Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Finance, funds and markets · Brazil · 2024

Brazil's army-led Verde Brasil spent USD 90.3m; deforestation rose above average

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
What the record lacks: 2 none on record · 1 not measured · 1 unclear See the gaps

Brazil's Operation Verde Brasil, run by the armed forces, spent USD 90.3 million in two years, while deforestation rose to 62% above the 2009 to 2018 average and violation notices fell 65%. In Colombia's Artemisa operation, villagers were arrested while financiers were not.

What?
Military-led forest enforcement in Brazil and Colombia was presented as forest protection; Agência Pública reported that deforestation rose and fines fell during Verde Brasil. Agência Pública
Where?
Brazil (Verde Brasil) and Colombia (Artemisa) Agência Pública
When?
Verde Brasil spending over two years, reported February 2024; Artemisa arrests reported February 2020. Agência Pública
Who?
Gained
  • Brazilian armed forces — Received USD 90.3 million over two years for the operation Agência Pública
Lost
None on record
Harmed
  • Villagers arrested in Artemisa — Arrested while the financiers of the deforestation were not
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Armed-forces units were deployed to forest enforcement; the sources report that violation notices fell while deforestation rose, and that prosecutions reached villagers rather than financiers. Agência Pública
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Agência Pública reported that Operation Verde Brasil cost USD 90.3 million over two years, about one-third of IBAMA's enforcement spending over 16 years.

Over the same two years, deforestation rose to 62% above the 2009 to 2018 average, and violation notices fell 65%, according to Agência Pública.

Mongabay Latam documented that in Colombia's Artemisa operation villagers were arrested in February 2020, while the financiers of deforestation were not.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • None on record The sources reviewed do not establish that the operation caused the 62% rise in deforestation; the sources describe the rise alongside it.
    • None on record The sources reviewed do not give the area of forest cleared during Verde Brasil.
    • Unclear The sources reviewed do not give the spending or the units involved in the Colombian Artemisa operation.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

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    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
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