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Brazilian patchwork on rainforest protection
Brazil’s Environment Ministry sparked a firestorm of criticism when it announced Friday that all efforts against fires and devastation in the Amazon will cease due to budget cuts, only to turn around shortly thereafter.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in talks with Vice President Hamilton Mourão at a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Brasilia on Friday.
“Starting Monday night, all efforts to combat illegal devastation in the Amazon region and all efforts against fires in the Pantanal wetlands and other regions will stop,” the first statement reads. The Environment Ministry then referred to the fact that the Finance Ministry had frozen around R $ 60 million (almost SEK 100 million) of funds from two environmental authorities, forcing them to suspend their activities.
After extensive criticism, Vice President Hamilton Mourão came out and said that Environment Minister Ricardo Salles had acted rashly and that there would be no budget cuts.
The environment ministry then announced in a new statement that financing had been secured and that operations would continue as usual.
According to Mourão, the confusion stems from a request by President Jair Bolsonaro’s secretariat to all ministries to release funds for government support payments to the poor who have been severely affected by the economic consequences of the crown crisis. . The request would not be considered binding, according to Mourão.
