Actions against sustainability: Dismantling of the environmental policies in Brazil

Abstract

Environmental laws are necessary to governance and a sustainable use of nature resource. Brazil federal environmental laws have been improved in the last 50 years, with significant advances in legal provisions and monitoring systems. However, the recent dismantling of legal environmental framework by the Bolsonaro administration has led to increase of human pressure on biodiversity and ecosystems. The purpose of this article is to present some environmental impacts in Brazil due to the dismantling of environmental laws. To address this, some examples we gathered and established a timeline of Brazilian environmental laws to allow a perspective of temporal dismantling. Among the environmental impacts related to the dismantling of environmental policies are the increase in deforestation in the Amazon, the release of pesticides, and the lack of actions to minimize the effects of oil spill. In conclusion, the current Brazilian federal govern is dismantling environment laws, and the consequent lack of environmental governance in the country, will result in severe negative impacts to the biodiversity and human well-being.