Brazil's Lula enacts law easing environmental licensing but vetoes large parts
The original proposal, supported by Brazil's powerful agribusiness community, was heavy criticized by environmental groups, which had taken to calling it the "devastation bill."
President Lula's vetoes aimed to preserve the integrity of the licensing process, ensure legal certainty for projects, protect the rights of indigenous and Quilombola communities, and streamline procedures, Miriam Belchior said.
Belchior also announced that the government would send a new bill to Congress under a constitutional urgency procedure in order to fill what she called the "gaps" left by the vetoes and avoid legal uncertainty.
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