The Brazilian parliament has approved a law that would limit the designation of protected areas for indigenous people. The project is a setback to President da Silva’s stated environmental goals. Indigenous people protest.
“Without designating protected areas there is no democracy!” Indigenous groups had been protesting against the “PL 490” law project throughout Tuesday and even paralyzed one of the main traffic arteries around Brazil’s economic metropolis Sao Paulo. In vain – the police cleared with tear gas.
In the evening, the lower house of Congress voted in favor of the controversial initiative called “Marco Temporal”, which was put on the agenda under the right-wing extremist Bolsonaro government and has now been urgently put to the vote by the influential agricultural faction. “On behalf of the agricultural industry! For food security! For legal certainty in Brazil’s fields,” said one MP.
Fewer protected areas for indigenous people
The “Marco Temporal”, in German “time stamp” is legally highly controversial. But it is clear that it would make the designation of indigenous protected areas significantly more difficult. Because large landowners interpret it in such a way that indigenous people can only claim land where they lived before the 1988 constitution. However, many indigenous peoples were expelled from their original territories and never had a chance to return to the stolen lands. Indigenous MP Célia Xakriaba speaks of a pact of destruction.
Our rights are murdered with the pen here. The “Marco Temporal” is an anti-civilizational project in Brazil. Honorable Members, those who want to steal our territories have a name and a cabinet: they are the new 21st century colonizers, dressed in ties and jackets.
The Senate has yet to vote on the law. The powerful agricultural faction in Congress has now increased the pressure on the Supreme Court, which has to deliberate on June 7 whether the “Marco Temporal” is even constitutional.
MPs want to weaken ministries
However, the initiative is not the only setback for Brazil’s green agenda, which President Lula da Silva promised during the election campaign – and which also raised great hopes abroad. The rifts between environmental activists and the business lobby run right through Lula’s cabinet. For example, deputies from the central bloc, which is allied with Lula, want to withdraw important powers from both the environment ministry and the newly founded indigenous ministry. The environmental agency Ibama is also under fire again.
A number of controversial projects are also on the agenda that could result in the destruction of more forest areas, fears Márcio Astrini, head of the eco-think tank Observatorio do Clima. “What we are experiencing right now is a reality shock. We have a very reactionary congress that basically wants to continue Bolsonaro’s anti-environmental policy. It is trying at all costs to weaken environmental legislation and undermine indigenous rights,” says Astrini. Lula must make a choice: will he serve the interests of Congress or will he keep his promises as President of the Republic?
Conflict over oil production in the Amazon
Lula’s dilemma: if he confronts the powerful Congress, it could block it completely. If he caves in, he offends the two ministers of all people, who also stand as guarantors for Lula’s “zero deforestation promise” abroad. A current conflict over possible oil production in the Amazon could become a test. The environmental agency Ibama, which reports to Environment Minister Marina Silva, had forbidden the semi-public energy giant Petrobras from conducting test drilling. But Lula herself is behind the funding project.
The episode commemorates Lula’s first term in office from 2003, when Marina Silva was also Environment Minister. The government alliance broke up at the time because Lula pushed through projects for economic development in the Amazon region against her will. In view of the recent setbacks, the media are already speculating that Silva will leave the cabinet again. It would be a fatal sign.