This afternoon, on the occasion of World Environment Day, Jair Bolsonaro also signed a decree that establishes that pharmacies and drugstores provide collection points for expired medicines, with the aim of giving an environmentally appropriate destination for these drugs.
According to the executive, in a period of up to two years, all capitals and municipalities with a population greater than 500 thousand inhabitants will have fixed collection points.
The Brazilian Government also provided funds, in the amount of 11.7 million reais (about two million euros), for the “Lixão Zero” program, in order to finance projects aimed at improving solid waste management, implementing the selective collection of dry and organic waste, and increase recycling rates.
The Bolsonaro government’s announcements for the Environment come at a time when Brazil tries to reactivate the Amazon Fund, financed by Norway and Germany and suspended since 2019.
Created in 2008, the Amazon Fund, intended for the preservation of the region, is mainly maintained with donations from Norway and Germany, and is managed by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) of Brazil.
However, these European countries announced the suspension of funds after deforestation in Brazil increased last year.
Fundraising for the Amazon Fund is conditioned by the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation, calculated by a technical committee, that is, it is necessary to demonstrate the reduction of deforestation in the Amazon to make fundraising feasible.
Last year, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased 85%, reaching 9,165 square kilometers, its highest level since 2016.
In addition to deforestation, the Brazilian Amazon was strongly threatened last year by fires that struck the region between June and August, which caused a strong wave of indignation between the international community and non-governmental organizations, which accused Jair Bolsonaro of having a rhetoric. anti-environmental.
The Bolsonaro government’s environmental policy was exposed at a ministerial meeting, held last April, where Ricardo Sales suggested to the executive that he take advantage of the press focus on the covid-19 pandemic to approve “infralegal deregulation reforms” in the environmental area.
The Amazon is the largest tropical forest in the world and has the highest biodiversity recorded in an area of the planet.
It covers approximately 5.5 million square kilometers and includes territories in Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana (belonging to France).
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