Bolsonaro promotes “blackout” in environmental fines and inspections

During the first months of Jair Bolsonaro’s government, the number of fines imposed by the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Resources (Ibama) was the lowest in eleven years. Fines for deforestation in the Amazon, for example, fell 34%. The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) did not carry out any environmental inspection and control operation in April.

According to the Climate Observatory, the decline is partly explained by the lack of command in the institutions. At the beginning of the year, the Minister of the Environment dismissed 21 Ibama regional superintendents that have yet to be replaced. ICMBio’s President Adalberto Eberhardt was fired after public servants of the Lagoa do Peixe National Park were threatened by Salles.

On Wednesday (22), the deputy attorney general of the Federal Court of Auditors requested the opening of an investigation on “the inefficiency of control” by public environmental agencies. The request, based on a document signed by environmental NGOs, points to a series of government initiatives that “want to destroy environmental policy”.