Land regularization policy must be linked to anti-deforestation policy

New Delhi: Internationally criticized for the policy adopted for the preservation of the Amazon and other biomes, Jair Bolsonaro recently stated that he intends to pass a new legislation for land regularization. Which, according to the representative, would satisfy the criticism and help achieve environmental objectives. However – as explained by Ana Maria Nusdeo, professor at the Department of Economic, Financial and Tax Law at USP’s Faculty of Law (FD) and specialist in Environmental Law, in an interview with USP’s Journal no Ar – there is no need for such an initiative , because “there is already a legal framework for regularization in Brazil”.

In order to justify the change in legislation, those who defend it are based on the argument that many legitimate land occupants do not have title to property. This occurs in places where occupation took place over a long period or in remote and remote regions. The expert, however, recalls that the issue was already addressed in 2009, by the Land Legal Law, which granted those who occupied territories until 2004 the possibility of regularizing their property.

“In the Temer government, in 2017, there was still an expansion of those who could regularize, including those who occupied land until 2008. This is already being worked on. The urgency is to combat deforestation, to monitor and punish those who deforest. So, a regularization policy must be linked to an anti-deforestation policy ”, points out the teacher.

Although the proposal is presented as a measure to combat deforestation, since it identifies land occupants in key regions such as the Amazon, it is criticized by a large part of environmentalists, who called the Provisional Measure (MP), which proposed regularization, such as “MP of grilagem”. This is because it would allow large landowners to expand their properties, given the greater influence they can exert in the confrontation across territories.

Having recently gained the spotlight, the measure appears as a new possibility, however, as Ana Maria Nusdeo explains, the legal procedure of the proposal has lasted for months: “MP 910, which is called MP of grilagem, expired in May this year; there would be a bill that would be voted on at the same time, in May, PL 2633, which, once approved, would transform the possibility of land regularization into law. And now the government is trying to put this project to a vote again ”.