The Ministry of Agriculture will be tasked with assignments that previously belonged to the Ministry of Environment and the National Indigenous Foundation (Funai).
The main change for the Environment department was losing the Brazilian Forestry Service to the Ministry of Agriculture, established by executive order on Tuesday (1st) night.
The Forestry Service was created on 2006 to manage federal forests, and it operates the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), a mandatory online registration system for farm owners and one of the mechanisms of implementation of Brazil's Forestry Code.
The registry allows environmental agencies to know who among rural property owner is obeying the law.
But the federal forests' management will be kept under the Environment department, according to new Minister Ricardo Salles.
Fisheries and fishing licenses will also be under Agriculture's responsibility from now on.
The ministry also gained oversight on delimiting indigenous lands, which previously was a responsibility of government agency Funai (National Indigenous Foundation).
On Wednesday, minister Tereza Cristina underplayed criticism to the changes -- the main one is that such decisions will fall into the hands of politicians connected to the rural caucus.
The special secretary for land propriety matters is Luiz Antonio Nabhan Garcia, president of the Ruralist Democratic Union.
Another change at the Ministry of Environment is the transfer of the National Agency of Water (ANA) to the Ministry of Domestic Development.
Translated by NATASHA MADOV