Going against the grain of agriculture, Brazilian environmentalists denounce licensing law to Europe

Defended by agribusiness and only awaiting final approval by the Chamber of Deputies, the General Environmental Licensing Law has been strongly contested by non-governmental organizations linked to the environment.

A group of more than one hundred Brazilian entities released an open letter in which they warn the international community about what they consider to be risks of regression if bill (PL) 2.159/202 is approved.

The document was recently presented to ambassadors from European Union countries, at a meeting in Brasilia, and also sent to the President of the European Council, António Costa, through the European Union Delegation in Brazil, during a visit to the country at the end of May.

The PL should directly benefit agribusiness by simplifying and reducing bureaucracy in rules for enterprises that use natural resources or may have an impact on the environment.

According to the text, agricultural cultivation and extensive livestock farming activities, as they are considered to have a lower impact, will no longer be subject to environmental licensing, with only authorization for the removal of native vegetation and the granting of rights to use water resources, among other specific legal requirements of this type, becoming mandatory.

“The approval of this bill will represent a serious setback, the consequences of which go beyond Brazilian territory and directly jeopardize the Amazon climate and hydrological system, one of the largest carbon sinks on the planet,” states an excerpt from the letter.

“With the approval of the General Licensing Law, indirect damage from deforestation resulting from large-scale projects in the Amazon may be exempt from precautionary or preventive measures, which will inexorably lead to the breaking of the point of no return for this biome, with global consequences,” the document continues.

The text also attacks the possibility of concluding the free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, the negotiation phase of which ended last December and now depends only on ratification, in 2025, by the Legislature of each Mercosur member country, by the European Parliament and by the Council of the European Union.

For NGOs, the Bill would violate principles established in the negotiation of the agreement, particularly in the so-called Sustainability Pillar, which requires respect for multilateral environmental commitments, the protection of biodiversity, the implementation of the Paris Agreement and observance of the precautionary principle.

The bill, which has been under consideration in Congress since 2004, is considered a step forward by representatives of agriculture and several other sectors as it unifies the environmental standards that are currently established by different federative entities, maintaining the country's commitment to preserving the environment.

“What we are doing now is licensing with more clarity, efficiency and justice, to unlock and stimulate our economy. We are ending the delays and ensuring environmental preservation,” said the project’s rapporteur, senator and former Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Tereza Cristina (PP-MS), vice-president of the Parliamentary Front for Agriculture (FPA), after the text was approved in the Senate.

Entities from the production sector defend the licensing law

On the other hand, dozens of entities from the productive sector also signed an open letter in defense of the approval of the General Environmental Licensing Law.

“With the new legal framework, Brazil will be able to make a leap in efficiency and predictability, without giving up environmental responsibility. This is exactly what cooperativism advocates: a balance between production, preservation and inclusion,” said the superintendent of the OCB System (Organization of Brazilian Cooperatives) and president of the Instituto Pensar Agropecuária (IPA), Tania Zanella.

“Today in Brazil we live in a tangle of more than 127 thousand regulations for licensing. This law brings together and simplifies everything in a single law, speeding up all these processes without losing the rigor of the law”, says the president of the Association of Soybean and Corn Producers of Mato Grosso (Aprosoja-MT), Lucas Costa Beber.

If sanctioned with the wording approved by the Senate last month , the new legal framework should also benefit agribusiness by unlocking important infrastructure works for the flow of production, such as highways and railways.

Infrastructure maintenance and improvement services and works in facilities or right-of-way, including already paved highways, are also now considered low-impact activities and therefore do not require new licensing procedures.

Among the changes to the text included by the Senate, where the PL was approved by 54 to 13, is also the creation of the Special Environmental License (LAE), which will have a special procedure, with no stages and priority in the analysis.

This type of license will be applied to projects previously listed as priorities by the Executive Branch, based on the opinion of the Government Council. The maximum analysis period for issuing the license will be one year.

Bill creates division in government

In the federal government, there is a division between supporters and critics of the proposed licensing law .

Agriculture and Livestock Minister Carlos Fávaro said he was in favor of approval. “When it becomes law, it will give Brazil a great capacity, especially to license infrastructure projects, which will guarantee Brazil sustainable growth. Because economic growth must be combined with growth in infrastructure investments,” he said.

In turn, the Ministry of the Environment (MMA), led by Marina Silva, published a note criticizing the changes foreseen in the PL. According to the ministry, the text “represents a significant disruption of the existing regulations on the subject and poses a risk to environmental and social security in the country”.

“In addition, it directly violates the Federal Constitution, which in article 225 guarantees Brazilian citizens the right to an ecologically balanced environment, with the requirement for a prior environmental impact study for the installation of any work or activity that could cause environmental damage,” says an excerpt from the statement.