Jose Sarney Filho Brazil’s New Environment Minister

Congressman Jose Sarney Filho was sworn in May 12 as Brazil’s new environment minister, following his appointment by interim President Michel Temer, a spokeswomen told Bloomberg BNA May 12.

Sarney Filho, head of the Green Party in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Congress, served as environment minister from January 1999 until January 2002, during the second, four-year term of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. In that post, Sarney Filho helped draft a presidential decree that regulated a 1998 environmental crimes law that greatly increased fines and established prison terms for causing environmental damage.

Also during Sarney Filho’s time ...