By: Richard J. Ladle
As the political pendulum swings to the right in countries as diverse as the USA and Brazil, we are seeing renewed attacks on environmental regulations and the agencies charged with enforcing them. The rationale is always the same – assorted tree-huggers, do-gooders and hippies have created a labyrinth of bureaucracy that slows or sometimes even halts the march of progress (aka habitat destruction). What’s a politician to do? Well, for a start they can take a large pair of scissors to the symbolic red tape.
In a recent commentary in Environmental Impact Assessment Review, we outline some of the forthcoming changes to Brazil’s environmental monitoring legislation, and outline the potential consequences (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195925516303584).