Bolsonaro’s ally, congresswoman Carla Zambelli, takes over environment congressional committee

Aligned with Ricardo Salles’ anti-environmental policy, Bolsonarist congresswoman Carla Zambelli (PSL) was elected president of the House Environment and Sustainable Development Congressional Committee. Upon taking office, Zambelli included land title regularization among her priorities and declared she will work together with the Agriculture, Livestock, Supply and Rural Development Commission, led by Aline Sleutjes (PSL-PR), also an ally of the government and member of the Agriculture and Livestock Parliamentary Caucus.

Responsible for conducting bills related to the environment, Carla Zambelli said that the presidency of the commission will be essential to “reverse the narrative” that is critical of Bolsonaro administration’s environmental policy, “built by the left and by the opposition” and that “is not in accordance with the facts,” she told the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo. Questioned by the newspaper about the record deforestation of the Amazon registered in 2020, one of the country’s greatest concerns in the environmental agenda today, Zambelli reaffirmed her support for Bolsonaro: “I don’t think that any increase in deforestation or burning is the government’s fault. It was a circumstance. I think the government acted in the best possible way”, she said. In the interview, the congresswoman also took the opportunity to criticize the actions of NGOs, constant targets of unfounded accusations from the government.

The congresswoman attitudes are concernings environmentalists, who point to the advancement of Salles’ agenda in the Congress with the hastening of projects that weaken environmental protection regulations and make rules more flexible, such as the “Land grabbing Bill” (Bill no. 2.633/20). Zambelli’s substitute is the congressman Coronel Chrisóstomo (PSL-RO), pointed out in a BBC report on the sale of protected Amazon lands as an ally of land grabbers working in the region.