Conama undoes rules from the time of Salles – 08/18/2023 – Environment

Changes made at Conama (National Council for the Environment) under the management of Ricardo Salles (PL-SP), then Minister of the Environment of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) —marked by the phrase “going past the cattle”—, were overturned this week. The body says it seeks to provide more transparency and participation of society in the decision-making process.

The search for a restructuring of Conama already took the first steps at the beginning of the Lula (PT) government. In February, the current president published a decree that increased the number of members on the council to 114.

In 2019, Bolsonaro had pruned the organ. The seats went from 96 to 23, of which only four were for civil entities, which concentrated power in the Executive.

In May of this year, the STF (Federal Supreme Court) ruled that Bolsonaro’s decree in question was unconstitutional. The rapporteur for the case, Minister Rosa Weber, who had already suspended the effectiveness of the decree in a preliminary decision, pointed out, in her vote, the threat to the right of civil society to participate in environmental policies.

Although such a reduction in seats was one of the main highlights, the Bolsonaro government also made other relevant changes in the functioning of Conama. And these were the changes attacked by the council at the meeting that took place last Wednesday (16).

The amendment to the already mentioned Conama internal regulations and modifications to the registration process of environmental entities were approved.

The regiment, in general terms, returned to the state prior to the Bolsonaro/Salles period, but with some innovations.

Among them are the technical chambers: now there are five in place of the two (Biodiversity, Protected Areas, Forests and Environmental Education Chamber; and Environmental Quality and Control and Territorial Management Chamber) that existed under Bolsonaro. In the regiment before Bolsonaro, there were seven, in addition to a Special Appeals Chamber.

The new composition of chambers will follow the following format: Biodiversity, Protected Areas, Forests, Environmental Education and Animal Welfare; Environmental Control and Territorial Management; Environmental Quality; Climate Justice; and Legal Affairs.

Previously, the concentration of issues in a few chambers often hindered the evolution of discussions, according to Rafael Giovanelli, specialist in public policies at WWF-Brazil.

Giovanelli cites the Chamber of Legal Affairs as an example of the changes made. According to the specialist, in the Bolsonaro government, without this sphere, legal analyzes ended up being restricted to legal advice provided by the Federal Executive.

From now on, there will be a collegiate analysis of the legal aspects of the resolutions dealt with in the council. “There is much more control between the parties to make an analysis as impartial as possible,” he says.

There is also concern, in the new regulation, for the compatibility of the council’s resolutions with the international agreements to which Brazil is a signatory.

Another difference is the return of the possibility of carrying out a public consultation, something that had been dropped in the previous period. The new regulation points out that the contributions from the consultation must be systematized within 30 days, after which such documentation will be sent to the technical chamber for deliberation.

According to Giovanelli, the new form of public consultation should not be merely a formality. “It should be considered”, says the expert. “To try to make the participatory process more effective.”

Giovanelli says that the regiment must continue to be analyzed and revised until March 2024, in search of improvements.

Another change concerns the lottery, implemented by the Bolsonaro administration, of social organizations to be members of Conama. The previous government had ended the elections to choose civil society representatives in the body. Instead, they began drawing four vacancies with one-year terms (before that, they were two years).

In addition, there was a need for annual re-registration by organizations.

The newly approved regiment reestablishes the election — a point that was already included in Lula’s decree. The need for annual re-registration (instituted already under the management of Joaquim Leite in the Environment portfolio, in December 2021) was also overturned, which, according to Giovanelli, was costly especially for smaller organizations.

Even with the changes, the issue of parity remains open. Lula’s recent decree allocated 22 seats to civil society, which, despite the gross increase, still leaves the federal government with proportionally greater power in the council. There is an advisory group that is discussing the point and, soon, there may be a new proposal.

To enter into force, the regiment still needs to be published in the Federal Official Gazette.

Atlantic forest

Until the last Conama meeting, the state of Goiás was the only one without a resolution from the council to define the successional stages of the Atlantic Forest —a concept that encompasses primary vegetation, that which has never been deforested, and secondary, where deforestation has already taken place, but is recovery taking place.

The lack of this definition for Goiás, made this Wednesday, could make it difficult to apply the Atlantic Forest Law in the state. According to the 2006 law, Conama has the duty to define criteria for vegetation types and regeneration phases.