Meetings about the merger of environmental agencies are dominated by armed forces personnel

The meetings from a work group created by the Ministry of the Environment about the merger of Ibama and ICMBio are being conducted behind closed doors almost exclusively by military personnel and members of São Paulo state Military Police. Ibama and ICMbio are the country’s main environmental agencies, responsible for environmental licensing, overseeing and conservation. Minister Ricardo Salles excluded the civil society from the meetings.

In September, the National Association of Environmental Public Servants (Ascema Nacional) denounced the militarization of key positions in the ministry, denouncing in a dossier “the replacement of career servants by military personnel or military police (inexperienced but obedient),” which would show “the intentionality of weakening the environmental area in the current administration,” says the text.