350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 Tel: +1-212-290-4700 Fax: +1-212-736-1300; 917-591-3452 Kenneth Roth, Executive Director São Paulo, July 8, 2021 Deputy Executive Directors Tirana Hassan, DED/Chief Programs Officer Wisla Heneghan, DED/ Chief Operating Officer Consortium of the Governors of the Legal Amazon: Michele Alexander, Chief Development Officer Alan Feldstein, General Counsel (Acting) Mr. Gladson Cameli Mei Fong, Chief Communications Officer Colin Mincy, Chief People Officer Governor of Acre James Powell, Chief Technology Officer James Ross, Legal and Policy Director Bruno Stagno Ugarte, Chief Advocacy Officer Mr. Waldez Góes Division and Program Directors Brad Adams, Asia Governor of Amapá Nicole Austin-Hillery, United States Eric Goldstein, Middle East & North Africa (Acting) Mausi Segun, Africa José Miguel Vivanco, Americas Mr. Wilson Lima Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia Governor of Amazonas Heather Barr, Women’s Rights (Acting) Shantha Rau Barriga, Disability Rights Richard Dicker, International Justice Lama Fakih, Crisis and Conflict Mr. Flávio Dino Bill Frelick, Refugees’ Rights Arvind Ganesan, Business and Human Rights Governor of Maranhão Steve Goose, Arms Amanda Klasing, Women’s Rights (Acting) Zama Neff, Children’s Rights Mr. Mauro Mendes Graeme Reid, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Daniel Wilkinson, Environment and Human Rights (Acting) Governor of Mato Grosso Advocacy Directors Yasmine Ahmed, United Kingdom Maria Laura Canineu, Brazil Mr. Helder Barbalho Louis Charbonneau, United Nations, New York Farida Deif, Canada Governor of Pará Kanae Doi, Japan John Fisher, United Nations, Geneva Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Bénédicte Jeannerod, France Mr. Marcos Rocha, Sarah Holewinski, Washington DC Lotte Leicht, European Union Governor of Rondônia Wenzel Michalski, Germany Måns Molander, Sweden and Denmark Elaine Pearson, Australia Mr. Antonio Denarium Board of Directors Amy Rao, Co-Chair Governor of Roraima Neil Rimer, Co-Chair Betsy Karel, Vice Chair Oki Matsumoto, Vice Chair Amy Towers, Vice Chair; Treasurer Mr. Mauro Carlesse Catherine Zennström, Vice Chair Bruce Rabb, Secretary Governor of Tocantins Akwasi Aidoo Lishan Aklog George Coelho Kimberly Marteau Emerson Loubna Freih Leslie Gilbert-Lurie Dear Governors, Paul Gray Caitlin Heising Karen Herskovitz Judith Heumann We are writing to applaud the commitment the Governors, through the Susan Kane David Lakhdhir Interstate Legal Amazon Consortium, have made to fight illegal Louisa Lee-Reizes Alicia Miñana deforestation in the Amazon and to share our recommendations Ambassador Robin Sanders Bruce Simpson regarding the urgent, short-term steps that we believe your states should Joseph Skrzynski AO Donna Slaight, C.M. take to meet it. Human Rights Watch strongly supports your efforts to Siri Stolt-Nielsen Marie Warburg Isabelle de Wismes seek international cooperation to address the Amazon crisis. And we Masa Yanagisawa Andrew Zolli have advocated for international assistance to be provided directly to those state governments that are able to demonstrate progress— AMMAN - AMSTERDAM · BEIRUT · BERLIN·BRUSSELS·CHICAGO - COPENHAGEN · GENEVA · GOMA · JOHANNESBURG · KIEV · KINSHASA · LONDON·LOS ANGELES·MIAMI · MOSCOW - NAIROBI · NEW YORK· PARIS · SAN FRANCISCO·SÃO PAULO · SEOUL · SILICON VALLEY · STOCKHOLM · SYDNEY · TOKYO · TORONTO·WASHINGTON · ZÜRICH measured in concrete results—in reducing deforestation and ending impunity for environmental crimes and acts of intimidation and violence against forest defenders within their jurisdictions. Human Rights Watch is an international nongovernmental organization that monitors and reports on human rights issues in more than 100 countries around the world—including, among others, those associated with environmental degradation and climate change, abusive and unsustainable business practices, and infringements on the rights of Indigenous peoples. We have staff in 40 countries, including offices in Washington, DC; New York; Berlin; Paris; and São Paulo. Human Rights Watch has done extensive reporting on the environmental and human rights crisis in the Brazilian Amazon. In 2019, we published a report documenting a systematic failure by authorities to properly investigate and prosecute acts of violence linked to illegal deforestation. In 2020, in partnership with the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) and the Institute for Health Policy Studies (IEPS), we produced a report documenting how deforestation-related fires had poisoned the air breathed by millions of Brazilians and led to thousands of hospitalizations for respiratory diseases. We have also documented the failure of federal agencies to enforce penalties for environmental infractions and curb illegal mining and violence in Indigenous territories. Since 2019, Human Rights Watch has reported on how the federal government has sabotaged the country’s environmental law enforcement agencies, harassed and sought to marginalize civil society organizations, and weakened the protection of Indigenous territories. While illegal deforestation and associated violence are longstanding problems in the Brazilian Amazon, the situation has grown dramatically worse under the current government, whose anti-environmental rhetoric and policies have effectively given a green light to the criminal networks that are driving much of the illegal logging, mining, and land invasions. The mounting destruction of the rainforest has tarnished Brazil’s image and competitiveness abroad. The European Union has indicated the Amazon crisis is a major factor in the delay in the ratification of the association agreement with Mercosur, for example. Failure to address the crisis has also hindered the country’s aspirations to become a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and investment funds and supermarkets have threatened to boycott Brazilian agricultural commodities linked to deforestation. Given the federal government’s record, and given the crucial role that state-level agencies play in fighting illegal deforestation and protecting the rights of local populations, 2 Human Rights Watch has urged the US government to engage with the Consortium in the design and implementation of assistance programs to the Brazilian Amazon, and to offer assistance directly to the states to support your efforts to address the crisis. In April, the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway along with major businesses launched the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest finance (LEAF) Coalition. The coalition is pledging at least US$1 billion to pay jurisdictions, including subnational governments such as the Amazon states, that can demonstrate they are reducing greenhouse gas emissions from tropical deforestation and forest degradation, which effectively requires them to reduce deforestation rates. To be eligible for funding, the Coalition says, jurisdictions must ensure the “full and effective” participation of Indigenous peoples and local communities and uphold land tenure rights in their deforestation reduction projects. It our understanding that, after welcoming the initiative, some Amazon states have taken steps towards submitting applications. Citing Human Rights Watch research, in April 15 US senators–including the chairs of Senate committees that play a major role in shaping foreign policy–made clear in a letter to President Joe Biden that any such assistance should be conditioned on Brazilian authorities making significant and sustained progress on reducing deforestation and ending impunity for environmental crimes and acts of intimidations and violence against forest defenders. Subsequently, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change John Kerry and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken have echoed the call for results. It seems increasingly clear that states will have to address human rights issues in conjunction with efforts to reduce deforestation to be eligible for funding, and they will have to demonstrate concrete progress. We are encouraged that the Consortium is seeking to build alliances with the international community to support conservation and sustainable development that benefits the millions of Brazilians residing in the Amazon. We welcome the progress made in several states in curbing deforestation, and the initiative that some state governments have taken to seek to increase the sustainability of agricultural commodities produced in the Amazon. We also consider crucial that some states have developed and maintained their own programs for the protection of environmental and human rights defenders at risk. Yet much remains to be done. According to the National Space Research Agency (INPE) PRODES monitoring system, in 2020 more than 11,000 square kilometers of rainforest 3 were lost, nearly triple the 3,925 square kilometers target that Brazil committed itself to reaching by 2020 as part of its National Climate Change Policy. The most recent preliminary estimates by INPE’s DETER monitoring system indicate that between January and May 2021 roughly 2550 square kilometers were deforested, a 25 per cent increase in relation to the same period last year. Recent, serious acts of violence and threats against Indigenous forest defenders in the Tapajós basin and the Yanomami Indigenous lands, even in the face of law enforcement operations against illegal mining, also show the extent to which criminal groups driving the destruction of the Amazon feel emboldened—and the work that authorities must do to counter this