Brazil amends environmental licensing law after partial veto by Lula: Video

The amendments, announced on August 8, have generated significant debate in the country.

President Lula signed into law what critics have labelled the “devastation bill”, but removed or altered 63 of its nearly 400 provisions. “The first thing we are vetoing is 63 provisions of the law out of nearly 400. We are vetoing 63 provisions,” said Miriam Belchior, the executive secretary to the president’s office.

Silva stated that the government made “strategic vetoes to preserve the integrity of licensing,” ensuring that Brazil’s environmental targets remain intact. “Our goals regarding zero deforestation, our goals regarding reducing CO2 emissions by between 59 and 67% are perfectly maintained,” she told reporters in Brasilia.

“May we be able to ensure that this ongoing dialogue with the National Congress leads us to something that benefits environmental protection, sustainable development, and the protection of traditional peoples and communities. And may Brazil begin a new cycle of prosperity, where the economy does not clash with ecology, but instead is part of the same equation,” she added.

Of the provisions removed, 26 were vetoed entirely, while another 37 will be replaced or modified in a new bill to be sent to Congress under a constitutional urgency procedure. 

However, approval of these changes is uncertain as Brazil’s conservative-led Congress has frequently overturned presidential vetoes and blocked key proposals from Lula’s administration. One of the most recent, a New Legal Framework for Clinical Trials with Humans, was overturned in June.

The development comes as Lula’s environmental record faces increased scrutiny ahead of the UN climate summit in November, set to take place in Belem, in Brazil’s Amazon region.