In 2019, Brazil’s environmental agency issued the fewest fines for breaking conservation laws since 1995, Reuters reports.
The agency gave out 12,266 fines for environmental crimes in 2019, a decrease of 17% compared with 2018, according to the report. The agency did not release a reason for the decline.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has criticized “industry fines” while on the campaign trail, claiming they are out of control, according to the report.
The country’s deforestation rate in the Amazon rainforest has increased since Bolsonaro took office in 2018, reaching an 11-year high, Reuters reports. In 2019, the country battled massive wildfires in the Amazon. Environmental experts attributed the devastating fires to illegal logging activity.
