Since Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took office on Jan. 1, green advocates have looked on with dread as his right-wing administration has begun to act on an agenda seen as hostile to environmental protection. That’s why they have found themselves pleasantly surprised by the government’s recent launch of a campaign to rein in ocean trash.

The four-year “Marine Debris” initiative, largely planned by the previous government but launched on March 22 by Brazil’s Environment Ministry, targets the trash generated by all 274 municipalities located along Brazil’s 5,270-mile (8,481-km) southern Atlantic coast. Cities produce an estimated 80% of the two million tons of trash Brazil sends seaward every year, according to an association of private Brazilian waste-management firms.

The Environment Ministry says Petrobras, the state oil company, has agreed to put up R$40 million (US$10.2 million) in seed money for the initiative. Contributions also are expected from the government’s National Environment Fund, which annually disburses several hundred million dollars in ecosystem-protection grants, and the Global Environment Facility, the world green-funding partnership created on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.

Alternative to fines
Further funding is expected from a new program under which Ibama, the ministry’s enforcement arm, allows companies to contribute to the management and restoration of protected areas in lieu of paying fines for environmental violations. Companies that participate in the program receive a significant discount on their penalties.

“The Environment Ministry understands the gravity of the environmental, social and economic impacts caused by marine debris,” says André França, the ministry’s environmental-quality secretary and coordinator of the program. “That’s why we have launched the country’s first comprehensive and nationwide program to combat it.”

This is the first of six initiatives the Environment Ministry plans to launch this year to improve urban environmental quality. Others will promote solid-waste management, greening urban areas, air-quality improvement, sanitation services and restoration of polluted land.

The Marine Debris program announcement took place on the island of Ilhabela, which means Beautiful Island, off the coast of southeastern São Paulo state. Ocean currents there often deliver debris ranging from plastic bags, bottles and cups to beer cans, flip-flops and Styrofoam coolers, cluttering the otherwise-beautiful island’s beaches. This frequently prompts approaching tour boats to turn away. Such pollution is pervasive. Dead whales often wash up on Brazilian beaches with up to 20 kilos (44 pounds) of plastic bags in their stomachs, environmental experts say. The floating trash takes a toll on many other marine animals as well, among them dolphins and sea turtles.

As part of a campaign kick-off event called “Immediate Response,” nets will be installed at storm-drain outlets in several dozen coastal cities to prevent trash carried in rain runoff from entering the ocean. Floating barriers also will be strung across rivers and streams in several dozen coastal cities to catch waterborne trash.

The ministry says it will provide technical assistance to help draft waste-management plans for coastal cities that lack them. Other activities will include collecting debris in beach cleanup events, giving scuba divers and fishermen incentives to remove ocean trash, inviting businesses to rid products of microplastics, and gathering fishing nets that were abandoned at sea but still threaten marine life.

“Ghost nets” targeted
The animal-welfare group World Animal Protection (WAP) says these so-called “ghost” fishing nets have been sighted off the coast of 12 of Brazil’s 17 coastal states, but likely exist off the entire coastline. The London-based group says that worldwide, 640,000 tons of nets are abandoned annually, ensnaring 125 tons of fish and contributing to the decline of commercial fishing stocks.

“Ghost-fishing, active fishing, ‘by-catch’ [fish unintentionally caught] and marine debris are the main threats to marine wildlife in Brazil,” says João Almeida, WAP’s wildlife campaign manager in Brazil. “I applaud the Marine Debris program, but just how ambitious it will be, given its small amount of seed funding and the Bolsonaro government’s pledge to decimate environmental protections, remains to be seen. Because of that pledge I’m surprised, not just that it launched the program, but that it even knows what ‘ghost-fishing’ is.”

Officials say program funding also will be used to develop a research and innovation arm to address such challenges as the recycling and reuse of plastics. Anna Carolina Lobo, manager of WWF-Brazil’s Marine Program, welcomes that initiative, saying it could “provide green solutions and generate jobs.”

The Marine Debris program also calls for public-education initiatives, such as training elementary school teachers in ocean-pollution issues and giving them brochures on the subject to hand out to students.