Quo vadis, Brazil? Environmental Malgovernance under Bolsonaro and the Ambiguous Role of the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

Brazil has continuously been in the international spotlight, first as an emerging economy improving social inclusion and sustainable development, then suddenly as a global pariah on environmental governance. Using two case studies – the rising deforestation of the Amazon and the 2019 oil spill on Brazil's Northeast coast – we examine the Bolsonaro administration in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, to reveal a combination of misgovernance and malgovernance, where transgressions are intentional. The article develops these analytical concepts, explores how environmental malgovernance in Brazil may be addressed and discusses how Bolsonaro's malpractices are internationally challenged, but also condoned.

Bolsonaro's government and the dismantling of the participative institutions in environmental policy

“…There was also a 35% reduction in the prevention and control of forest fires in comparison with the previous budget (Observatório do Clima, 2021), even though the number of starting points of forest fires in the Amazon forest had grown compared to the previous year (Alencar et al, 2019; Pereira & Viola, 2020). The weakening of the leading Brazilian environmental agencies in the Amazon in 2019 coincided with significant environmental disasters, such as increased forest fires (Bastos Lima & da Costa, 2021).…”

“…In Brazil, economic expansion into areas of environmental protection, the liberation of the intense use of pesticides, and the removal of barriers against the exploration of minerals in indigenous areas, to cite just a few examples, are invariably justified as measures for improving the quality of life of the people of a specific region, promising jobs and wealth generation. By making public declarations in opposition to social‐environmental protection and associating this protection with potential economic loss for the country (Bastos Lima & da Costa, 2021; Caetano, 2021; Deutsch & Fletcher, 2022; Magalhães de Oliveira et al, 2023), Bolsonaro's government attempted to have an effect on the impoverished sectors of Brazilian society. The Bolsonaro government wanted to mobilize political support for its actions aimed at deregulating the environment and enabling the expansion of economic activities in protected areas, such as mining and hydroelectric plants on indigenous lands (Villén‐Pérez et al, 2022).…”

“…Jair Bolsonaro's government (2019–2022) implemented a conservative project in Brazil, modifying an essential part of the Brazilian democratic institutions that were consolidated between 1988 and 2015. The actions of his government have caused significant consequences in the environmental arena, such as the reduction of the autonomy of environmental agencies, a decrease in public investments for environmental control, and the encouragement of the expansion of agriculture production and mining into indigenous lands (Bastos Lima & da Costa, 2021; Observatório do Clima, 2021). In this context, one of the main strategies Bolsonaro adopted was to dismantle participatory institutions in the environmental arena.…”

“…Bolsonaro became president while advocating conservative neo‐populist ideas. His government generated a severe setback to the main advances in the Brazilian environmental agenda, with substantial national and international repercussions (Bastos Lima & da Costa, 2021; Observatório do Clima, 2021). As well as closing institutional spaces for civil society participation, which excluded them from formulating the environmental agenda, the government reduced the state's capacity to inspect and control environmental crimes.…”

“…Recent publications have explicitly spelled out the consequences of policies implemented by Bolsonaro's government concerning the environment (Araújo, 2020; Bastos Lima & da Costa, 2021; Caetano, 2021; Capelari et al, 2020; Vale et al, 2021). Yet, these works leave a conceptual gap in understanding exactly how political‐economic strategies of a neoconservative populist government relate to action taken on environmental issues.…”