“Brazil’s Congress passes the “Devastation Bill” and paves the way for unprecedented environmental destruction”, 17 July 2025
…Bill 2159/202, known as the “Devastation Bill,” dismantles the country’s environmental licensing system, violating constitutional principles and weakening the instruments that protect the environment. This is a decision made without dialogue with society…
Among the absurdities of the bill, self-licensing is particularly blatant, allowing businesses to self-certify, attesting the environmental impacts of their activities by themselves, without due technical analysis by competent bodies.
Another critical point is the Special Environmental License, through which the Government Council, a political body, will define which projects are of national priority and will be eligible for fast-track and simplified licensing. This includes large infrastructure projects, such as oil and gas exploration on the Equatorial Margin, an area of extreme environmental sensitivity, and the paving of highways, which are notably responsible for the deforestation of large areas in the Amazon.
The proposal also exempts licensing requirements for agricultural activities, opening the floodgates to deforestation and pollution, and poses a direct threat to our water security. Water resource management instruments will no longer be linked to potentially polluting and degrading enterprises and activities. This puts at risk the water we drink, which sustains biodiversity and is essential to national agricultural production.
The bill represents a direct assault on the rights of Indigenous peoples and traditional communities…Furthermore, it violates the right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consultation, guaranteed by ILO Convention 169, to which Brazil is a signatory…
The bill also increases legal uncertainty surrounding private and government projects, and is likely to increase litigation, delays, and socio-environmental conflicts…
In the year of COP30, which will be held in Belém, Pará state, in November, Congress chose to pass a “free-for-all legislation”, rather than making progress in tackling the climate crisis…