The environment is the biggest cross-functional agenda of the Lula administration. The focus on the matter is clear in the 2024-2027 Multi-Year Plan (PPA), of the Ministry of Planning and Financial Budgeting (MPO). The topic is included in 50 of the 88 PPA programs, with 113 specific goals, 372 deliveries and 150 institutional measures under 25 federal administration bodies.
The interconnection is clear in the report “2024-2027 PPA Cross-Functional Environmental Agenda” to be launched at an event in Brasília with ministers Simone Tebet (Planning), Marina Silva (Environment and Climate Change), Sonia Guajajara (Indigenous Peoples), and Waldez Góes (Integration and Regional Development).
“Cross-functional agendas are a way of addressing complex and multidimensional public policy problems,” said Leany Lemos, Brazil’s national secretary of Planning. “By building cross-functional agendas in the PPA, we seek to help the government to better organize the management, monitoring, and definition of spending priorities, increasing efficiency and transparency.”
The PPA is a government plan proposed by the Executive branch, included in the Brazilian Constitution and pushed by Congress. “It is an agenda that supports the country’s commitments”, said Virgínia de Ângelis, deputy secretary of Planning. In the current version there are five cross-functional agendas: children and adolescents, women, racial equality, indigenous peoples, and the environment.
The document sets out the government’s commitments into seven areas such as preventing and controlling deforestation and fighting fires, conservation, protection, and recovery of biodiversity. In that matter, one of the efforts is to reach the goal of recovering 12 million hectares of vegetation by 2030. The plan is to recover 5,000 hectares of urban green areas and 190,000 hectares of public forests via concessions, for example, by 2027.
Another topic addresses the management and conservation of water resources. Initially, there was some attrition between the ministries of Environment, Regional Development and the National Water and Sanitation Agency (ANA) over responsibilities on the topic, but the report indicates there is consensus and suggests integration of other bodies.
For example, the idea of increasing productivity of irrigated agriculture for regional development includes the implementation of 50 water reuse projects by 2027, 40 of which in the Northeast region. Another goal is to reduce the number of households that have no access to water by 22%— to 774,000 households in 2027 from 945,000 in 2024—with the delivery of cisterns and other social technologies.
In the chapter dedicated to the management of marine resources and coastal zones, the PPA is comprehensive. It ranges from boosting scientific knowledge to tackling climate emergency by assessing the vulnerability of municipalities, among other points.
One new front is the bioeconomy. “That is a recent area, with a public policy that is being detailed,” Ms. De Ângelis says. Multiple ministries have programs regarding the topic, while the concept of bioeconomy varies. “In the PPA discussion, integration of departments has started,” she said. The document says it seeks to “promote a model of fair and ethical economic development, which generates products, processes and services based on a sustainable use of biological resources, anchored in scientific and traditional knowledge, its innovations and technologies; respecting ecosystems’ limits; and in businesses and markets that operate at various scales.”
The range of actions includes the implementation of the Payment for Environmental Services (PSA) registry, an incentive for businesses to operate in forestry value chains, the release of 15 requests for proposals aiming the concession of federal public forests by 2027 and reaching 120,000 households served by the “Bolsa Verde” program, which supports conservation, among other goals.
Another topic discusses environmental quality in both urban and rural areas. The last area is addressing climate emergency—with efforts ranging from producing more information and models about climate to the creation of 170 social and environmental education centers and the issuance of sustainable sovereign bonds to fund part of the actions related to ecological transformation.
“The document is a key instrument of transparency, especially in a context in which the country has taken several international commitments,” Ms. De Ângelis added.
Translation: Liliana Hage