Under Temer, Brazil Likely to Eliminate Environmental Protection Laws

Brazil's Senate-imposed President Michel Temer is expected to announce his Cabinet ministers on Thursday, with Senator Blairo Maggi likely to be named as minister of agriculture.

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Senator Maggi is the owner of the world’s largest Soya company and is currently spearheading a constitutional amendment that, if approved by Congress, will end the nation’s environmental safeguards for large-scale infrastructure projects.

The Maggi group, which is also involved in the construction of infrastructure projects necessary to sustain the soy industry, would likely benefit financially from the elimination of environmental safeguards, environmental groups warn.

Brazilian senators published a three-page document which argues that the reason for the change is “to ensure speed and cost savings in public works.”

However, the proposed amendment is causing concern among environmentalists.

“The amendment seeks to eliminate laws, which require strict licensing procedures and instead would introduce a system of anything goes for approving large-scale infrastructure projects,” Greenpeace director Marcio Astrini stated.

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The legislative measure, known as PEC 65, has been heavily criticized by environmental groups, who point out that the country just recently experienced one of the worst environmental disasters in the nation’s history.

“In a country that just suffered from the worst environmental disaster in its history, the Samarco's dam break in the city of Mariana, eliminating safeguards would be an invitation for future environmental tragedies,” Brazil’s Institute for Environmental Research of the Amazonia, or IPAM, warned in a press release.

In a study carried out by IPAM, the organization says that the proposed Constitutional Amendment PEC 65 poses a threat to both Indigenous survival and the environment.