Although the main responsibility for protecting the Brazilian Amazon lies with national actors, international cooperation represents an important complement in the effort to combat and prevent environmental crimes, such as invasions of public lands, fires caused by human action, illegal logging, and illegal mining, among others.
In large part because of the federal government’s lack of interest in promoting environmental protection, the channels for cooperation around the Amazon are now weakened. The dismantling of environmental institutions and the discourse defending invasions and mining in protected lands contribute to higher rates of deforestation, a significant increase in environmental crimes, and a systematic violation of the rights of indigenous peoples and traditional communities. As a result, such impacts end up undermining Brazil’s credibility with international partners.
The decrease in Brazilian credibility vis-à-vis international actors adds to a foreign policy that despises international cooperation (including the South-South and regional aspects) and the crisis of Latin American regionalism. This combination of factors means that the great potential of international cooperation in complementing national capacities aimed at tackling environmental crimes, including illegal deforestation, remains little explored.
Against this background, on June 30, 2021, at 10 am (BRT), Plataforma CIPÓ promoted the webinar “Partnerships for the forest: strengthening international cooperation against environmental crimes in the Amazon” , which reflected on past experiences with international cooperation around the Amazon, as well as identified ways to build channels of dialogue, exchanges and joint actions to combat environmental crimes in the region.
This report contains the interventions of the three speakers at the event in response to questions asked by CIPÓ.
Speakers
- Sérgio Leitão, founder and Executive Director at Instituto Escolhas
- Vandria Borari, member of the Amazon popular advocacy group Maparajuba
- Júlia Mello Neiva, Coordinator of Development and Socio-environmental Rights at Conectas Direitos Humanos
- Moderator: Luísa Falcão, Junior Researcher at CIPÓ
