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He was very straight forward and severe in his criticism of many long-established
interest groups and their practices. One of his immediate plans was to take strong
corrective measures against the lumber industry. He was attributing responsibility
for wrongdoings to no less powerful groups than the Order of Brazilian Lawyers,
the General Procuracy of the Republic, and many NGOs. Government members
tried to dissuade him of his purpose, but in vain. During the Brazilian representation
at the UN, in March, 1992, he announced that Brazil's National Forest Service was
a “lumberman's branch” and a “corruption center.” Furthermore, he also stated that
the money contributed to Brazil by international environmental NGOs was being
diverted to corrupt individuals. He advised them to stop contributing to projects in
Brazil.
Before that, in 1991, in a meeting with Austria's Chancellor, Franz Vranitzki,
President Collor, using a typical third-world-country discourse, said that Brazil was
a poor country in need of help from rich ones. Surprisingly, taking advantage of the
fact that President Collor did not know German, Lutzenberger addressed the
Austrian Minister in his native language and said: “…We have an unbelievably rich
country … We have all possible resources. But we are a very poor country.
Unbelievably poor. One cannot imagine how poor we are in decent politicians”
(Bones and Hasse
2002
, p. 27).
Lutzenberger clearly was not endowed with the diplomatic skills, which, if he
were, would have allowed him to easily move among the diverse areas of activity
that his position as a minister required. Perhaps, he never cared to. The newspapers
announced that he was about to fall from power. A few months before the Earth
Summit, Rio 92, which he had helped to organize, he was replaced by Professor
José Goldenberg, a physicist, with long experience in governmental agencies.
The evaluation of Lutzenberger as Minister is controversial. Some say that with
him a great opportunity was wasted, others that he was a historical landmark. As
Environment Minister, Lutzenberger's main achievements were to persuade:
(A) President Collor to recognize and protect the land of the Yanomami Indians in
the northwest Amazon Basin, creating a 36,000 square-mile sanctuary, and to
expel the wildcat gold miners who were decimating the Indians and destroying
the rainforest habitat;
(B) Prince Charles, a strong supporter of environmental causes, to visit the Amazon,
and to host an environmental gathering aboard of the Royal Yacht;
(C) the Brazilian Government to abandon the Atomic Bomb Project, to sign the
Antarctic Treaty and the Wales Convention, and to implement the Brazilian
Environmental Code.
As environmental activist, Lutzenberger's main achievements were:
1. to wage a successful campaign for the propagation of the philosophical founda-
tions of the environmental movement;
2. to install 40-million-dollars' worth of antipollution equipment in a paper pulp
factory in Porto Alegre;
3. to stop abusive destruction of city green areas and the indiscriminate use of
agrotoxins and transgenics in plantations;
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