STF determines plan for the Amazon and Pantanal – 03/14/2024 – Environment

The STF (Supreme Federal Court) assessed, by majority vote, that it was unnecessary to declare an “unconstitutional state of affairs” in the country’s environmental policy, this Thursday (14).

The institute would allow the Judiciary to stipulate and monitor measures for other Powers in relation to the topic. Minister Cármen Lúcia, rapporteur of the case, voted in favor, but was defeated by 8 votes to 3.

The actions analyzed are part of the Supreme Court’s so-called environmental agenda, seen as a reaction to what experts point out as a dismantling of public policies under the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) administration, especially those related to deforestation in the Amazon.

The ministers, however, considered that the measure is no longer necessary, recognizing that there is a year-long process of reconstitutionalization, which has not yet been completed, in terms of protecting the environment and the Amazon biome.

On the other hand, the ministers decided, unanimously, that a government plan must be drawn up to preserve the Amazon and Pantanal biomes.

They also determined the opening of extraordinary credit in the 2024 financial year to ensure the continuity of government actions, with notification to the National Congress and prohibition of contingencies. This suggestion was taken by minister Flávio Dino.

They also spoke out for measures to be taken, within the scope of the PPCDAm (Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon), to reduce deforestation in the Legal Amazon to the rate of 3,925 km annually by 2027.

The actions began to be judged in April 2022. The process was suspended following a request from minister André Mendonça, who voted in February this year.

Ministers Edson Fachin and Luiz Fux followed Cármen’s vision. André Mendonça, Cristiano Zanin, Alexandre de Moraes, Dias Toffoli, Kassio Nunes Marques, Gilmar Mendes, Flávio Dino and Luís Roberto Barroso disagreed.

During the trial, ministers criticized the Bolsonaro government and praised the Lula government on the issue.

Minister Alexandre de Moraes, for example, said that Minister Marina Silva (Environment) is “one of the people with the greatest international credibility in defending the environment”.

“I understand that the situation has not yet been resolved, but I could not say that the current situation is an ‘unconstitutional state of affairs’,” said Moraes.

On the other hand, he stated that “there was a governmental inflection, in order to stop the ‘herd'”. The expression was a reference to the statement by former Environment Minister Ricardo Salles, used to defend the weakening of environmental policies during the Bolsonaro administration.

The minister also made an allusion to the phrase by Paulo Guedes (Economy) that Brazil is an environmental “small transgressor” and that, “every now and then, there is a forest that burns here and there”.

The statement had already been recalled by minister Cármen Lúcia in her 2022 vote. At the time, she said that the transgression had been confessed.

Under the Lula government, she changed part of the vote, in which she had recognized the massive violation of fundamental rights regarding the illegal deforestation of the Amazon forest.

As the trial continued on the 29th, she said that, with the change in federal management, a process of resuming the exercise of constitutional protection of the environment is underway.

The president of the court said that there was an “unconstitutional state of affairs, with no prospect of overcoming it”, when Cármen cast his vote, in 2022. But that there was “a very clear change of vision, in the last year, in relation to the environmental issue “.

“There is a reconstitutionalization process that is still incomplete, but that would not justify declaring things unconstitutional,” said Barroso.

He added that the measure could have a negative impact on the recognition of Brazil’s importance on the issue. The minister stated that the country must prepare to assume a global leadership role in environmental matters, as it does not have the conditions in industrial or technological matters.

“We have clean energy, hydraulics, abundant renewable sources, solar, wind and biomass, especially sugar cane, and we have the Amazon, the largest provider of environmental services on the planet, contributing to the water cycle”, he stated.

Kássio Nunes added that the measure could give a negative image that the Brazilian State is unable to manage the wealth of the Amazon.