The Federal Public Ministry (MPF) recommends the immediate suspension of the environmental license granted to the company Mini Solares do Brasil for the generation of solar energy in an area overlapping lands claimed by quilombola communities in the region of the municipality of Bom Jesus da Lapa. According to the document, the measure must remain in force until prior, free and informed consultation with traditional peoples impacted by the project is ensured.
The MPF also calls for the immediate suspension of any licenses granted for activities, undertakings or constructions carried out in the perimeters indicated in the report by the Superintendency of the Union’s Heritage (SPU) of Bahia without respecting the right to free, prior and informed consultation of the affected people. It also requires that projects that would distort the territory traditionally occupied by the quilombola community of Barrinha, whether public or private, not be authorized.
Issued by the Municipal Environment Secretariat in December 2022, the authorization for the installation of the Bom Jesus da Lapa Photovoltaic Complex was valid for three years. The territory traditionally occupied by remnants of the Barrinha quilombo coincided with the licensed area, as was attested in a report prepared by the SPU of Bahia. The document identified, registered and demarcated the area required by the community. Still, the population was disregarded in the licensing process.
In the recommendation, the MPF highlights the right of traditional peoples to prior, free and informed consultation on any acts or undertakings that affect them, directly or indirectly. This right is guaranteed in international standards and treaties ratified by Brazil. Among them, Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and several judgments of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR).
As well as the need for participation and effective consideration of the points of view of traditional peoples and communities in measures that affect them is provided for in Brazilian legislation, such as the National Policy for Sustainable Development of Traditional Peoples and Communities (Decree 6,040/2007) and of Resolution 230/2021 of the National Council of the Public Ministry.
The municipality of Bom Jesus da Lapa has 30 days to respond to the MPF recommendation.
Bom Jesus da Lapa City Hall informed Jornal Correio that it had not received any notification about the MPF recommendation.
