IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute) believes that the presidential vetoes of Bill 2.159/2021, the so-called “Licensing Bill”, represent a crucial step forward for the integrity of Brazilian environmental legislation. By blocking provisions that weakened control over medium-impact activities and excluded consultation with traditional peoples, the federal government is signaling a commitment to the environment, constitutional rights and legal certainty.
In practice, as a first step, the federal government sanctioned the bill approved by Congress, but vetoed 63 of the more than 300 provisions. According to the executive secretary of the Civil House, Miriam Belchior, in order to fill the “vacuum” left by the vetoes, the government has drawn up a new bill, with constitutional urgency, proposing alternative wording for the removed sections.
For André Guimarães, executive director of IPAM, the vetoes represent an important message against the attempt to weaken environmental licensing in Brazil. “The Executive has shown sensitivity by listening to the scientific community and civil society. But this victory is still in dispute and could be undermined if the LAE (Special Environmental License) is used as a shortcut to authorize high-impact projects,” he says.
As a second step, the government sent a Provisional Measure (MP) that brings forward the validity of the LAE. The measure, together with the possibility of Congress overturning the vetoes, raises legitimate concerns: the risk is that it will pave the way for speeding up the licensing of major projects such as oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon, contrary to efforts to tackle the climate crisis.
Protection of traditional communities and progress for forests
Although there is a possibility that the vetoes will be overturned by the Legislative Branch, IPAM is hopeful that the sections will be removed. The main one was the restriction of the LAC (License by Adhesion and Commitment) to only low-polluting potential projects – originally, the bill had foreseen that the license would also cover medium-polluting potential activities.
Although the procedure itself represents a dismantling of environmental licensing, as it allows certain projects to receive approval to start their activities without undergoing an individual analysis, IPAM at least celebrates the removal of medium-sized and medium-polluting projects, as these can cause major impacts and require a more careful assessment.
It is also good news that the federal government has included in the text that, in order to use the LAC, prior knowledge of the area where the project will be carried out and its conditions is required. In addition to the removal of medium-sized undertakings, if there is a need to remove a population from the site in order for activities to begin, even if they have a low impact, the mechanism cannot be used.
Another veto to be celebrated is the one that removes from the text the provisions that restricted consultation with the bodies responsible for protecting indigenous peoples and quilombola communities. As the government itself said, the limitation would leave out a series of populations in the process of being recognized by Funai and the Palmares Foundation.
As such, the Federal Government has maintained what is already provided for in federal legislation and has set the date of publication of the recognition report by Funai (National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples) and the declaration by the Palmares Foundation, in the case of quilombolas, as the milestone for consultations. Formal recognition of the rights of these peoples is fundamental for the protection of the Amazon, since without them there is no standing forest.
In addition, the veto to exempt the CAR (Rural Environmental Registry) is also seen with optimism in this integration of the instruments for environmental management of rural property and its economic activities. This veto also mitigates the risks of the lack of analysis of registration in the case of activities that overlap with sensitive areas, as in the case of Non-Destined Public Forests, which represent around 56 million hectares of the Amazon. As IPAM has identified, the modus operandi of land grabbing in these territories involves fraudulent CAR registrations as a way of simulating land ownership. With the measure, only landowners with an analyzed CAR will be exempt from licensing.
As there is no waiver of the licensing process, Marina Silva, Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, told journalists that, according to the government’s calculations, the targets of zero deforestation and a reduction of between 59% and 67% in CO2 emissions remain unchanged. However, researchers draw attention to the fact that, even in the bill sent by the government on Friday (8), there is still a gap in the integration of greenhouse gas mitigation and climate adaptation variables into the environmental licensing process.
Setbacks with LAE acceleration
Although the government’s proposal shows progress, IPAM is concerned about the Provisional Measure that brings forward the implementation of the LAE. The instrument provides for projects considered strategic by the Government Council to have priority and accelerated licensing deadlines, despite the fact that the single-phase format is vetoed.
It is acknowledged that environmental licensing faces challenges, but IPAM argues that the solution to speeding up processes must involve strategic territorial planning, strengthening licensing bodies and applying evaluation and monitoring tools to ensure robust control of their impacts. Simplified flexibility for undertakings, without these structural bases, represents a weakening of the process rather than an effective solution.
The central problem is that the concept of a strategic undertaking is political, not technical – and can vary depending on the government. “The LAE opens a dangerous door: projects with a high environmental impact can be classified as strategic out of momentary interest, not because of scientific or climatic criteria,” warns Guimarães, who stresses that licensing cannot be molded to short-term convenience.
On the eve of COP30, there is concern about the possibility of oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon being treated as strategic and undergoing an accelerated licensing process. As IPAM has stated on other occasions, this type of activity requires broad debate, detailed analysis and time – which can take years – to assess its impacts. Furthermore, according to the institute ‘s researchers, the implementation of Brazil’s climate targets necessarily implies leaving the oil underground.