Science Magazine Article Alerts to Risk of Environmental Setback Along Brazilian Coast

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The renowned Science magazine has published an opinion letter by two researchers and experts of environmental organizations in Santa Catarina about the revocation of Resolution 303/2002 of the National Council of the Environment (CONAMA) concerning the preservation of dunes and sandbanks.

The document is signed by Milton de Andrade Junior, PhD in Environmental Sciences and State Secretariat of Sustainable Economic Development engineer, and Wagner Cleyton Fonseca, Santa Catarina Environment Institute (IMA) engineer and professor of Environmental Law at Vale do Itajaí University (UNIVALI).

In the text, experts alert to the risk of environmental setbacks in Brazil and the potential advance of the real estate sector over shifting dunes and wide sandbanks, which are protected by the Resolution.

Both draw attention to the danger that dune invasion will lead to erosion processes in coastal cities, and stress the value of these environments as a sanctuary and breeding ground for migratory birds.

The dunes, in particular, are common habitats on the Santa Catarina coast – in the state capital Florianópolis, for instance.

“The shifting dunes receive and supply sand. It is an imperceptible dynamic, but one that is crucial to stabilizing the coastline,” explains Milton de Andrade Junior.

The experts decided to release the document after they realized that there was misinformation on the real impact of the revocation on environmental regulations in Brazil. With the text, they established which aspects of the resolutions remain covered by the Forest Code, and which do not.

Wagner Fonseca explains that the main impacts are related to legal security for environmental bodies. “Without the resolution, there is no legal basis,” he alerts.

Science’s publication exposes the issue to the international scientific community, alerts to the risk of setbacks and endorses the work of the Santa Catarina researchers. The same document will be sent to all STF [Supreme Court] Justices, who are considering a case filed against the revication of the Resolution.