Pandemic covers up setbacks in Brazilian environmental laws

ABSTRACT

Speed read Legislative changes in Brazil have ‘weakened environmental regulations’ Legal deregulation peaked at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, study found Brazilian society, scientists and media may have mitigated the damage Environmental progress in Brazil looks set to be one of the casualties of COVID-19, with harmful changes to the law being pushed through while attention is diverted by the global pandemic, a study warns. Since January 2019, the Brazilian government approved 57 pieces of legislation that effectively weaken national environmental laws, the study published in Biological Conservation found. Researchers also analysed monthly deforestation rates provided by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) of Brazil, and fines associated with illegal deforestation, issued by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA). According to INPE, deforestation in the Amazon was 9.5 per cent higher between August 2019 and July 2020 than between August 2018 and July 2019 – making it the highest level of annual deforestation since 2008.