Faced with the inertia of the government, the nation suffers from the insanity that is destroying the fauna and flora of a threatened paradise.
MONTEZUMA CRUZ
An Amazonian by birth, and an American citizen living in Washington, DC, Samuel Sales Saraiva calls on Brazilian congressmen, “especially those from the Amazon,” to adopt realistic legislation aimed at protecting the environment. Going straight to the point: “Lands where intentional fires are set for commercial purposes should be confiscated and allocated to agrarian reform. “The proposal was also submitted to the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency of Brazil yesterday, September 12.
Samuel Saraiva on a recent trip to the Acará region in Amazonas
According to Saraiva, the measure would make it possible to curb “the stupid and criminal audacity of opportunists who, out of convenience, dismiss appropriate land management practices.” In fact, he pondered, “inclusive public policies are needed — not repressive ones — aiming at education, training and credit lines for loggers and miners indistinctly so that they understand there are rational and profitable ways, with agroforestry practices, with no need to harm the environment, compromising the quality of life of the entire population.
According to Saraiva, “It’s not by burning down, repressing or fining that the problem will be solved.”
“Brazilians need appropriate policies instead of repressive actions that destroy their scarce equipment and resources, increasing the difficulties for thousands of honest citizens, who are abandoned to their own fate, and whose existence is only acknowledged when it comes to voting and paying taxes.
Saraiva was considered the intellectual author of the ministerial order that created the “Amazônia +Sustentável” program in the current Lula administration. The ministerial ordinance 575 of April 5, 2023 incorporated five aspects of the proposal he addressed to Lula, during his first visit to Washington after taking office, which was widely publicized.
“I pointed out the need for offenders to study Brazilian environmental legislation and be warned of the penalties applicable to violations. I also suggested: 1 – Expanding sustainable food production; 2 – Expanding sustainable extractivism; 3 – Revitalizing rubber plantations; 4 – Encouraging fish farming; 5 – Recovering degraded areas and adopting agroforestry systems. “
“Everything was put forward before this climate crisis so terribly devastating for the planet, especially the Amazon and Pantanal biomes,” he noted.
Recently, on his blog (www.samuelsaraiva.com), websites and social media, Saraiva defended measures that “would make it possible to curb greed and dispel the ignorance prevalent in agricultural activity, for example.”
Currently restless in the face of the national climate chaos, he laments: “Those who imagined that it only happened in the Amazon, once a paradise, are now witnessing a veritable Armageddon of heat, drought, fire, with relentless destruction of fauna and flora, from Oiapoque to Chuí, reaching neighboring countries,” he said.
For Saraiva, a former substitute federal deputy in Brazil, “The right to own land does not include the right to destroy it or use it in a criminal way. It needs to be treated with respect and intelligence. In cases of recidivism, if it is proven that a crime has been committed intentionally, for commercial purposes, burned land should be confiscated and distributed to those who intend to revitalize it, and are willing to obtain a certificate of basic environmental education, which should be mandatory,” he said.
Agroforestry farms, the economic alternative for farmers, miners and loggers
Learning through pain and coercion should also hit the pocket
The solution requires knowledge about legislation and penalties, consequences of land misuse, and production techniques adequate to the economic vocation of each biome.
In contact with his friends in Acre, Pará and Rondônia, and watching climate documentaries on different US media outlets every day, Saraiva considers that the drastic measures of mandatory environmental education he proposes for those who manage land could have an immediate effect. For him, it’s an easy measure that should be supported by the Ministry of the Environment in partnership with the Ministry of Education.
“Every farmer who uses fire on their property must have their land interdicted, then obtain a certificate of 100 hours of environmental education in order to have the interdiction suspended. In the event of a proven recurrence, the property should be immediately confiscated and destined for agrarian reform programs,” he said.
“I would like to appeal to the Congress members from the Amazon: please have the discernment and maturity to prioritize the nation’s permanent philosophical objectives over political or ideological sectarianism, and seek to introduce more effective and coercive legislation, directly hitting the pockets of those who are responsible for this criminal practice, pursuing easy profit without caring about the destruction and environmental imbalance caused, simply out of ignorance of the extent of the damage they do to the nation,” he pleaded.
Saraiva recalled the situation in Rio Grande do Sul as a result of the clearing of the Atlantic Forest for grain cultivation. “It was a heavy price for the population, who did not benefit at all from the billion-dollar profits of the few owners of the exported grains.’ “
Reason and love for the earth, a vital civilizational imperative
Conscience, reason, common sense, love for the land and the immense heritage that also belongs to future generations. “This concept is essential for all those who understand that it is neither fair nor honest to leave chaos to future generations.”
Saraiva pointed out that “in the not-too-distant future,” the worsening difficulties caused by climate change will impose on all nations — especially those with military hegemony — the responsibility of preserving this vital biological heritage for all of humanity. This could become a factor of vulnerability for Brazil’s national security, so weakened by the state’s inability to invest in defense, which has shown our sovereignty to be a mere abstraction of law, due to our military inferiority in case of confrontation with other nations.”
Regarding the nationalist concepts disseminated by federal, state and municipal politicians, he warned: “Patriotism lies in the zeal for national heritage, not in the political or ideological use of national symbols, or frivolous and demagogic political speeches.”
“Parliamentarians need to present reasonable solutions that serve national interests, placing them above traditional politics, in which personal interests are always prioritized to the detriment of collective interests and of the legitimate demands of the State and Nation.” He pondered: “The old habit of tying projects to budgetary allocations needs to end. Public resources in the hands of politicians and contractors are seeds sown in the fertile soil of corruption. There are intelligent and viable ways that only require common sense and political will.”
Álvaro Dias, Brazilian Senator – State of Parana
“Samuel Saraiva’s obstinate performance, criticizing and presenting feasible solutions under the aegis of reason, despite being geographically distant from Brazil for more than 30 years, shows that the exercise of citizenship does not depend on holding an elective office,” commented Álvaro Dias, former senator and former governor of Paraná, who has been deemed the most influential congressman several times for his legislative production. Leader of Podemos, he ran for president in 2018.
According to Dias, over the decades, Samuel Saraiva has been the intellectual author of dozens of serious social and environmental proposals, which have been accepted by members of both houses of Congress, including himself.
Source: https://www.gentedeopiniao.com.br/colunista/montezuma-cruz/incendios-florestais-saraiva-sugere-cem-horas-de-educacao-ambiental-obrigatoria-e-confisco-de-terras-apos-reincidencia-de-destruicao