Government resumes plan to combat deforestation in the Amazon

A new plan to combat deforestation was launched this Monday (5th) by the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva. The folder chose World Environment Day to launch the 5th phase of the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon (PPCDam). The project was created in 2004, in Lula’s first term, and ended in 2019, in the first year of the Bolsonaro government.

The initiative will count on the collaboration of 17 other departments and bodies that, coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment, will organize themselves to achieve 150 goals, divided into four axes, as part of the goal of zeroing deforestation in the Amazon by 2030.

_{Deforested area – illustrative photo (Reproduction/Pexels)}

Among the proposed new measures is the embargo of half of the illegally deforested area, within conservation units identified by the Prodes system (Amazon Deforestation Calculation Program), being a form of administrative sanction that prohibits activities in the affected areas.

The resumption of the PPCDam takes place in a situation seen by the government’s interlocutors as a demonstration of the prestige that Marina Silva maintains in the political configuration established by President Lula, who favors environmental agendas, even in the midst of the offensive by the ruralist group against points on the agenda.

Among them is the approval by the deputies of the timeframe for indigenous lands – which will make demarcations more difficult – and the approval, by the senate, of the provisional measure that reorganizes the Ministry of the Environment and removes the National Water Agency (ANA) from Marina’s control. , the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) and management and information systems.

Main highlights of each axis:

Axis 1 – Sustainable productive activities:

– Elaborate the National Bioeconomy Plan.
– Create official seals and marks for the certification of bioeconomy products in the Amazon.
– Bring energy to 120,000 units to stimulate projects.

Axis 2 – Environmental monitoring and control:

– Embargo 50% of the illegally deforested area identified.
– Cancel 100% of irregular records in the Rural Environmental Registry overlapping federal lands.
– Increase the number of strategic bases, federal police stations and Federal Police and Armed Forces aircraft in the Amazon.
– Hire 1,600 environmental analysts to work in the fight against deforestation.
– Produce daily deforestation alerts.

Axis 3 – Territorial and land planning:

– Create 3 million hectares of conservation units.
– Incorporate 100% of the vacant lands into the Union (land that is public, but still has no destination).
– Demarcate 230,000 kilometers of border land along rivers.

Axis 4 – Normative and economic instruments

– Offer lower interest rates and other incentives for sustainable production in the Safra Plan.

– Regulate the carbon market in Brazil.

Featured photo: Marina Silva and Lula in January 2023 – Ton Molina/FotoArena – Reproduction/Estadão