When we think about the situation in Brazil today and the panorama that this gives us for the October elections, we often see the socio-environmental agenda as something important, mobilizing, but we do not necessarily see it in all its meaning.

First of all, it is very important to understand that the social, environmental, economic and political do not detach themselves from each other, as demonstrated by the damage caused by the action of the current government that, in trying to destroy the environmental protection structure in the country, also perversely affected social and human rights, and challenged democratic achievements, starting with the dismantling of the participatory structure that was the core of the public environmental area.

The truth is that talking about the socio-environmental agenda is talking about social justice, protecting everyone’s interests, today and in the future, an advanced idea of the country’s development, of political and social relations, of correct and equitable distribution of nature’s goods. In no other country are the natural conditions for a just transition to a carbon neutral economy more evident than in Brazil.

We have a high capacity to generate energy from renewable sources such as biomass, solar, wind and hydroelectricity, as long as on a sustainable basis, and we have the largest areas of forests among tropical countries, enormous biodiversity and the second largest water reserve in the world.

Therefore, it is necessary to promote the alignment of public policies, especially economic, fiscal, tax, industrial, energy, agricultural, livestock, forestry, waste management and infrastructure, to the general objectives of the Paris Agreement, in order to fulfill Brazil’s commitments through its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).

These policies must be geared towards a long-term strategy of decarbonizing the economy with net zero emission of greenhouse gases by 2050. In saying so, it may seem that we are dealing with merely technical issues, but no. We are pointing the way towards a better nation and world for all, without the unsustainable abuses that lead us to so much misery, injustice, foolishness and destruction. To this end, it is necessary to rescue and update Brazil’s socio-environmental agenda, by means of the following commitments:

● Ensure that the socio-environmental policy of the future government is established and implemented based on the following strategic guidelines: (i) transversal and integrated environmental policy; (ii) strengthening of the National Environment System; (iii) promotion of social control and participation; (iv) and investment in actions for sustainable development.

● Recompose and expand the technical staff and budgets of the MMA, IBAMA, ICMBio, and SFB, returning the SFB and ANA to the Ministry of the Environment.

● Resume and update the plans for the prevention and control of deforestation in the Amazon (PPCDAm) and Cerrado (PPCerrado), and establish similar plans for the other

Brazilian biomes, integrating all ministries related to the topic, under the highest level of political coordination in the government, to achieve zero deforestation.

● Resume and update the Sustainable Amazon Plan (PAS), the National Policy for Sustainable Development of Traditional Peoples and Communities and the National Policy for Territorial and Environmental Management of Indigenous Lands (PNGATI).

● Create the National Climate Security Authority, responsible for setting goals and verifying the implementation of actions towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, increase of resilience and preparation for adaptation to climate change.

● Create a credit line in the Union’s Budget for actions towards climate change adaptation, in order to encourage municipalities to implement contingency plans and monitoring of climatic extremes for the prevention and mitigation of the impacts of natural disasters such as droughts, floods, flash floods and landslides, which affect thousands of people annually in Brazil.

● Implement the carbon market in Brazil, defining environmental safeguards and exploitation of carbon credits generated by reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation.

● Complete the implementation of the Rural Environmental Registry by 2025, validating the registries, making it public and transparent, and suspending the validity of those of public lands, in accordance with the legal regulation.

● Link all new energy contracts in the National Interconnected System (SIN) to the electric sector’s greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

● Establish the National Infrastructure Plan for Sustainable Development, which prepares Brazil for a new cycle of prosperity, capable of overcoming logistical obstacles and the deficit of services for the population, while at the same time protecting indigenous and traditional populations, natural resources, generating employment and income, and fighting inequalities.

● Guarantee, by 2025, the provision of fast internet and renewable energy for family farmers, indigenous people, quilombolas, riverine people and other isolated communities throughout the national territory.

● Convert the Safra Plan into the structuring bases of the transition to low-carbon agriculture, linking its credit lines to commitments and targets to reduce emissions on rural properties, with technical assistance and facilitated access to smallholder farmers.

● Raise Brazil to international standards for the control of agrochemicals’ usage.

● Establish the National Agricultural Production Traceability System, for the promotion of the legality of the production chain and the repositioning of Brazil in international markets, by increasing the socio-environmental and sanitary credibility of its products.

● Elaborate the National Bioeconomy Policy with financial and tax instruments to promote research, development and innovation related to Brazilian biodiversity and the conservation of biomes, aiming towards the development of products, services and high value-added chains, based on public-private partnerships and production from agroextractivism and sustainable management of smallholder farmers, indigenous people, quilombolas, riverside and other traditional communities, generating local income and environmental preservation.

● Expeditely implement the National Policy for Payment of Environmental Services (PSA) and related provisions set out in the Forestry Code, in order to encourage synergies between agricultural production and the conservation and recovery of natural resources.

● Establish the Research and Development (R&D) Program for Silviculture of Native Species, to promote the environmental recovery of degraded areas throughout the country.

● Diligently accelerate the completion of the demarcation of indigenous lands and quilombola territories across the country.

● Conclude the allocation of approximately 57 million hectares of not destined public lands in the Amazon, with a clear priority of meeting the demands of indigenous peoples, quilombolas and other traditional communities and conservation units in forested areas and sustainable and regenerative use of already deforested areas.

● Promote the acceleration of Land Regularization of serene and peaceful possessions with rights guaranteed by legislation.

● Assume the commitment of inserting the pressing universalization of basic sanitation among the government’s top priorities, establishing concrete and effective goals for a quantitative and qualitative leap in the expansion of the system, capable of including the 35 million Brazilians without access to treated water and the more than 100 million without sewage systems.

● Invest in research and technological innovation in search of efficiency and cost reduction to become more efficient and reduce costs in greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption, in wastewater collection and treatment systems.

● Develop a National Water Security Program, with incentives for the preservation and recovery of springs in metropolitan regions, adoption of water saving practices, use of rainwater, reuse and waste reduction practices, vital for the population to face the increasingly frequent drought periods.

● Promote and strengthen policies for integrated urban planning, for cities and metropolitan regions, which guarantees, in addition to the right to housing, access to public transport, waste collection, basic sanitation and quality public services.

● Promote the realization of the National Solid Waste Policy, encouraging the reduction, selective collection, recycling and proper disposal of solid waste.

● Implement policies to support urban mobility that encourage modes with low emission of pollutants, enhancement of green areas, generation of clean, renewable and distributed energy with energy efficiency, replacement of vehicles powered by fossil fuels by electric vehicles and those powered by biofuels.