Environmental budget is insufficient, says Marina

In the midst of social, food and health insecurity experienced by Brazilian indigenous communities, especially by the Yanomami people in Roraima, exposed by the federal government last week, Minister of the Environment Marina Silva (Rede) says that the resources allocated to the area by the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) do not face the environmental challenges facing the country in 2023.

According to Marina, who was in Porto Alegre this Thursday (26th) to participate in the World Social Forum, “this is a very difficult year, because the budget was drawn up by the Bolsonaro government, which does not prioritize combating deforestation or mining. We managed to discuss an increase for the ministry in the order of R$ 500 million. This is insufficient for the size of the problem we have”, said Marina, in a press conference held at the Legislative Assembly.

Among the challenges posed by the minister in the environmental area is, of course, the preservation of life, health, culture and lands of indigenous peoples. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s (PT) visit to preservation areas for the Yanomami population in Roraima, last Saturday, exposed the serious situation of malnutrition and other diseases experienced by the community.

“What happens in Roraima with the Yanomami indigenous peoples happens in several indigenous populations. We also have the case of the Mundurukus, the Kayapós, and we don’t even have time to mention here all the situations they are experiencing”, reported the minister.

For Marina, this reality necessarily passes through the administration of Jair Bolsonaro, who already presented projects to extinguish the Yanomami community while he was a federal deputy. “Bolsonaro’s genocidal government left these communities completely abandoned, without public health policies, to protect their cultural integrity and even their physical integrity. The mining destroys their land, their natural food stocks. They no longer have access fish, as they had previously, no longer have access to their forest areas. What we saw was the cultural, economic and material destruction of a people who depend on having their territory protected to maintain their integrity”, criticized the environmentalist.

The attitudes of the Bolsonaro government, according to Marina, are at odds with a worldwide movement for environmental preservation and the fight against climate change. “The whole world is moving towards facing the climate crisis. Brazil is a country that has a strong contribution to make, because our greatest amount of CO2 comes from land use, from deforestation. More than 70% of Brazilian emissions are in function of deforestation,” she said.

Marina Silva participated in the first World Social Forum, held in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul in 2001. She was thrilled when she returned to the event and found old acquaintances again, with whom she was able to greet, hug and exchange quick words.

In Davos, during the World Economic Forum, he also had the opportunity to speak with the governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite (PSDB). A few meters from the Piratini Palace, he reported the encounter with the toucan from Rio Grande do Sul. “The governor brought up the issue of the Pampa biome, which is often not remembered as a biome. We have already resumed the Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation not only in the Amazon, but in all Brazilian biomes and there will also be one dedicated specifically to the Pampa biome “, also said Marina.