Judge Grants Bolsonaro 72 Hours to Explain Fire-Fighting Measures in the Amazon

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Federal Judge Rolando Valcir Spanholo, of the 21st Circuit Court of the Federal District, has granted Jair Bolsonaro‘s government 72 hours to account for the measures it has taken to fight forest fires in the Amazon. He further ordered for clarification on the measures taken by authorities to punish those involved in criminal fires. He is partially admitting a lawsuit filed by lawyer Carlos Alexandre Klomfahs.

The judge’s decision states that “our Constitution makes no mistake as to the public authority’s duty to prevent, among other actions, the employment of techniques and methods that endanger life, the quality of life and the environment.”

Likewise, the constitutional text, after clarifying that the Amazon rainforest region is a Brazilian national heritage site, also requires that its use/exploitation take place “under conditions that ensure the preservation of the environment, including the use of natural resources,” he wrote.

Shared responsibility

However, the magistrate considers that “the responsibility for protecting the environment and fighting pollution caused by fires also lies with the states and municipalities in which they are generated. It is not only the federal government’s responsibility, as has been mistakenly disseminated.”

Drought

The judge states that “although undesirable, we cannot ignore that, to a large extent, the aggravation of the situation is also directly related to the drought/dry period that every year afflicts a large portion of Brazilian territory during this fall/winter time.”

Spanholo states that “if on the one hand we cannot ignore that the exploration of natural resources in that part of the territory is not always in accordance with the dictates of the law, on the other hand, as the plaintiff himself cautioned in his introduction, we cannot ignore that many are not entirely truthful when they stand as advocates for the Amazon — the lungs of the world.”

UN

The magistrate dismissed a request from Klomfahs for Brazil to submit to the “inspection by international organizations such as the UN to assess data on the deforestation of the Amazon,” as called for by the plaintiff.

“Likewise, for the sake of the principle of the constitutional separation of powers (Article 2), I reject the request to compel the president of the Republic to show the official report on the real situation of the Amazon forest on national radio and TV networks,” he writes.

According to the magistrate, “in the current stage of the process, it is impossible to acknowledge if the current and previous governments have failed to record or have tampered with information related to the vegetation cover in the area.”

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error