Environmental workers begin new strike

Federal employees of environmental agencies and the Department of Environmental Protection in five states participated in a comprehensive strike on Monday. The workers had previously stopped activities in this area, such as inspections and permitting.

Workers in Acre, Pará, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte and the capital Brasília have recently joined the strike. Ascema, a union of public environmental workers, said The Brazilian report that only absolutely necessary activities will be maintained during the strike.

Since the beginning of the year, there have been partial or full strikes by environmental workers across the country.

As The Brazilian report has shown, the Brazilian government has broken off talks with the disgruntled workers, which could jeopardise the country’s environmental protection efforts.

In January, employees of the Brazilian environmental protection agency Ibama, the Ministry of Environment and the Chico Mendes Biodiversity Institute (ICMBio) began strikes and go-slows and stopped all field work.

According to Ascema, the area of ​​the Amazon destroyed by fires, mining and deforestation increased almost 17 times in the first four months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. The number of fines imposed during this period fell by 66 percent. The union says these figures are a direct result of the workers’ slow-paced approach.

Ascema also wrote that the strike had suspended permitting procedures in the oil and gas sector. “At least two gas pipelines and ten contracts for seismic surveys and well drilling are already directly affected by the strike,” it said in a statement on June 13.

Back in May, a senior executive at oil giant Petrobras told investors that the strike at Ibama could reduce production by as much as two percent compared to what was forecast for this year.