com/natureza/noticia/2020/06/16/instituto-aponta-aumento-de-54percent-em-alertas-de-desmatamento-na-amazonia-nos-ultimos-dez-meses.ghtml. Published on: June 16 2020. Access on: July 09 2020. G1 Natureza.
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