President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) published last Wednesday (12), in the Official Gazette, a decree authorizing interventions in natural underground cavities, such as caves, grottos and caves.
The cavities have a “level of relevance”, which can be classified as maximum, high, medium or low, depending on their “ecological, biological, geological, hydrological, paleontological, scenic, historical-cultural and socio-economic attributes, evaluated from a regional focus”. and location”.
The text establishes that cavities with a maximum degree of relevance “may be subject to irreversible negative impacts when authorized by the competent environmental licensing agency, within the scope of the environmental licensing of the activity or enterprise”.
For this, however, the company responsible for the intervention must demonstrate “that the impacts result from the activity or undertaking of public utility”, the “inexistence of a viable technical and locational alternative to the undertaking or the proposed activity”, “that the irreversible negative impacts will not lead to the extinction of the species found in the impacted cavity”, in addition to the “feasibility of complying with the compensatory measure”.
The decree also determines that “the competent environmental licensing agency must consider, in a balanced way, the environmental, social and economic criteria”. “The underground natural cavity classified as high, medium or low degree of relevance may be subject to irreversible negative impacts when authorized by the competent environmental licensing agency, within the scope of the environmental licensing of the activity or enterprise”, adds the text.
If the intervention results in irreversible negative impacts, the company responsible for the project will have to opt for compensatory measures, among them “adopt measures and actions to ensure the preservation of two underground natural cavities with the same degree of relevance, of the same lithology and with attributes environmental impacts similar to the one that was impacted”.
what does the government say
The Ministry of the Environment reports that the decree “governs the protection of natural underground cavities” and “ensures that exploitation can only take place as long as there is equivalent protection, even demanding double compensation”.
“The new legislation maintains the need for prior licensing of all projects and the prohibition of suppressing cavities with material of outstanding historical-cultural and religious relevance. The possibilities of environmental compensation for projects that affect cavities with a high degree of protection are expanded, in order to allow a more effective application of resources destined for environmental preservation”, adds the government.
The folder also says that “the decree creates the possibility of investments in fundamental structuring projects, generating employment and income, such as highways, railways, mining, transmission lines and renewable energies, while guaranteeing the protection of cavities”.
“The objective of the federal government is to bring legal certainty to environments favorable to economic development, maintaining the preservation of the environment through legislation considered among the most protective in the world”, concludes the ministry.
Reference: CNN Brasil
