Conama: STF overturns decree that reduced civil society – 05/22/2023 – Environment

The STF (Federal Supreme Court) ruled on Friday (19) that the decree of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) that changed the composition of Conama (National Council for the Environment) is unconstitutional. The court followed the vote of the president of the court, Minister Rosa Weber, who highlighted the need to give civil society real power to influence environmental policies.

The decision ends the debate in the Supreme Court on Decree 9.806/2019, by Bolsonaro and his Minister of the Environment at the time, now federal deputy Ricardo Salles (PL), which reduced the number of members entitled to vote from 96 to 23.

The document was also questioned in 2019 in the allegation of non-compliance with a fundamental precept (ADPF) 623, judged last Friday, due to the reduction of civil society participation.

The STF decision, with a majority formed last Thursday (18), should support discussions at Conama to change the regiment and composition. In the first meeting under the Lula government, and with Minister Marina Silva signaling in favor of parity, the body approved the creation of two advisory groups to assess the issues.

In addition to being the main advisory body of the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, Conama regulates parameters such as air quality and environmental licensing rules. In the vote, minister Rosa Weber points out that the council is a forum for creating environmental policies with effects for the whole of society.

Sanctioned in February of this year, a decree by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) increased the composition to 114 members and created the hitherto unprecedented technical chamber dedicated to climate change issues.

The distribution between segments, however, has not changed. Today, the council is made up of 44 representatives from the federal government, 27 from states and the Federal District, 8 from municipalities, 22 from workers’ and civil society organizations, 8 from business entities and 4 invited guests, divided between the Federal and State Public Ministry, the Chamber and Senate.

Weber’s vote says that this distribution removes from society the weight in decisions about the environment. “This picture demonstrates that representatives of civil society do not have an effective capacity to influence decision-making, being limited to the isolated position of a minority regarding the transmission of their interests in the composition of the collective will.”

The minister had already suspended Bolsonaro’s decree in 2021. The trial began that year, but stopped after a request for a view from Minister Nunes Marques.

In the vote, Weber states that the problem faced by the STF in the case deals with popular participation in decisions that involve the fundamental right to the environment and its protection.

“The substantial restriction of the space for representation and participation of civil society in decisions about environmental policies implies, in equal measure, the reduction in the scope of normative protection of the right to an ecologically balanced environment.”

For Júlia Neiva, director of the NGO Conectas, the decision recovers Conama as a forum for real debates and goes beyond the environmental issue.

“This decision sends a message to the State and to Brazilian society that we need social participation and control, public scrutiny for democracy to work. It is a very important fact to demand social participation as something fundamental.”

Rafael Giovanelli, specialist in public policies at WWF-Brasil, points out that the arguments are valid for the internal debate that the council will hold in the coming months. “It will certainly contribute to the advisory group’s assessment of the current composition of the council.”

At its first meeting, last Wednesday (17), Conama also approved an urgent request to overturn Bolsonaro’s rule that made it difficult for civil society organizations to register for the council. The topic should be voted on at the next meeting, scheduled for August.

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}

The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.