September 30, 2021

08:09

Iury Lima – from Cenarium

VILHENA (RO) – Members of the State Legislature of Rondônia approved, on Tuesday, 28th, a Complementary Law Project (PLC) that modifies the Socioeconomic-Ecological Zoning of the State of Rondônia (ZSEE-RO), encouraging agricultural expansion over already deforested areas. The PLC, besides extinguishing Areas of Permanent Preservation (APPs), is considered by environmentalists and organizations a threat to the balance, production, and maintenance of forests.

“It is a real step backwards. They want to legalize land grabbing”, said the Environmental Management Technologist and counselor of the Kanindé Ethnoenvironmental Defense Association, Edjales Benício, who accompanied both the PLC vote and the public hearing held hours before, by the Legislative Assembly of Rondônia (ALE-RO), in the capital Porto Velho.

Zoning

Zoning is used as an instrument to establish, by means of techniques and planning, territory management guidelines to create public policies, sustainable development and licensing of environmental activities.

In the case of Rondônia, the ecological territorial management is spread over three macro-zones, divided into sub-zones, as explained by the specialist. “Zone one is the area open for agriculture; zone two, which would be a kind of transition area, is where low carbon agriculture and extractive activities could be carried out; and zone three, the protected areas”, he detailed.

However, this change in ZSEE-RO revokes Complementary Law No. 233/2000, which dealt with the subject. The new text, in Edjales Benício’s evaluation, stimulates the illegal occupation of land. “The zoning was the result of a wide debate with society, very costly, because it is the result of a loan with the World Bank, with all the technical and scientific rigors elaborated”, said the Environmental Management Technologist.

The councilor recalls that the state was a pioneer with the implementation of ecological zoning and regrets the setback. “It was a very useful instrument, because from 2003 to 2006, Rondônia had a deforestation reduction of more than 70%, which shows that it is a viable product, as long as it is well implemented. It should be enforced and not changed, simply, to try to legitimize illegal occupations in our state”, warned the environmentalist.

Agricultural expansion

The text of the Law Project (PL) approved in the ALE-RO opens the possibility to use already deforested areas for soil management, water resources and remaining forests, besides narrowing the limit between macro-zones one and three, by using zone two, where agricultural production is also regulated.

“At certain moments, the political forces that are in the assembly or in the government want to make changes to contemplate groups that do not obey the zoning. They are just trying to fix the agricultural expansion, legalizing the irregular occupation in public areas”, lamented the Kanindé counselor.

Collection of setbacks

The Law Project (PLC) was approved in an accelerated manner after a public hearing, being considered by specialists as one more item in the collection of environmental setbacks of the governor of Rondônia, Marcos Rocha (no party). In a similar way, Rocha reduced almost 220 thousand hectares of Conservation Units (UC), a situation that threatens indigenous people and extractivist families, to benefit cattle ranchers who have occupied lots around the reserves for about 20 years, cutting down the forest and opening pastures.

“They did everything ‘on the fly’, in a rush, they passed all the amendments of the parliamentarians. There are absurd amendments, including those that want to end Permanent Preservation Areas without any technical justification whatsoever”, lamented Edjales, when talking about the vote followed by a public hearing, called by the president of the house, congressman Alex Renado (PRB), which took place last Friday, the 24th.

“There was almost no time for us to organize civil society, that’s why the assembly was packed with landowners. Rondônia is a state that has Indigenous Lands, Conservation Units, quilombola communities, riverine communities that need to be heard. And, in this case, absolutely none of this happened”, repudiated Edjales Benicio.

Government response

Sought by the CENARIUM report, the government of Rondônia said, through a note, that even though approved, the project will still be analyzed. “The project was approved with an amendment authored by the parliamentarians and will be analyzed by the Executive for sanction or veto in the coming days”, said the note.