EN 
PT_BR 
Goiás has become the first state in Brazil to eliminate the backlog of environmental licensing, a historical bottleneck for agribusiness, mining, and infrastructure projects. This achievement was reached after a task force from the Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development (Semad) analyzed 867 pending processes in just one month, some of which had been stalled for more than five years. “In just one month, the Government of Goiás analyzed 867 processes, all done with the usual transparency and responsibility. To give you an idea, in previous governments, a document could take up to five years to process. Now the timeframe is two months, and our goal is to reach 30 days,” announced Governor Ronaldo Caiado.
The mobilization involved 71 Semad employees, some from the licensing area and others from different sectors of the department, but with experience in analyzing environmental processes. "Everyone worked full-time, with dedication, to ensure the goal was met," stated Secretary Andréa Vulcanis.
Of the total number of cases, 519 were related to requests for the suppression of native vegetation for land use in agriculture, livestock farming, or forestry activities. Another 187 dealt with infrastructure works, such as highways, dams, landfills, and transmission lines, while 161 involved mining, animal husbandry, and gas stations.
Semad reported that the backlog corresponds to processes accumulated until the end of September 2025. From October 1st, new requests began to be automatically distributed among analysts at the Licensing Superintendency. The goal is to respond to each request within a maximum of 30 days after it is formalized.
Andréa Vulcanis emphasized that the speed did not compromise technical rigor. “The rapidity with which the processes were handled did not imply any detriment to the quality of the analyses. The staff worked with the same transparency and seriousness as always, which makes this achievement even more valuable,” she highlighted.
The result reinforces the strategy of the Goiás state government to combine deregulation and environmental control. For the productive sector, the reduction in deadlines can unlock investments and improve the predictability of rural and infrastructure projects, areas historically affected by administrative obstacles.
Ipê System
The reality of environmental licensing in Goiás changed starting in the second half of 2020 with the launch of the Ipê system. The platform, entirely developed by Semad, revolutionized how applications were submitted and processed within the government, reducing the average processing time from three years, as in other states, to 60 or 70 days.
