The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, considered the penalties provided for in Brazilian laws for environmental crimes such as the use of fire to cause arson to be inadequate.
“Because the sentence of two to four years in prison is light and when the sentence is light, sometimes it is transformed into some type of alternative sentence and there is still an attitude of some judges who completely relax this sentence”, he questioned.
The statement was made during participation in the program Good morning Ministerfrom Canal Gov, this Tuesday (17), in Brasília. The minister also reinforced that, at this moment, any forest fire is characterized as criminal and represents threats to the environment, public health, heritage and the Brazilian economy.
“There is a ban on the use of fire throughout the national territory, the last states to issue a fire ban decree were Rondônia and Pará about a week and a half ago,” said Marina.
Extreme drought
According to the minister, of the 27 states of the federation, only Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina are not currently facing extreme drought. “It is as if we have a risk situation throughout the entire national territory,” she said.
According to the minister, criminals are taking advantage of climate change, which has caused high temperatures and extreme weather events, to set fires and cause the current fire situation in Brazil. “There is a criminal alliance between political ideologies that want to deny the issue of climate change,” she noted.
She then reported that the government’s situation room is discussing the tougher punishment for setting fires with criminal intent. In addition, the minister reported that there are bills being processed in the National Congress – such as the one proposed by Senator Fabiano Contarato (PT-ES) – that make this type of crime heinous.
Investigation
According to the minister, investigating this type of crime is quite complex due to the speed at which the fire spreads in this drought scenario, but an effort must be made to ensure that the criminals and those responsible are punished.
“The president [da República] Lula called the president [do Supremo Tribunal Federal] Minister Barroso so that there is legal support so that this investigation can happen more quickly and we have all the coordination that has been done by the Minister of Justice, Ricardo Lewandowski”, he says.
For Marina Silva, the intelligence service has been essential in solving intentional arson crimes in forest areas. The Federal Police have opened 52 investigations that investigate the ignition points of the fires in different regions of the country.
“Satellite images are being monitored, so we can go back and find out where the ignition started and find the original perpetrator,” he explains.
Confrontation
The federal government has been making efforts to combat fires across the entire country, including beyond federal areas, says Marina.
“The federal government is not willing to play a blame game. We want to work together. We are working within state areas, within indigenous lands, within private properties and in cooperation with the Fire Department,” he emphasizes.
The minister also recalls that, in July, a provisional measure modified Brazilian legislation allowing firefighting services to be carried out by aircraft and crew of other nationalities. This allows other countries to cooperate in fighting fires, depending on technical feasibility.
Resources
According to the minister, the federal government has been working on a plan since 2023 to face this period of drought aggravated by climate change.
Resources from the Amazon Fund totaling more than R$47 million were made available so that the states could reinforce their Fire Department teams. In addition, the Pantanal biome also received R$175 million in extraordinary credit to combat the fires. “The government is working on releasing another extraordinary credit for the Amazon and other states of the federation,” Marina revealed.
In addition to the resources, the minister also reported that President Lula announced the publication of a provisional measure to create the Legal Statute for Climate Emergencies, which, according to the minister, will allow the anticipation of the emergency situation, which is currently only recognized in the legal system, after the occurrence of a climate catastrophe.
