The new Law in Brazil can cause “serious environmental damage and infringement of human rights,” and UN experts told the BBC News.
The plan to speed up the approval for the development project was criticized for being prepared to hold the COP30 Climate Summit this year.
Members of the National Assembly passed plans to simplify the environmental licenses of infrastructure, including roads, dams, energy and mines this month, but the president did not officially approve the bill.
Critics say that this is called “devastation bill” and can lead to environmental abuse and foresting.
Supporters say that the new national license system cannot cause the environmental damage that cannot be proved that the long and complex process faced by the company to prove the planned development.
As a result, some developers will be able to destroy the environmental impact themselves through online forms of projects that are considered smaller. Movement supporters say they will reduce bureaucracy, but critics say they are a big concern.
RIAHO feared that a light regulation on the BBC would be “to be applied to some mining projects,” and feared that “it will affect the Amazon region.”
She also said she was “very worried” about the automatic renewal plan of some project licenses that did not change major changes.
“It will also cause forest logging. Modification or sustainability of the project can mean Amazon’s forests without proper evaluation.”
In Amazon, many foresting and land cleaning were led by agriculture, mining, and sometimes illegally, but Riaño said that it is “going backwards.”
Her involvement comes out two months after a new analysis showing the destruction of the vast swamps of Amazon in 2024.
In accordance with the new law, environmental institutions can expand 12 months (24 months) to 24 to make a decision on license for strategic projects. If the deadline is missed, the license may be automatically granted.
Supporters say they can be sure of the business by preventing the delay in the project, including a hydroelectric dam for clean energy or railroad lines for grain transportation.
Riaño understood the need for more efficient systems, but the evaluation should be “comprehensive” and science.
This law will also alleviate the requirements to be consulted with Aboriginal or traditional Quill Rom Phila community (descendants of Afro Brazilian slaves) in some situations unless directly affected.
UN experts have raised concerns that fast tracking evaluation can eliminate some participation and affect human rights.
The supporters of the bill will encourage economic development, including renewable energy projects, to grow economies, and reduce business and main costs.
But critics are afraid that weakening environmental protection can increase the risk of environmental disasters and violate indigenous rights.
In particular, UN experts argue that it can be contradictory with the constitutional rights that guarantee the rights of ecological balanced environments. This means that legal issues may be ahead.
The Senate and the Chamber of Commerce have approved the bill and are currently being approved by the president.
President Lula da Silva must decide whether to approve the new law by August 8th.
Marina Silva, a Brazilian environment and Secretary of Climate Change, strongly opposed the bill and accused the “death hit” against environmental protection.
But she confronted the president on other problems of the past, including the proposal for exploring oil drilling in the Amazon basin.
Even if the president refuses, there is a possibility that a conservative parliament will try to overturn it.
The Brazilian Climate Observatory has called the “biggest environmental disorder” after Brazil’s military dictatorship, which resulted in increasing Amazon forests and many indigenous displacters due to roads and agricultural expansion.
Riaño said Brazilian scientists said that the bill would be “the size of Uruguay’s scale” and that the bill would increase the protection of 18 million hectares.
