Brazil’s Science Minister to Appoint Air Force Officer to Manage Institute for Space Research

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Minister of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications, Marcos Pontes, said on Monday, August 5th, that he is considering choosing an Air Force officer to head the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), but did not wish to announce the candidate’s name.

Last Friday, August 2nd, Ricardo Galvão was notified of his dismissal after a clash with the federal government regarding deforestation data. Bolsonaro accused INPE of lying about deforestation data and of “acting in the service of an NGO”.

Minister Marcos Pontes was interviewed by Eldorado radio. When asked about the appointment of an Air Force officer to Galvão’s post, he confirmed that he is assessing the feasibility and said that the candidate is a “doctor in deforestation”.

The new name to command the institute will be announced at the beginning of the week, according to Pontes. INPE’s bylaws, approved by Ordinance No. 897 of December 3rd, 2008, provides that the selection of the director must be made through a three-name list drawn up by a committee.

This group is chosen by the body’s Scientific Technical Council, which comprises eleven members — six specialists and five members of INPE (including the director, who was exonerated). G1 news outlet contacted the ministry, which did not say whether it will respect this requirement.

Regarding the deforestation data published by INPE, he said that “he will change the system as a whole”.

The now-former director said that the Minister of Science has pledged not to interfere in the institute and to invest more funds. On Monday, Pontes announced that he would “develop a better system”:

“We will design a better system, deploy additional satellites and, collectively, conduct tests to demonstrate how it is being done,” he said.

The minister recalled that, in the past, the data were first sent to Ibama and then made publicly available five days later. According to him, this is a potential future model for disclosing deforestation rates.

“We are going to prepare a technical report. We like to work with numbers and facts to see how they are computed and used. This all started with the incorrect use of Inpe data. DETER’s data cannot be used to establish deforestation rates, that’s PRODES. And that’s what was done.”

Pontes said that the confirmed total deforestation of the Legal Amazon area would be released by the end of August.

After mentioning this “incorrect use”, the minister says that in general, the data from the Program for Monitoring the Brazilian Amazon Forest by Satellite (PRODES) follow the monthly trends pointed out by the Real-Time Deforestation Detection Index (DETER).

The government states that the DETER metering should not be used to produce percentages and monthly comparisons and that the confirmed deforestation data are disclosed by PRODES.

Environment Minister Ricardo Salles admitted that there is increased deforestation and says he will bid for a new monitoring system.

Experts rebut the government and say the DETER shows the real upward trend with an accuracy of around ninety percent: the deforestation alerts in Brazil rose by 88 percent in June and 212 percent in July, according to an assessment based on these data. The percentages included a comparison of June and July with the same months last year.