Mauro Mendes met with the ministers of the Civil House, Rui Costa, of the Environment, Marina Silva, of Planning and Budget, Simone Tebet, and of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Carlos Fávaro, to discuss solutions aimed at reducing deforestation in the biome .
Publicly suggested at the last World Climate Conferences, in Egypt (COP 27) and Dubai (COP 28), the governor’s proposal is to apply the same penalty provided for in the Constitution to those who commit crimes of growing marijuana or producing cocaine, which it is the loss of land.
“By applying this same sanction to those who deforest illegally, we will be able to eradicate this crime. During the meeting, I insisted that we must do this. We need to create new instruments to combat this old and well-known crime in our country”, he highlighted.
The governor also stated that illegal deforestation not only threatens the biodiversity of the Cerrado, but also the competitiveness of agribusiness.
“It is an environmental crime that harms our country’s main economic activity, and tarnishes Brazil’s image in international markets,” he stressed.
Mauro emphasized that penalizing offenders, who are a minority, is essential to protect the majority who operate within the law.
“I prefer to penalize this 2% to protect the 98% that act within the law, and not harm our international trade in agribusiness, which is so important for the economy of Mato Grosso and most of the states where this activity is carried out”, he argued. .
The governors of Goiás, Ronaldo Caiado, of Minas Gerais, Romeu Zema, of Mato Grosso do Sul, Eduardo Riedel, and of Tocantins, Wanderlei Barbosa, also participated in the meeting in Brasília.
