After Marina Silva stepped down in May as Brazil's environment minister, her replacement, Carlos Minc, pledged he'd improve the speed and quality of environmental licensing and enforcement. Watched by industry and green groups alike, Minc last month unveiled a series of measures intended to accomplish just that. In doing so, he and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are attempting to address industry concerns that red tape too often ensnarls development projects-and complaints by green advocates that environmental oversight is lax at best. "A more agile licensing process does not mean a more flexible one," Minc said last month. "We want to speed up the process and, at the same time, increase its rigor." Drawing particular attention were a package of licensing steps Minc... [Log in to read more]