Environmental Policy in the Bolsonaro Government: The Response of Environmentalists in the Legislative Arena

Abstract

This article analyzes the response of Brazil's National Congress to the Bolsonaro government's actions in respect of environmental policy, with an emphasis on the role of the active members of the Congressional Environmental Coalition and the civil society organizations that support it. Congress's three spheres of activity encompass lawmaking, legislative oversight and the budget. The main decision-making processes related to these fields of activity are highlighted and analyzed using a qualitative approach. In general, there is evidence of an appropriate response by environmentalists, the results of which should not be underestimated, but which should have greater reach in view of the gravity of the destruction of environmental protection policy that has taken and continues to take place. The Bolsonaro government has presided over an attempted evisceration of environmental policies by changing nonstatutory rules and cutting budgets, but Congress has put the brakes on nationally applicable laws and strengthened Congressional oversight.

Climate institutions in Brazil: three decades of building and dismantling climate capacity

“…Associational life is rich and varied in Brazil, with many civil society and economic actors politically engaged, through both formal and informal routes (e.g., Hochstetler and Keck 2007, Mayka 2019, Araújo 2020. Some of the most important forms of climate governance in Brazil are organized by civil society organizations, on their own or with industry organizations, especially in the agricultural and forestry sectors (Thaler et al 2019).…”

“…At the same time, President Rousseff and her vice president and successor Michel Temer struggled to control the National Congress, dominated after 2011 by ruralists and their allies, albeit with some pushback from an environmental caucus (Araújo 2020). The ruralist caucus pushed through a revised Forest Code in 2012 that weakened controls on deforestation (Mueller 2018).…”

“…13 His administration immediately began a systematic assault on climate and environmental institutions on entering office, doing so mostly through decrees because of residual environmental power in the legislature (Araújo 2020, p. 4). Bolsonaro had proposed making the Ministry of Environment a branch of the Ministry of Agriculture before taking office, a breath-taking proposal to reduce climate capacity, but congressional and societal pressure stopped this (Araújo 2020, p. 5-6, Vale et al 2021.…”

Pollutants in the South Atlantic Ocean: Sources, Knowledge Gaps and Perspectives for the Decade of Ocean Science

“…The SA region is expected to present an upward trend in land-based pollution sources as a result of increasing urbanization and industrialization in the coastal zone and the lack of comprehensive regulation, appropriated enforcement, and mostly abatement. In recent years in Brazil, for instance, there has been a dismantling of the environmental regulatory authorities that suffered a drastic reduction in investments and loosening of existing legislation that protects important ecosystems and human health (Abessa et al, 2019;Araújo, 2020).…”

The interactions between wildfires, bamboo and aerosols in the south-western Amazon: A conceptual model

“…Wildfires in the Amazon are a threat to the future of the Earth because they release accumulated carbon into the atmosphere, most likely accelerating global warming, and they became a more serious issue when the political regime changed in Brazil. Exploitation of the Amazon has been encouraged by Jair Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil since January 2019, and the government has dismantled environmental protection policies for the sake of immediate economic growth (Araújo, 2020). In turn, the cumulative incidents of wildfires in the Amazon grew by 40% in 2019, compared with 2018 (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, 2020).…”