Legislators in Brazil are currently deliberating the General Environmental Licensing Law (LGLA), a new bill which dismantles environmental licensing requirements and, if approved, could accelerate oil and gas extraction, cattle ranching, and deforestation in the Amazon. The Chamber of Deputies should reject the bill. If it does not, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva should veto it.

Backed by Brazil’s agribusiness and oil and gas sectors, Bill 2.159/21 creates a “special environmental license” that allows speedy approval for projects the government deems strategic, such as oil exploration in the Amazon rainforest, despite their potential environmental impacts. The bill would exempt a broad range of high-impact industries, like agroforestry and livestock farming, from an obligation to obtain licenses for projects simply by filling out an environmental adherence form, without any need for environmental impact assessments.

Oil and gas projects will still require prior assessment, but these will be confined to the activity’s “directly affected area,” ignoring the catastrophic climate impacts of burning oil and gas after extraction (scope 3 emissions). Some legislators expect the move will “enable oil exploration in the Amazon”, which President Lula has openly supported. Last month, Brazil’s main environmental agency, IBAMA, authorized Petrobras, the state oil company, to carry out an oil spill response exercise in the Amazon. This may clear the path for potential oil drilling despite opposition from IBAMA staff.

Thousands of Brazilians have gathered in state capitals nationwide to demand legislators scrap what they call the “devastation bill”. Environmental and human rights defenders in Brazil warn that the bill, if approved, would dismantle the country’s environmental protections. Indigenous peoples and United Nations experts have also warned that the bill would exclude participation of competent authorities in projects on wide swaths of Indigenous and Quilombola lands yet to be formally titled by the state but long inhabited and stewarded by their peoples. They call upon Brazil to respect the right to development and the right of Indigenous people to give their free, prior, and informed consent to development on their lands. 

Brazil’s environmental minister, Marina Silva, is anticipating an “avalanche of litigation” due to the bill’s “clear unconstitutionality,” calling it a “demolition of environmental legislation.” In Senate hearings, legislators eager to advance oil, mining, and highway projects across the Amazon clashed with Silva, leveling sexist and other derogatory remarks at her. 

With the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) looming, Brazil’s credibility as a climate leader hangs by a thread. Protecting rights in face of the climate emergency demands the Brazilian government and legislature unequivocally reject this bill.