August 14, 2023

12:08

Ívina Garcia – Amazon Agency

MANAUS (AM) – The information that the Minister of Environment and Climate Change (MMA), Marina Silva, is trying to prevent the inclusion of BR-319, which connects Manaus to Porto Velho, in the works of the new Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), as pointed out by news sites on Saturday, 12, is false. The program will be the responsibility of the Ministry of Cities, headed by Minister Jader Barbalho Filho, and it is not up to the Minister of Environment to issue environmental licenses.

The sites claim that “sources linked” to the federal government say that the minister “convinced” the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), and the Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, not to include the re-paving of the road in the new PAC, which was launched on Friday, 11, with an investment forecast of R$ 47.2 billion for Amazonas.

According to a survey carried out by AMAZON AGENCY, the release of the license for the project of the “middle stretch” of BR-319, of 455 kilometers, is processed at the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) and is issued by analysts, mostly career civil servants. In the case of the highway, there is a Preliminary License (LP), issued in July 2022, the only one issued for BR-319, in the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019 to 2022).

Read more: ‘We hope the Amazon Summit will be a space for decision-making’, says Marina Silva

This LP is the certificate of environmental viability of the paving and takes place after the Environmental Impact Study (EIA / Rima), delivered in 2021 by Dnit to Ibama and society in a public hearing. In addition to the Middle Section, Lot C of BR-319, which is between kilometers 198 and 250, also already has an installation license and is awaiting approval from the Environmental Protection Institute of the State of Amazonas (Ipaam).

Technical opinion

As provided for in legislation, the minister declared herself opposed to paving the highway if the necessary technical studies of environmental impacts are not carried out. During her first administration at the MMA (2003 to 2008), Marina and the then Minister of Transportation Alfredo Nascimento clashed over the completion of the road. Fifteen years after Marina Silva left the command of the MMA, the highway has not been finalized.

In an exclusive interview with the print/digital edition of CENARIUM AMAZON MAGAZINE, in July, the minister highlighted the difficulties involved in the construction and total paving of the road over the years, recalling that the enterprise is highly complex and that the environmental viability of the enterprise must be proven, not just the economic and social viability.

Marina also recalls that, in the past, the Amazon still had the advantage of being among those who least deforested, but that this reality has changed in recent years, which may cause even more obstacles in the release. “Before, Amazonas had one of the lowest rates of deforestation and today it stands out as the third in the deforestation ranking”, she said.

Deforestation on BR-319

The impact of BR-319 on environmental crimes can be seen in technical studies carried out by institutions such as the BR-319 Observatory (OBR-319). A survey published in July pointed out that the municipalities of Canutama, Humaitá, Manicoré and Tapauá have more than 5,000 kilometers of branch network connected to the BR-319. The total mileage of the “fish bone” that forms around the crossing is almost six times the total length of the BR-319.

“Ramal” is the name given to unofficial roads connected to federal highways. From 2021 to 2022, an additional 340 kilometers of ramais were opened along the highway linking Manaus to Porto Velho.

The data show that, in 2020, a total area of 1,505 hectares was logged in Humaitá, and about 34 kilometers of branches are directly associated with these explorations. “Logging itself is not a harmful activity when carried out through the Sustainable Forest Management Plan and executed under the rules of current forest legislation”, the study said.

“However, a huge portion of this activity has been developed illegally in Amazonas, with deserved emphasis on the municipalities in the south of the state, a region that has recently become one of the main epicenters of the regional timber industry, particularly due to the improvement of infrastructure and logistics conditions for access to continuous forest areas”, he warned.

The survey also warns that if due punishment is not applied to illegalities, BR-319 may contribute to the arc of deforestation, a critical region of environmental degradation that goes from the south of Amazonas to the state of Pará.

“If sustainability criteria are not quickly applied in both the forestry and livestock chains, the tendency is that the municipalities south of the BR-319 will have the same fate as the arc of deforestation, that is, predatory exploitation and the consequent scarcity of marketable wood”, signals the study.

Read the full technical note: