‘It would increase deforestation’, says environmentalist about PL that removes Mato Grosso from the Legal Amazon

Marcela Leiros – from Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The State of Mato Grosso, one of the nine that integrate the Legal Amazon, can be removed from the region. This is because the Bill (PL) 337/2022, currently being processed in the House of Representatives, if approved, may change the wording of item I of Article 3 of Law No. 12.651, May 25, 2012, which defines which states that integrate the area. To CENARIUM, environmentalist Carlos Durigan exposed the risks that the measure will bring to the preservation of the largest biome in the country.

Besides Mato Grosso, owner of the fifth largest area of Amazon Forest among the States, the Legal Amazon is formed by Acre, Pará, Amazonas, Roraima, Rondônia, Amapá, Tocantins and Maranhão. The area concentrates more than half (58.9%) of the national territory, or exactly 5,015,068.18 km². Law No. 12,651 determines the percentages of native vegetation reserve, which must be 80% of rural properties located in forest areas in the Legal Amazon.

To CENARIUM, Carlos Durigan, environmentalist and director of WCS Brazil, spoke about the risks that the approval of the PL will bring to the preservation of the biome.

“This change could generate an increase in the deforestation process in the region, since the fact of being part of the lands classified as Legal Amazon implies that at least 80% of them should be preserved in private lands,” he explains. “I see this mobilization as one more movement to promote the degradation of the Amazon, which would imply an increase in our loss of national natural heritage and quality of life due to the impact this would have on the environmental services that the biome provides us.

Understand the justification

Authored by Federal Lawmaker Juarez Costa (MDB-MT), the bill was filed in the House of Representatives on February 22. On Thursday, 9, the president of the House, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), gave course to the proceedings. The justification for the bill is to expand the agricultural potential in the state, which would be “impeded” by the percentage of areas that must be preserved. (See the document, in its entirety, at the end of this article)

“It is necessary to increase production areas to meet national and international demands while preserving the environment. Therefore, I presented the project that provides for the removal of Mato Grosso from the Legal Amazon (Bill No. 337/2022),” said the author of the project in a post on Instagram, with a record of a meeting between Congressman Neri Geller (PP-MT), Vice President Hamilton Mourão and the president of the House, Arthur Lira (PP-AL).

Lira designated Neri Geller, vice-president of the Parliamentary Front for Agriculture and Livestock (FPA), as rapporteur of the matter and distributed it for analysis by the permanent commissions in ordinary proceedings. “The goal is to increase production, generate more jobs, lower the price of products and continue to preserve the environment, as the state has already been doing”, added Juarez Costa.

Loss of benefits

Besides the risks to the forest, the exclusion of Mato Grosso from the Legal Amazon may cause the state to lose federal benefits, according to Governor Mauro Mendes (DEM). During a press conference on Friday, 11, the head of the Mato Grosso Executive said that if on one hand it can expand the primary production of agribusiness in Mato Grosso, on the other hand industries should lose the exemption of some taxes.

“If we leave the Legal Amazon we will lose one of the most important mechanisms for the industrialization of the state. Today, when an industry is installed here, because it is in the Legal Amazon, it can claim an incentive at Sudam [Superintendency for the Development of the Amazon] of 75% exemption from income tax,” he explained.

According to the governor, this exemption is one of the biggest motivators for the industrialization process in the state. “I alerted our parliamentarians about this. I am in favor of this exclusion, as long as this benefit is not lost, because we may be taking a step towards deindustrializing the state or discouraging the attraction of industries”, concluded Mauro Mendes.

Deforestation

Data from Deter, from the Space Research Institute (Inpe), released on Friday the 11th, indicated that between February 1st and 28th this year the deforestation alerts in the Amazon Forest had a total of 199 square kilometers deforested, concentrated mainly in Mato Grosso, Pará and Amazonas. According to the monitoring, it is the largest area with alerts for the month since 2016, when Deter measurements began.

Meanwhile, an analysis by the Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV) pointed out that most of the deforestation on soybean farms in Mato Grosso was illegal, considering the period from August 2008 to July 2019. According to the study, about 92% of the deforestation on properties destined for soybean cultivation did not have authorization for vegetal suppression.

Check out the PL in full: