Gov’t plan includes goals to reduce deforestation in Amazon

The Brazilian government on Wednesday (Apr. 14) published the Amazon Plan 2021/2022, establishing guidelines for monitoring efforts and the fight against illegal deforestation, wildfire, and other environmental and property-related crimes in the Legal Amazon region—which encompasses the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, and a portion of Maranhão.

The initiative describes measures that should be taken to replace Operation Brazil Green, which has deployed agents of the Armed Forces since 2019 in preventive and repressive efforts against environmental offenses, and will be brought to an end on April 30. Just as Operation Brazil Green, the Amazon Plan will be spearheaded by the National Legal Amazon Council, chaired by Brazil’s vice-President Hamilton Mourão.

By means of coordinated and integrated efforts by ministries and regulating agencies, the Amazon Plan 2021/2022 includes among its goals to reduce, by 2022, the number of fires and instances of illegal deforestation to the historic average of 2016–2020(8.7 thousand km²), as gauged by the satellite of the Project for the Satellite Monitoring of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (Prodes), of the National Institute of Space Studies (INPE).

In addition to stepping up inspection efforts and strengthening environmental agencies, the plan aims to prioritize areas with higher environmental crime rates and to offer social and economic alternatives to the local population under the sustainable development principle.

In a publication on social media, Climate Observatory criticized the goals unveiled in the Amazon Plan. According to the entity, the deforested area set as the government’s target will continue being larger than it was under previous administrations.

The Amazon Plan 2021/2022 was published a week before the Leaders’ Summit on Climate, organized by US President Joe Biden, who invited 30 heads of state and government, including President Jair Bolsonaro. The meeting is slated to be held online on April 22. In November, the 26th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations on Climate Change (COP26) should be held in Glasgow, Scotland.