The Supreme Court begins ruling on whether there was an omission by the federal government in the management of the Amazon fund | Policy

Established in 2008 to fund projects to reduce deforestation and inspection, the Amazon Fund is Discontinued since April 2019when Bolsonaro’s government abolished the Collective Steering Committee (COFA) and Technical Committee (CTFA), which formed the basis of the fund.

The measure was introduced by the opposition parties – PSB, PSOL, PT and Rede – according to União failed to provide 1.5 billion Rls, already under account, which should be legally earmarked to fund conservation projects in the legal Amazon. Norway and Germany are the main donors.

The audit report prepared by the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) indicated that: In June, the administration of the Bolsonaro government’s environment ministry had jeopardized the viability of the Amazon fund Thus, a series of environmental policies, through a unilateral termination, “without planning and technical basis” that formed the basis of this financing initiative.

According to CGU, as of December last year, the fund had already stopped allocating about R$ 3.2 billion to allocate it to new projects.

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In April of this year, the Supreme Court overturned three decrees on environmental policy by Bolsonaro’s government, including one that struck down the Amazon Fund’s organizing committee. The decisions were part of the so-called “Green Package”, which discusses the social and environmental policies that have been adopted in the country in recent years.

At a public hearing on the lawsuit under trial, which took place in 2020, then-environment minister Ricardo Salles said the federal government had not re-established the steering board for the Amazon fund because European donor nations rejected changes to the resource management model. .

In May last year, Salles attempted to change the fund’s rules and announced its intention to allocate the money raised to compensate land owners. He also claimed at the time that there were indications of irregularities in contracts signed with NGOs, but did not provide any evidence to substantiate the claim.

Operation Rapporteur is Secretary Rosa Weber. At Thursday’s hearing, the parties involved submitted their statements to the court. No date has yet been set for the continuation of the trial for the vote of ministers.

Miguel Felipe Pimentel Novaes, a representative of the Labor Party, argued that “not too few resources have been allocated to the bodies responsible for protecting the environment” in the budget. “The allocated resources have not been implemented to a large extent.”

André Brandão Henriques Maimoni, who represents PSOL, argued that there had been no wrongdoing in the administration. “Back off the fake news, the fund is already running a solid project of the activities it finances. He said he always had positive opinions.”

Felipe Santos Correa, PSB, noted a more than 76% increase in deforestation in the Amazon biome. According to him, the fund was crippled when “the Brazilian state failed to comply with all the climate targets assumed in international agreements.”

The Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Arras, opposed the rejection of these measures, noting that today there is a battle against deforestation, albeit not as quickly as the authors of the requests would like. Also, this default is not configured.