COP30 vs Devastation Bill

The COP30 will take place in Brazil this November a crucial event for advancing international climate negotiations and meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement.

But today, the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies approved the Environmental Licensing Bill (Bill 2159/2021), known by environmental groups as the "Devastation Bill." If signed into law, it would allow projects like roads, mining operations, and agribusiness expansions to bypass rigorous environmental impact assessments. Even more dangerously, it opens the door to "self-licensing," giving industries the power to authorize their own activities without oversight - dismantling the safeguards that protect ecosystems, wildlife, and communities.

So how is it that we're hosting such a vital climate summit, while simultaneously gutting our own environmental protections? Is COP30 just a platform for greenwashing?

In 2014, I traveled the entire length of the Amazon River by boat, starting in Tarapoto, Peru and ending in Belém, Brazil. As soon as I crossed the border between Colombia and Brazil, I began to smell smoke from wildfires - many intentionally set to clear land for cattle. That smell lingered for weeks.

Deforestation has long plagued the Amazon, and year after year, it only grows worse. If this bill becomes law, it risks accelerating that destruction to a point of no return threatening not only Brazil's biodiversity and Indigenous communities, but the global climate as a whole.

What kind of legacy are we building if we invite the world to talk about solutions, while fast-tracking devastation behind the scenes?

The photograph was taken around Macapá in 2014, capturing a wildfire.