Fertile ground for unsustainable development in Brazil

Abstract

News outlets across the world present a common assessment of the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil: it is exponentially rising, at a record rate1. In this context, it may be surprising to note that, the protection of the environment is fundamental to the constitutional framework of Brazil, with the provision that ‘everyone has the right to an ecologically balanced environment, common good of the people and essential to the healthy quality of life, imposing on the public sector and the community the duty to defend and preserve it for present and future generations’ (Art. 225, Federal Constitution of Brazil). In this provision, the environment, when balanced and thus preserved, enables the promotion of quality of life for present and future generations. This intergenerational dimension brings to light the notion of sustainable development. This concept integrates development – which, for the Brazilian economist and intellectual Celso Furtado, embraces a unique social project related to the non-depreciation of labour and of natural resources, not reducible to mere economic growth – and sustainability – which includes social, environmental, territorial, economic, cultural, ecological and political criteria2. In the constitutional instrument, the duty of environmental defence and preservation is imposed on the public sector and on the community. In relation to the public sector, this protection can be achieved by legislative methods, through infraconstitutional instruments; by the judiciary, though judicial demands; and by the executive – the President, their ministries and secretaries. Regarding the community, such protection can be collectively supported by social groups: for example, associations and trade unions. Environmental protection dismantled As is widely reported, the Brazilian executive has played a central role in the recent escalation of destruction of the Amazon. For the current government, elected in October 2018 and in power since January 2019, the objective of economic growth is regarded as irreconcilable with environmental preservation – particularly from the perspective of expanding the agricultural frontier and agribusiness – resulting in attacks on existing laws and restructuring of the Ministry of Environment. Consequently, the resolutions implemented since January 2019 pertinent to environmental policy demonstrate the relativisation of the preservation of the environment and, above all, of ecosystems such as the Amazon. In the government’s dismantling of the existing system of protection, certain measures have been critical: the abolition of the Secretariat of Climate Change and Forests in the Ministry of the Environment; the transfer of the Brazilian Forest Service from the Ministry of the Environment to the Ministry of the Agriculture; the blocking of funds for fire-fighting and enforcement, leading to a substantial drop in the number of operations and, consequently, fines imposed; the considerable reduction of CONAMA (National Environmental Council) advisors; the dismissal and precarious replacement of state overseers of IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources); and the abolition of the Amazon Fund Steering Committee. Statements made by the government seeking to discredit entities dedicated to environmental research, such as the INPE (National Institute for Space Research) monitoring system, or relativise the problem of the lack of environmental protection, are also taking their toll. In order to diminish and distract from legitimate environmental concerns, the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, along with his ministers, have stated that alarming data on deforestation are nothing more than fake news and sensationalism. Recently President Bolsonaro stated that deforestation and forest fires are ‘cultural’ and ‘will never end’3. Given this situation, it is not surprising that the estimated deforestation rate in the nine states constituting the Amazônia Legal (‘Brazil’s Legal Amazon’, the region of Brazil in the Amazon basin) increased nearly thirty percent from August 2018 to July 20194. This rate represents the deforestation of an area of 9.762 km2, equivalent to a little less than one third of the total area of Belgium. The conduct of the federal government demonstrates that, despite the escalation in the rate of deforestation, the Executive intends to neither end nor hinder this phenomenon. The logic underpinning the dismantling of Brazilian environmental policy has no concern for present or future generations. Unions’ defence of the rainforest According to the aforementioned constitutional provision, the duty of defence and preservation of the environment does not end with the public sector – although its action clearly...