CBDA 2022 - Brazil needs Environmental Licensing Law

Currently, Brazil does not have an Environmental Licensing Law that establishes clear rules. Because of this fact, there is legal uncertainty for companies, entrepreneurs and rural producers, as well as for public servants, who do not have legal support to approve or reject licensing requests.

This was one of the conclusions of experts of the first panel of the Brazilian Congress of Agribusiness Law (CBDA), which AgroPages covered on Wednesday, 6th April.

“The Senate needs to vote on a bill covering legal, economic and environmental security. When there is no clear rule, there is an incentive to go underground, that is, whoever can cause damage to the environment prevails,” said Samanta Pineda, a professor at Fundação Getulio Vargas and a lawyer specializing in environmental law.

“Brazil has an environment to protect, as well as bio-environmental wealth, which require rules for utilization. The clearer and simpler these rules are, along with the application of technology, the chance of successful efficiency in protecting the environment increases.”

For João Adrien Fernandes, rural producer and former Director of Environmental Regularization at the Forest Service of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA), in many situations, there is a duplicity of compliance requirements, creating greater bureaucracy, as well as legal uncertainty, the perception that environmental licensing is outdated, and the dissatisfaction of rural producers.

In his view, the updated legislation allows for environmental compliance. “The Forest Code is a consensus between environmentalists and rural producers who are committed to its adherence. We need this consensus in other rural legislation.”

During the Brazilian Congress on Agribusiness Law, he stressed that technological tools enabled the advancement of the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), which has 6.4 million registered rural properties, totaling 650 million hectares.

“It is a public traceability tool that does not require private certification,” explained Fernandes, who highlighted the fact that 98% of rural properties registered in the CAR have not experienced any issues related to deforestation.

Pineda said the points to be worked on to improve the communication of Brazilian agribusiness abroad are consolidation and official data, strengthening and uniting institutions, and being present in countries with long-term plans.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)