Gov’t authorizes deployment of National Force in Amazon

The Brazilian Ministry of Justice authorized the deployment of the National Public Security Force in the area known as Legal Amazon to carry out inspections, operations to repress illegal deforestation and other environmental crimes, and efforts to combat wildfire.

The collaboration with the Armed Forces is to be applied on “activities and services crucial to the preservation of public order and the protection of people and property, in an episodic and planned manner” for 20 days, from May 22 to June 10, 2020.

The Legal Amazon encompasses 61 percent of the national territory and is made up of nine states belonging to the Amazon basin and Amazon vegetation.

The 5.2 million square kilometer area covers all of the territories of the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, and Tocantins, and a section of Maranhão.

In addition to including 20 percent of the cerrado biome, the Legal Amazon encompasses all of the Amazon biome, home to the planet’s biggest biodiversity, the largest genetic bank, and a fifth of all drinking water available worldwide.