Bolsonaro decree renews Armed Forces activities in the Amazon

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday, June 28, issued a Decree on Law and Order Assurance Operations (GLO), which again authorizes the use of the Armed Forces in the repression of environmental crimes in the Amazon.

The period covered by the decree runs from June 28 to August 31. The information is from the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic.

The renewed action of the military in the Amazon had been announced earlier this month by Vice President Hamilton Mourão.

According to Mourão, who chairs the National Council of the Amazon, the operation will cost R$50 (US$10) million.

However, this time the Armed Forces will only act in specific municipalities with the most problematic situations, the government reported, without detailing which locations these will be.

The norm also establishes that the military’s activities will be conducted exclusively in areas owned or possessed by the federal government, such as indigenous lands, federal preservation areas, and federal properties, among others.

Actions in other areas may only be conducted if there is a request from the respective state governor to the President of the Republic.

Since 2019, two Armed Forces operations have been authorized in the Amazon, called Verde Brasil 1 and 2. The most recent of these ended in April.

Ban on patch burning

In another decree, the President of the Republic once again suspended controlled burning in agricultural areas for the next 120 days.

The measure is similar to the one adopted in recent years in an attempt to reduce environmental fires.

According to the Ministry of Environment (MMA), recent data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) show a large number of patch burning in the first half of this year, not only in the Amazon but also in other biomes, such as the Pantanal.

According to the Ministry, the highest incidence of fires in these regions usually occurs between the months of July and October.

According to the government, the decree suspending patch burning does not apply in some cases, such as in subsistence agricultural practices performed by traditional and indigenous populations; in fire prevention and fighting practices performed or supervised by public institutions responsible for preventing and fighting forest fires in Brazil in scientific research activities carried out by Scientific, Technological and Innovation Institutions (ICT), provided they are authorized by the appropriate environmental agency; in phytosanitary control, provided it is authorized by the appropriate environmental agency, and in controlled burning in areas outside the Legal Amazon and in the Pantanal, when indispensable to agricultural practices, provided it is previously authorized by the state environmental agency.