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Green activists have raised concerns as the Brazilian Congress is pushing to continue dismantling environmental protections and the rights of Indigenous communities in the country. A draft legislation slashing the authority of the Ministries of Indigenous Peoples (MPI) and the Environment (MMA) was approved following a 15-3 vote on May 24, 2023.
Veteran leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva being elected over former President Jair Bolsonaro last year had given hope to environmentalists and Indigenous people. However, the recent move can devastate efforts to protect Indigenous communities and the Amazon.
Lula put the veteran environmentalist Marina Silva in charge of environmental affairs and made the Indigenous activist Sonia Guajajara head of a new ministry for Indigenous peoples after taking power in January.
A Brazilian congressional committee approved legislation that has reverted the MMA to its Bolsonaro-era structure, said a press release by environmental and Indigenous rights non-profit Amazon Watch.
Guajajara was quoted by the Amazon Watch press note. She said:
The international community expects the Brazilian government to implement effective policies to eliminate deforestation and protect the environment. If we continue attacking the main ally in the fight against deforestation, we risk losing all the international credibility we have been working so hard to rebuild
The Bill 490 requires approval on the lower house floor and the Senate to pass. It represents Lula’s first major clash with a new conservative Congress following significant gains by right-wing lawmakers in last year’s election, reported news agency Reuters.
The move also shifts the socio-environmental administrative structure of Brazilian President Lula’s administration by stripping the authority of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI) to restrict or legally recognise Indigenous territories.
The vote returns this responsibility to the Ministry of Justice. It revokes the MMA’s control of water resources and Brazil’s rural environmental registry — a vital tool in the fight against illegal deforestation and land-grabbing, said Amazon Watch.
Another Bill that severely limits the right of Indigenous peoples to their ancestral territories will also be voted upon soon, the president of Brazil’s Lower House, Arthur Lira, announced the same day. If approved, the legislation would preempt a ruling by Brazil’s Supreme Court on the “Time Limit” thesis, slated for June 7, 2023.
When elected, Lula had spoken at length about the Amazon and its indigenous peoples. The biome and its inhabitants have been the subject of grave concerns ever since Bolsonaro came to power in 2018.
The far-right Bolsonaro’s government was widely perceived to be supported by ranchers and agribusinesses, many of whom were accused of destroying the Amazon’s rainforests to make way for pastureland and fields.
The Bill 490 that Congress is violently trying to push through is an outright violation of the Federal Constitution and of international treaties ratified by Brazil, all of which clearly recognises the rights of Indigenous peoples to their traditional lands, said Ana Carolina Alfinito, Amazon Watch legal advisor.
Brazil risks quickly shifting from a hopeful government to one continuing destructive policies, a path the Amazon rainforest and other biomes can’t withstand for another four years, the non-profit further said.