In 2022, the last year of (PL’s) administration, a group of military personnel published a document called “Nation Project – Brazil in 2035”. Formulated by the Sagres, Federalista and General Villas Bôas institutes (founded by the former Army commander), it pointed to the country’s legislation and the actions of environmentalists as obstacles to agribusiness and mining in the Amazon.
Full of military personnel, the Bolsonaro government itself, with a climate denier as Minister of the Environment (), withering the Amazon Fund and discrediting the (National Institute for Space Research).
General Richard Fernandez Nunes was not part of the former captain’s government, but he was a central figure in the Army this decade, occupying positions reserved only for the “four stars”, the top of the career ladder. He was military commander of the Northeast, head of the Department of Education and Culture and chief of the Army General Staff, number two in the corporation.
In August, he went into reserve, and in September he took on the role of general director of Censipam (Management and Operational Center for the Amazon Protection System).
Subordinated to the Ministry of Defense, Censipam is a geointelligence body whose self-declared objective is to “promote environmental protection and sustainable development” in the Legal Amazon and the Amazon. Captures data from satellites, radars and weather stations; carries out hydrological surveys and supplies platforms such as , which monitors fires in real time. He works together with Inpe on images of forest deforestation.
In an interview with SheetGeneral Richard, as he is known, stands against the denialism of many of his peers, arguing that the climate debate must be based on scientific evidence, and defends the integration of data between government, NGOs and the productive sector and partnership with academia.
As for the influence of the dictatorship’s military on the current state of the Amazon — with programs that encouraged deforestation and land occupation —, he states that “judging with today’s eyes what was done decades ago is extremely unfair.”
What diagnosis do you make, in light of COP30, regarding the warnings regarding the climate emergency, particularly the case of the Amazon?
There was a broad awareness among Brazilian society regarding the need to develop the region with the responsibility of preserving the environment, this is well known. The agencies are aware of this responsibility, but there is a lot to do. I think the big challenge is getting data integration.
We often notice a certain redundancy in producing data. This could be simplified and more effort could be directed towards action on the ground rather than obtaining data.
But I’m optimistic, I believe that COP30 contributes even more to this awareness. And what I have observed, in the short time I have been leading Censipam, is a search for ever greater integration.
Integration between governmental and non-governmental bodies, researchers…
Everyone. Including the production area itself. Rural producers, who have a series of laws to comply with, can count on an instrument like ours, which in a scientific way can provide information that is not contested.
It is very interesting to get out of your guesswork and have reliable and accurate tools telling you the degree of respect for environmental legislation that is occurring in a given area, or the level of disrespect. What we provide in terms of information is valid for researchers, for supervisory bodies, for agencies of a different nature, but it is valid for society in general, especially for those who have to produce wealth in our country.
There is a very present dichotomy in the Amazon between preservation and development. Are these aspects irreconcilable?
They are perfectly reconcilable. This is clear in Censipam’s mission itself, both in support for development —because Amazonian populations really need to have a better quality of life, to be beneficiaries of development— and in environmental preservation. Knowing how to combine this with intelligence is one of the purposes of COP30 itself.
The technological issue is decisive. We have to present solutions, have great integration with the academic world, this is happening. We are enabling the implementation of a branch of the Military Institute of Engineering at the Censipam facilities in Manaus precisely to carry out research and development. We will offer master’s and doctorate degrees with the IME seal there in Manaus, studying Amazon themes. There is a huge need in that area.
What is your opinion, for example, about the ?
I don’t have an opinion, I’m not a scholar on the subject. Once exploration has been decided, Censipam tools come into play, such as Sipam Mar, which began to be developed when there was the issue of [em 2019]. We are fully capable of carrying out this type of monitoring so that there is no type of misuse of the environment, environmental crime, or any environmental disaster occurring without control.
Under the motto “integrate not to deliver”, and with programs such as the National Integration Plan and the Transamazônica highway itself, the Brazilian military, especially the Army, contributed to the disorderly occupation and deforestation of the Amazon. In perspective, do you, or does the Army do, any mea culpa regarding that process?
Everything is a moment, and the level of awareness you have today is not what you had back then. So judging with today’s eyes what was done decades ago is extremely unfair. What I see today, I can no longer speak for the Army, but I spent a good part of my life there, is the institution’s great adherence to legislation, to all environmental care, so much so that today the areas of the Army —the Armed Forces, I can say— are examples of environmental preservation.
In Manaus, the area under the responsibility of the Jungle Warfare Instruction Center is perfectly preserved and is even used by scholars from around the world as an example of good care. The most complete zoo on Amazonian fauna is currently under the care of the Army at this center.
The level of humanity’s ecological awareness has grown in recent decades. In the middle of the 20th century, these themes were not even the subject of greater care, and society was completely removed from this type of language.
But even today, more recently, military personnel are also associated with denialism, including former Army commanders, in part refuting the climate emergency, or relativizing it, criticizing environmentalists. How do you position yourself in this debate?
I position myself today, especially in relation to the body I lead, with absolute scientific rigor. Certain topics must be addressed based on concrete data and not assumptions. As it is a topic that lends itself to controversy, the construction of narratives, what we are looking for here is to move away from all of this and really, when presenting results, solutions, products, [são] fully based on scientific evidence. So today, on Censipam’s part, I don’t see any difficulty in behaving in the face of this discussion.
With tensions rising in the region, with the US attacking Venezuelan boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific, and making threats to Colombia, how has Censipam acted in the border area? What is the role in providing information to the Armed Forces, for example?
We are subordinate to the Ministry of Defense and have very close integration with the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces. So everything that is required of us, whether in operations to defend sovereignty, or in exercises, in any situation, we have a seat and make our intelligence services available for the best decision-making process. This is permanent.
The Armed Forces rely on our products and services and, when an operations center is established, we send our employees to staff their posts there as well and provide information in real time. Therefore, Censipam is a geointelligence body available to the Armed Forces to preserve the sovereignty of our territory.
But do you fear an increase in these attacks and do you see the risk of a conflict in the region?
When, a few years ago, we started to welcome Venezuelans into our territory, there was already a strengthening of our military capacity there, of intelligence, of observation. And attention has been focused there not only for the sake of defending sovereignty, but also for border control itself, protection of indigenous populations.
So everything that has been done on the northern border is our priority. We are fully capable of monitoring any type of change in the environment. So far, conditions in that area are as usual. There were no major changes.
X-RAY
RICHARD NUNES, 62
Reserve Army General (four stars), is general director of Censipam (Management and Operational Center for the Amazon Protection System). On active duty, he was commander of the Army Command and General Staff School (Eceme), head of the Army Social Communication Center, military commander of the Northeast, head of the Department of Education and Culture and chief of the Army General Staff. In 2018, appointed by intervener Braga Netto, he was Secretary of Public Security of RJ during the federal intervention
