Almost 800 Entities Criticize the 'Dismantling' of the Environmental Policy in Brazilian Congress

A manifesto signed by 790 entities among NGOs, universities, social movements, and associations asks political leaders in Brasilia to correct mistakes in the Interim Measure 1.154, whose version approved by the mixed committee of Congress on Wednesday (24) has emptied the MMA (Ministry of the Environment) and the MPI (Ministries of Indigenous Peoples). "Voting in favor of these mistakes means supporting the reduction of Brazil's ability to combat deforestation, to ensure balance in the multiple uses of water and to guarantee the effectiveness of the constitutional rights of indigenous peoples and the protection of human rights", says the letter. The points criticized are the withdrawal of powers from the MMA over the CAR (Rural Environmental Registry), the ANA (National Water Agency), and the management of solid waste and sanitation, in addition to the loss of two fundamental attributions of the newly created Ministry of Indigenous peoples: the demarcation of indigenous lands and the administration of Funai. On Wednesday, environmental organizations had already stated that the "cattle are being rushed by" again, in reference to the expression used by former Minister of the Environment Ricardo Salles to defend the dismantling of policies in the area.