The Amazon – home to one in 10 of all the known species on Earth and half of the planet's remaining tropical forests - is losing the forest cover that houses more than 40,000 different plant species.
Already, 17 percent of the forest has been lost, and agriculture, grazing, and industry are accelerating the destruction.
Brazil, an epicenter of rapid development, holds 60 percent of the rain forest.
“Development of the Amazon region in Brazil is a great concern and environmental issue, especially under the new government there, which has said that it will very aggressively promote development in the Amazon,” says Clinical Associate Professor of Law Nancy Loeb, director of Northwestern University’s Environmental Advocacy Center (EAC).
Beginning in the fall of 2018, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) began working with the EAC to determine what opportunities and solutions exist on how to incorporate “natural capital” such as rain forests and human livelihood into infrastructure projects in the Amazon.
This could mean legal and policy changes that would enable WWF to work with local communities to better protect the environment in the Amazon and the interests of indigenous people.
The project emerged due in large part to WWF’s formal partnership with the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN).
“There is a pretty robust statutory framework of environmental protection laws in Brazil,” says Mitchell Denti, a second-year Northwestern law student who worked on this projectunder the guidance of Loeb. However, the degree to which regulations are enforced varies a lot, he says.
Denti’s project looked at infrastructure projects such as road, rail, transmission lines, waterways, and pipelines that create linear divisions of landscapes.
“There are certain procedures to be used to get around the substance of environmental protection statutes,” Denti says. “It was interesting to figure out where the opportunities were for making sure Brazil’s environmental framework is enforced.”
His research consisted of two phases: the first was laying out the licensing process for infrastructure projects in the Amazon and the next was leveraging extensive research to inform WWF’s advocacy positions related to preserving the Amazon’s unparalleled natural capital.
The construction of hydroelectric dams attracted their attention particularly, according to Denti.
As a controversial and important area of the Brazilian electrical system, a hydroelectric dam can potentially not only damage the habitat of fish and plants of the Amazon River but also cause anaerobic conditions in the water, leading to low oxygen levels and the death of native fish.
Methane, generated by reservoirs, reacts with inorganic mercury from soil and mining runoff, and creates toxic methylmercury that migrates downstream to inhabitants who eat contaminated fish.
“At WWF, we only make advocacy [positions] based on solid scientific and technical information... And studies such as this one are very helpful in that sense.” — Bruno Taitson, WWF-Brazil Public Policy Officer
Moreover, untapped hydroelectric sites in Brazil are mostly in the Amazon forest and far from population centers, requiring an extensive build-out of transmission lines to deliver the power to cities. The network directly impacts an area that is double the size of those areas affected by hydroelectric reservoirs in the Amazon region, according to an analysis last year by scientists at the University of Florida.
This is why the policy surrounding hydroelectric power and the dam in the Amazon is influential to the environmental health to the area. Denti suggested to include accurate accounting of dam emissions and toxicity in the Environmental Impact Assessment – an important section in the permitting process – and include the downstream negative effects of dams in the assessment.
As an alternative to hydroelectric sources, Brazil has the opportunity to harness its abundant biomass sources from appropriate sites for solar and wind projects that lie much closer to population centers in the east and south of the country, according to Denti.
“He did a really thorough review of the practices and laws,” says Loeb, speaking of Denti’s work.
Beyond looking at all the Brazilian laws, Denti also benefited a lot from talking to people in Brazil, especially Bruno Taitson, his main contact and WWF-Brazil’s public policy officer.
“The scope for the project could be a little bit daunting if I didn’t have a back-and-forth with Bruno,” Denti says, and this is because linear infrastructure regulation in the Amazon is an enormous topic. “It’s important to hear from Bruno what would be the most helpful for me to look into.”
“Hearing from somebody who lives in Brazil and is engaged with the process was really critical to getting a sense for what the statutes and regulatory bodies do,” he says.
Denti is wrapping up a memo about the description of the framework, policy recommendations, and ways to integrate the ideas of livelihood and natural capital into the infrastructure licensing process for WWF-Brazil members.
“At WWF, we only make advocacy [positions] based on solid scientific and technical information,” Taitson says. “We need qualified information, based on solid research, in order to make a more effective advocacy in order to protect the forest, its biodiversity and natural resources, and the rights of local communities. And studies such as this one are very helpful in that sense.”
Taitson also mentioned that the Amazon region and its traditional communities are facing several threats posed by infrastructure projects in Brazil that usually do not respect Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) protected by the International Labour Organization Convention 169 – one of the most powerful and comprehensive international instruments that recognizes the plights of indigenous peoples and defend their rights.
The pace of change of the legal framework for environmental protection in Brazil is changing very quickly because of the new government administration, according to Denti. And it’s important that the government makes sure the people who bear the negative consequences of the infrastructure development continue to be represented in the licensing process.
In his analysis, Denti found some opportunities for hearings during the licensing process, but it’s difficult in general for individuals to challenge a process and stop it from becoming implemented. There is only one public entity, the Public Prosecutors Office, that has challenged projects with some success.
“One thing that is really important when it comes to infrastructure projects in the Amazon is ensuring the interests of indigenous people continue to be protected,” he emphasizes. And it’s also important to ensure that the body in Brazil in charge of advocating on behalf of indigenous groups in licensing process continues to have the resources that it needs to do an effective job of advocacy, he says.
Having been on litigation and domestic policy focused projects at Northwestern’s Bluhm Legal Clinic, this project focusing on the Amazon is special for Denti for its international conservation focus.
The project was offered through the course Clinic Practice: Environmental Advocacy, made possible through the partnership between ISEN, EAC, and WWF. The partnership with WWF has given law school students at Northwestern an incredible chance to work on environmental issues all around the world, particularly those focused on sustainability, Loeb says.
“It’s incredibly exciting and important for us to be able to work with WWF,” she says. “We are thrilled with the partnership and hope that we will be continue doing work for them going forward for a long time.”