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Point-of-View • Biota Neotrop. 25 (3) • 2025 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1676-0611-BN-2025-1829 linkcopy

Open-access The imminent environmental setback in Brazil driven by the Devastation Bill

O iminente retrocesso ambiental no Brasil impulsionado pelo Projeto de Lei da Devastação

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Abstract:

The Brazilian Congress has just approved Bill No. 2159/2021, which significantly weakens national environmental licensing regulations. The text dismantles fundamental safeguards, expands licensing exemptions without rigorous criteria, and allows self-licensing of medium-impact environmental activities. Amendments deepen the setback by introducing a “Special Environmental License” which a maximum one-year deadline for evaluating projects deemed strategic, regardless of their magnitude and socio-environmental consequences. The Bill opens the door to widespread environmental degradation, threatens public health, increases land conflicts, and perpetuates the deceptive narrative of “green capitalism”. It prioritizes the profits of a few over the collective well-being. In defense of natural heritage, environmental justice, and public health, we call for its veto.

Keywords:
Climate policy; Environmental justice; Environmental legislation; Governance

Resumo:

O Congresso brasileiro acaba de aprovar o Projeto de Lei nº 2159/2021, que enfraquece significativamente a regulamentação nacional de licenciamento ambiental. O texto desmantela salvaguardas fundamentais, amplia as isenções de licenciamento sem critérios rigorosos e permite o autolicenciamento de atividades ambientais de médio impacto. Emendas aprofundam o retrocesso ao introduzir uma “Licença Ambiental Especial” com prazo de um ano para avaliação de projetos considerados estratégicos, independentemente de sua magnitude e consequências socioambientais. O Projeto de Lei abre caminho para a degradação ambiental generalizada, ameaça à saúde pública, aumenta os conflitos fundiários e perpetua a narrativa enganosa do “capitalismo verde”. Prioriza o lucro de alguns em detrimento do bem-estar coletivo. Em defesa do patrimônio natural, da justiça ambiental e da saúde pública, pedimos seu veto.

Palavras-chave:
Política climática; Justiça ambiental; Legislação ambiental; Governança

Just a few months before hosting COP30, the Brazilian Congress passed Bill No. 2,159/2021 (Brazil, 2021), which significantly weakens nationwide environmental licensing regulations and now proceeds to presidential sanction. Known as the “Devastation Bill” and driven by the agribusiness caucus and corporate lobbying, this project represents an unprecedented setback in the country’s environmental management (Observatório do Clima, 2025; Ministério do Meio Ambiente e Mudança do Clima, 2025).

The approved text dismantles core elements of environmental licensing. Among several concerning provisions, it broadens the exemptions from Environmental Licensing for various activities, in a generalized manner and without rigorous criteria. It implements the “License by Adhesion and Commitment” (LAC), allowing the self-licensing of activities classified as having low and medium environmental impact, by entrepreneurs who sometimes are unaware of environmental complexities or neglect them due to a strong economic bias. The Senate amendments further intensify the setback, especially with the inclusion of a “special environmental license,” which imposes a maximum one-year deadline for the licensing process of so-called “strategic” projects, regardless of the complexity or severity of their socio-environmental impacts. This provision pressures environmental agencies and compromises the quality of technical evaluations.

This Bill opens the door to widespread environmental degradation, with severe impacts on public health due to the potential increase in soil and water contamination, and the proliferation of diseases (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, 2025), loss of ecosystem services, and the intensification of environmental disasters, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations. It increases land conflicts, including affecting Indigenous and traditional peoples, and perpetuates the misleading narrative of “green capitalism.” Furthermore, it distances Brazil from addressing contemporary environmental challenges. It weakens international commitments assumed by Brazil and threatens its credibility in the global market, resulting in imminent economic losses.

Moreover, it violates the Federal Constitution, which guarantees everyone the right to an ecologically balanced environment, essential for quality of life. It undermines the principle of prohibition of environmental regression, which has been increasingly consolidated in Brazilian jurisprudence, and contradicts the Federal Supreme Court, which recognized the unconstitutionality of the LAC (Ministério do Meio Ambiente e Mudança do Clima, 2025). These changes are not merely an attack on nature; they constitute a devastating project that prioritizes the profits of a few over collective well-being. This is a pact of irresponsibility that tarnishes Brazil’s image regarding environmental issues, especially at a critical moment in the climate crisis. It is unacceptable that this bill weakens the country’s already fragile, and often disregarded, environmental laws. Therefore, in the name of our natural resources, economic development with social justice, public health, and people’s quality of life, we call for the presidential veto of this Bill.

DATA AVAILABILITY

All the data supporting the results of this study have been published within the article itself and in the referenced sources.

References

Edited by

  • Associate Editor
    Carlos Joly

Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    08 Aug 2025
  • Date of issue
    2025

History

  • Received
    19 June 2025
  • Accepted
    20 July 2025
Creative Common - by 4.0
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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