In the first four months of this year, the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) carried out 3,800 infraction notices, collecting more than R$ 280 million in fines against deforestation in the Amazon. The data were passed on by the director of Environmental Protection at IBAMA, Samuel Vieira de Souza, to the program The Voice of Brazil this Monday (23).
According to Souza, last year, the agency carried out more than 11,500 inspections. Of this total, 3,800 actions were against deforestation within the Amazon biome. There were 9,162 infraction notices and more than R$ 163 billion in fines.
Today, IBAMA operates with priority in the states of Pará, southern Amazonas, Rondônia and northern Mato Grosso. “It is these areas today, this arc of deforestation, that we seek to carry out our actions to combat deforestation more effectively”.
Ibama also works on other work fronts such as trafficking in flora and fauna, biopiracy and illegal fishing.
To increase supervision, in the second half of the year, the agency should receive more than 500 servers approved in a competition. In addition, IBAMA also acquired new monitoring systems. “It’s no use for us to get to the area that was deforested. We have to get to the area where deforestation is starting and cancel its projection. Arriving in an area that has already been deforested just to levy, embargo, is not the objective of environmental inspection”, he said.
For this year, Ibama will have a contribution of R$ 198 million to actions to combat deforestation and prevent forest fires.
Souza also spoke about PrevFogo, which works to fight forest fires in federal areas. This year, nearly 1,800 brigade members are hired, most of them indigenous or settlers. “Those who are hired on site, trained on site, are there ready to fight forest fires within that area, that is, they are the first front line,” said Souza.
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