Ibama server shutdown affects environmental licensing

The partial strike of employees in the federal government’s environmental area is affecting everything from environmental inspection to the approval of environmental licensing and the import of vehicles. Since October 2023, employees of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) have started to prioritize internal work, without carrying out external activities, also called “security work”. field”.

In January 2024, the strike – also called “standard operation” – began with calls for a review of existing salary levels and changes to basic pay and performance and qualification bonuses. The federal government offered a 9% adjustment in two installments for 2025 and 2026, but employees remain dissatisfied with the counter-proposal.

With the suspension of field activities by inspection agents from the Chico Mendes Institute, fines for environmental crimes committed in conservation units fell by 57.6%. In the Amazon, the reduction was even more significant: 83.7% – considering only the month of March, the reduction has already reached 92% in the region, according to data released by the National Association of Environmental Specialist Career Servers Environment (Ascema Nacional).

According to Ascema Nacional, in the same period last year, inspectors issued 471 infraction notices in the Amazon. In 2024, the accumulated amount is 77 fines. For comparison purposes, this number is lower than the entire month of January 2023.

According to the president of the National Association of Environmental Specialist Career Servers (Ascema Nacional), Cleberson Zavaski, in addition to the drop in the number of infractions recorded since the beginning of the “standard operation”, several other areas are affected. Ibama employees are responsible, for example, for environmental licensing.

Data released by the association shows that in January 2023, the body issued a total of 54 environmental licenses. In January of this year, the number reduced to just 19, indicating a 64.8% drop in the issuance of licenses. “Ascema Nacional also highlights that the licenses and authorizations granted in January 2024 are analyzes completed by civil servants in 2023 and were just awaiting final approval in the hierarchical chain. This suggests that the drop observed in January 2024 tends to be even more pronounced in subsequent months”, says the note released by the association.

PAC works and vehicle imports are affected

Still with regard to environmental licensing, the work stoppage impacts the progress of the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) works announced by the Lula government. According to Zavaski, there are around three thousand works that need to be analyzed by Ibama servers. With the shutdown, work that goes beyond bureaucratic analyzes is not progressing.

“In addition to the bureaucratic work, it is necessary to carry out inspections, public hearings and evaluation at the construction site”, explained the president of the civil servants association.

Other sectors, such as the import and export of various products, are also being affected. When importing vehicles, for example, Ibama employees work to assess compliance with environmental rules and parameters.

“Both when importing combustion and electric vehicles, we check whether the production parameters of the countries of origin adapt to our parameters”, added Zavaski.