Bolsonaro Government Plans To Cut Environment Ministry Budget By Nearly 6%, Because Of Course
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil’s government under President Jair Bolsonaro is proposing the smallest budget for environmental protection in at least 13 years despite soaring destruction of the country’s Amazon rainforest, according to data from non-profit Contas Abertas.
Deforestation in Brazil’s portion of the world’s largest rainforest hit a 12-year high in 2020, according to government data. Since assuming office in 2019, Bolsonaro has drained environmental agencies of funding and appointed officials who promote softer tactics against illegal logging and other crimes.
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Bolsonaro says that Brazil is a model of conservation, having preserved the majority of its original forest cover unlike Europe and the United States, and he has criticized government agencies for overzealously applying environmental laws. The government’s budget proposal for the Environment Ministry, the agencies under its administration and other environment-linked expenditures programs is 2.9 billion reais ($530.50 million), according to an analysis of public records by Contas Abertas.
That represents a 5.4% drop from the government’s budget proposal for environment last year, down to the lowest level in the Contas Abertas analysis going back to 2008.
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-environment/brazil-proposes-cuts-to-2021-budget-for-environmental-protection-as-deforestation-spikes-idUSKBN29U26S