Institute launches portal on deforestation in the Amazon based on lawsuits

Mencius Melo – From Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – Last December 16th, it was launched in the YouTube platform, in the IDS channel, the JusAmazônia Portal, a tool for online mapping of legal processes aimed at fighting deforestation in the Legal Amazon. The portal gathers information on environmental public civil actions and has the signature of the Institute for Democracy and Sustainability (IDS). The data can be accessed free of charge.

The portal provides access to information on legal claims. Just to give you an idea, in the last ten years alone, almost six thousand public civil actions were filed due to illegal deforestation in the Amazon Region. Of these actions, only 1,272 (22%) have received a sentence. Among the States that make up the Legal Amazon, Roraima is the one that accumulates a considerable legal deficit, with 44.8% of the lawsuits stopped for more than 720 days. That is two years without procedural movement.

In an interview to CENARIUM MAGAZINE, André Lima, lawyer and senior consultant of Socioenvironmental Policy and Law at IDS, creator and coordinator of the JusAmazonia Portal, explained the motivation for creating the portal. “It is born from the need to understand and analyze, based on current and official data, the role and performance of the Brazilian judiciary and its operators in issues related to illegal deforestation in the Amazon”, details the lawyer.

Commitment

According to the professional, the country that holds most of the Amazon biome has goals to achieve. “Brazil has assumed the commitment and goals of zero deforestation in the Amazon and other biomes by 2030. For this, we need to have a judiciary that is present, efficient, effective and that, in fact, holds the perpetrators of environmental crimes and infractions accountable, including in the area of reparation for damage occurring in the Amazon Rainforest. The portal ensures that researchers have access to this data”, he said.

Positive

According to JusAmazônia data, the State that concentrates encouraging numbers is Amazonas, whose data stands out positively, with 77.5% of the processes with some movement in the last 90 days. These data are results of the JusAmazônia work. André highlighted the structure that resulted in the construction of the portal. “I highlight the role of Imazon, Jusbrasil and the Jusmanager company, together with the Norwegian Fund and IDS. Together we are developing this project and, it is worth stressing, it has financial support from the Climate Change and Forests program of Norway”, he highlighted.

With the pressure on the forest, the search for answers by the judiciary has increased. The demand can be seen in the data. The number of lawsuits on illegal deforestation, in progress, in the states of the Legal Amazon jumped from 2.4 thousand, in 2018, to the current 6 thousand, a significant increase of 250%. Even with the high demand, the reflection of the decisions, or even movements, leaves something to be desired. Only one third of the identified areas of deforestation above 50 hectares were the target of public civil actions.

In Pará, where the pressure on the forest is among the highest in the region, 5,552 deforestation spots above 50 hectares were found, but there are records of only 1,405 public civil actions. In the State of Amazonas, on the other hand, more than half of these deforested areas are the target of civil actions: there are 2,161 deforestation polygons and 1,223 lawsuits in the courts.

Concentration

In the tool launched by IDS, it is possible to obtain general and comprehensive information on the rates of legal actions to combat deforestation. One interesting fact is about the States of Amazonas, Pará, Mato Grosso and Roraima.

Together, they are responsible for 87% of deforestation in the Legal Amazon and concentrate 97% of the public civil actions registered between 2017 and 2022. These and other numbers, in addition to the full lawsuits, can be followed in real time at the JusAmazônia Portal.