The federal government decided to extend, for another year, the presence of the National Public Security Force in the Legal Amazon. The decision is set out in concierge signed by the Minister of Justice, Anderson Torres, and published in this Friday’s edition (14) of Official Diary of the Union. The new operating period runs from January 14, 2022 to January 13, 2023.
According to the ordinance, the National Security Force will be used to support the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) in monitoring and repressing illegal deforestation and other environmental crimes, in addition to fighting forest fires and bushfires.
The ordinance also defines that the contingent to be made available will obey the planning defined by the board of the National Force, linked to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. The operation will also have the logistical support of Ibama, which should have the necessary infrastructure for the National Force.
In all, nine states make up the Legal Amazon: Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, Tocantins (139) and part of Maranhão, covering a total of 772 municipalities. The Legal Amazon occupies just over 5 million square kilometers (km²), corresponding to about 58.9% of the Brazilian territory, which has 8.5 million km².