Removing CAR from the Environment will harm rural producers – 05/24/2023 – Environment

The possible transfer of management of the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) from the Ministry of the Environment to the Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services, proposed by the report by deputy Isnaldo Bulhões (MDB-AL) on provisional measure 1154/23 and approved in commission this Wednesday (24), has motivated criticism not only among environmentalists but also in the agribusiness sector.

“Such a proposal will result in the paralysis of the implementation of the Forest Code, negatively impacting Brazilian rural producers”, says João Adrien, a rural producer who was a special advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture during the administration of Jair Bolsonaro, when he also held the post of director of regularization of the Brazilian Forestry Service, then transferred to Agriculture. Currently, Adrien is vice-president of the Brazilian Rural Society.

“The Ministry of Management and Innovation has no legal competence, nor qualified technical capacity to implement the Forest Code”, he adds.

This Wednesday (24th), Adrien sent a technical note to the Agricultural Parliamentary Front explaining, in four points, the implications of transferring CAR attribution, which is the government’s main instrument to control deforestation in rural properties and environmentally regularize properties. .
He makes a reservation that the position of the note is personal and does not necessarily represent the Brazilian Rural Society.

“With no qualified technical team that understands the environmental legislation, there will be no development of the necessary modules for the implementation of the Forest Code, nor to advance in the implementation of the dynamized analysis module of the CAR and the system of the PRA (Environmental Regularization Program) in the states , actions of great interest to rural producers”, says the first point of the note, warning about the lack of technical competence of the Management portfolio.

The second alert is about the need for integration of the states, which are the implementers of the tool.

“There will be a withdrawal from the use of the federal system by the states and the creation of state systems, which will result in a spraying of different systems, leading to greater legal uncertainty for producers, and in each state there will be a rule and a differentiated system”, says the note.

The third point raised by the ruralist is the delay in implementing public policy. He cites as an example the period of his experience at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa), which, during the administration of Jair Bolsonaro, transferred the responsibility of the CAR for the Environment to the Agriculture portfolio.

“[A transferência] resulted in a delay of at least 12 months in the advancement of new modules and support to the states”, says Adrien.

“Such delay causes damage to rural producers, who by joining the PRA will have the right to consolidate their areas as well as reversal of environmental fines”, he argues, adding that progress in legislation is fundamental for the transparency of environmental regularity and also for the adaptation to new international laws on trade and deforestation.

As an alternative, the technical note suggests the creation of a CAR management committee that includes ministries such as the Environment, Agriculture and Agrarian Development, in addition to state and municipal bodies.

“In this case, the Brazilian Forest Service continues to be responsible for implementing the Forest Code and managing the CAR, at the federal level, however, via the management committee, the various bodies will be able to express their demands for shared management.”

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