A restructuring of Brazil’s Environment Ministry and of Ibama, the ministry’s enforcement and licensing arm, has prompted a strike by Ibama workers and the resignation of two top officials. The reorganization decreed April 26 also has raised concern about a weakening of Ibama’s environmental licensing oversight, which some government officials blame for hampering development. Officials say the restructuring, which shifts biodiversity-conservation oversight away from Ibama and creates four new Environment Ministry departments, will improve Brazil’s ability to meet its domestic and international environmental responsibilities. But President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reportedly hopes the Ibama changes also will speed licensing of key infrastructure projects. High on his priority list is a controversial dam complex on the western Amazon region’s Madeira River that he and... [Log in to read more]