Federal Court of RJ suspends Conama decision that eliminated protection of mangroves and sandbanks | Rio de Janeiro

The falls were announced on Monday (28). Two of them restricted deforestation and occupation in areas of environmental preservation of native vegetation, such as subtractions and mangroves. The rules were valid since March 2002.

• Resolutions revoked in Conama: understand

Conama also released the burning of toxic waste in kilns used for cement production and repealed another resolution that determined efficiency criteria in the consumption of water and energy so that irrigation projects could be approved.

According to the plaintiffs, “the repeal of these norms violates the constitutional right to an ecologically balanced environment.”

In the decision, federal judge María Amelia Almeida Senos de Carvalho says:

“Given the obvious risk of irreparable damage to the environment, I would like to anticipate the effects of the guardianship to suspend the effects of the revocation considered at the 135th Ordinary Meeting of Conama.”

In May 2019, the government decreased the number of civil society entities in Conama. The collegiate, which had 96 councilors, among members of public entities and NGOs, now has 23 full members, including its president, the Minister of the Environment, Ricardo Salles.

Conama is the main advisory body of the Ministry of the Environment and is responsible for establishing criteria for the granting of environmental licenses and standards for the control and maintenance of the quality of the environment.

The Federal Public Ministry attended the meeting, but had no voting power. The lawyer Fátima Borghi highlighted that the changes in the legislation were made without the necessary public hearings and that the National Environmental Council had no legal competence to revoke the resolutions.

Toxic waste and irrigation

Regarding the burning of toxic waste, the argument used at the meeting to defend the overturning of the resolution was that the burning of these substances will reduce the amount of solid waste.

Rules defined in 1999 prohibited the burning of toxic waste in kilns used for cement production. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that the burning of toxic waste be carried out in controlled environments, as they can cause damage to the health of the population.

Regarding the rules for irrigation, at the meeting this Monday the National Agricultural Confederation (CNA) argued that it is not “an establishment or activity, but simply a technology used by agriculture to supply water to plants in sufficient quantity and in the moment “. law”.

Greenpeace said, in a note, that Conama’s decisions this Monday reflect changes in the council promoted by Minister Ricardo Salles that restricted the participation of civil society and increased the power of the government.

While fires devastate our biomes and damage our biodiversity, health and livelihoods of the population, Minister Ricardo Salles, once again, demonstrates that by being the enemy of social participation, the government is the enemy of the community and that it governs the sectors. that benefit the most in the short term from the deregulation of environmental protection, such as agribusiness, real estate and industry, through derogations that promote the reduction of the protection limits of sandbanks and mangroves, more flexible rules for the granting of irrigation licenses and opening of breaches for the burning of pesticide residues ”, says Greenpeace in the note.

The National Association of Career Servants Specialists in the Environment (Ascema) said, also in a note, that it will “pressure” the Judiciary and Congress to repeal the decisions of Conama this Monday, which the entity describes as “absurd “.