Simone Iglesias and Travis Waldron
Thu, September 21, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- Brazil’s Supreme Court rejected an attempt to limit the creation of new Indigenous territories, a boost for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the tribal communities he pledged to protect.
The court’s justices on Thursday ruled 9-2 against a legal effort that tribal leaders said would have curbed their ability to reclaim traditional lands, while also increasing threats to their communities and the environment.
The ruling will hand Lula a victory in the midst of a series of international events — including the United Nations General Assembly, which began Tuesday in New York — that he is using to push for global funding for his fight to protect the Amazon rainforest.
“This result defines the future of demarcations of Indigenous lands in Brazil,” Minister of Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara said in a statement. “So let’s celebrate the result of the great strength of Brazil’s Indigenous peoples.”
The case involved a legal interpretation of the section of Brazil’s 1988 constitution that established a right for Indigenous tribes to claim lands they traditionally occupied. The so-called Marco Temporal theory would have limited tribal claims to territories they were occupying or legally disputing on the day the constitution was ratified.
“It is necessary to clearly recognize Indigenous rights, and forbid any setback that reduces the constitutional protection of them,” Judge Cristiano Zanin, a Lula appointee who voted against the proposed limits, said during an earlier session.
Brazil’s influential agribusiness sector and other industries have supported the effort. But tribal leaders and human rights groups pointed to the fact that many Indigenous peoples were forced from their territories to argue against a change they said would lead to more mining, farming and logging on those lands.
It “would be an inconceivable setback, would violate human rights, and would signal that Brazil is not living up to its commitments to protect the communities that are proven to best protect our forests,” Maria Laura Canineu, the Brazil director for Human Rights Watch, said in a May statement, as the judicial case proceeded and congress weighed legislation to codify the theory into law.
The years-long legal fight unfolded against a backdrop of intensifying disputes over Indigenous lands, especially under former President Jair Bolsonaro.
The right-wing leader, who promised not to demarcate any new tribal territories during his time in office, oversaw rising rates of deforestation in the Amazon region. His government also faced allegations of retaliation against employees and outside groups that supported the protection of new lands, according to a Human Rights Watch report.
Lula took office in January pledging to protect existing lands and create new territories. But he has faced pushback from Brazil’s conservative congress, which in May removed some powers from the Ministry of Environment.
The lower house also approved the bill that would have made Marco Temporal the law. But the Senate delayed a vote on the measure.
Read More: Brazil Congress Backs Lula’s Cabinet, But Tests Green Agenda
Conservative lawmakers who supported the effort indicated that they will likely push to change the constitution after the court ruling.
The decision “causes concerns” for the agribusiness industry, Marcos Rogerio, the bill’s rapporteur in the Senate, said in a statement. “Congress must give them legal security.”
Lula has in recent months made climate and the environment more central to his agenda both at home and abroad.
His government in August unveiled infrastructure investment programs and other initiatives that he has pitched as the start of a green transition for Brazil’s economy. He also hosted a summit of Amazon nations to discuss strategies for protecting the forest and combating crime in the region.
Lula used that event to ramp up pressure on wealthier nations to deliver on the financial pledges they made to help the developing world combat climate change. He has continued the campaign at the UN summit in New York, where top cabinet officials joined him to pitch investors and other world leaders on the government’s green plans.
Later this year, Lula will travel to Dubai for COP28, the UN’s annual climate summit.
--With assistance from Beatriz Reis.
(Updates with final vote count, comments from Sonia Guajajara and Senator Marcos Rogerio from second paragraph.)
Bloomberg Businessweek
Brazil’s firefighters battle wildfires raging during rare late-winter heat wave
Associated Press
Thu, September 21, 2023
An extensive area of the Serra das Bandeiras forest burns in Barreiras, western Bahia state, Brazil, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023. According to the National Center for Prevention and Combat of Forest Fires, the fires are being fanned by strong winds, high temperatures, and dry weather.
Associated Press
Thu, September 21, 2023
An extensive area of the Serra das Bandeiras forest burns in Barreiras, western Bahia state, Brazil, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023. According to the National Center for Prevention and Combat of Forest Fires, the fires are being fanned by strong winds, high temperatures, and dry weather.
(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Firefighters on Thursday were battling flames in Brazil’s northeastern Bahia state, fanned by strong winds and abnormally high temperatures for the season, authorities said.
While it is still technically winter in Brazil, with spring due to start in a couple days, a heat wave prompting record temperatures has swept across much of the country since the beginning of the week.
Faced with a growing number of hot spots caused by high temperatures, Bahia's association of forestry-based companies this week launched a campaign to prevent — and combat — wildfires.
State authorities said they have mobilized over 150 military firefighters to put out fires in different areas across the state, as well as in Chapada Diamantina, a national park known for its panoramic views.
The Instagram account of Bahia's secretary for public security showed images of firefighters making their way through parched forests, equipped in high-visibility orange gear and helmets, attempting to bring the licking flames under control.
The fires broke out Monday, according to local media reports. There are no details regarding the size of the affected area, but Brazil's National Institute of Meteorology has categorized the heat wave as a “great danger.”
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Follow AP’s climate coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Firefighters on Thursday were battling flames in Brazil’s northeastern Bahia state, fanned by strong winds and abnormally high temperatures for the season, authorities said.
While it is still technically winter in Brazil, with spring due to start in a couple days, a heat wave prompting record temperatures has swept across much of the country since the beginning of the week.
Faced with a growing number of hot spots caused by high temperatures, Bahia's association of forestry-based companies this week launched a campaign to prevent — and combat — wildfires.
State authorities said they have mobilized over 150 military firefighters to put out fires in different areas across the state, as well as in Chapada Diamantina, a national park known for its panoramic views.
The Instagram account of Bahia's secretary for public security showed images of firefighters making their way through parched forests, equipped in high-visibility orange gear and helmets, attempting to bring the licking flames under control.
The fires broke out Monday, according to local media reports. There are no details regarding the size of the affected area, but Brazil's National Institute of Meteorology has categorized the heat wave as a “great danger.”
____
Follow AP’s climate coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
Bolsonaro Denies Reports of Holding Post-Election Coup Talks
Andrew Rosati
Thu, September 21, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- Attorneys of Jair Bolsonaro denied reports published in local news outlets that Brazil’s former president met with top military brass to discuss the armed forces overturning the results of last year’s election.
In a statement released late Thursday afternoon, lawyers representing Bolsonaro, who is currently facing multiple criminal investigations, say he “never supported any movement or project that was not supported by the law.”
Hours earlier, newspaper O Globo and website UOL reported that Bolsonaro’s longtime personal aide, Lt. Col. Mauro Cid, told federal police in a plea bargain that after his defeat to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the right-wing leader spoke with commanders about drafting a decree that could bring about a military intervention in Brazil.
Cid agreed this month to cooperate with authorities who are probing Bolsonaro for possible crimes including embezzling luxury watches and stirring up the rioters that stormed Brasilia in January in a failed insurrection against Lula.
The outlets did not say how they obtained the contents of the plea bargain, which is under court seal. An attorney representing Cid did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In June, Brazil’s electoral authority barred Bolsonaro from seeking public office for eight years for the baseless claims he made about the integrity of Brazil’s electronic voting system. He denies any wrongdoing and has since tried to distance himself from his most radical supporters as investigators bear down on him.
“Elections are turned pages,” Bolsonaro’s attorney, Fabio Wajngarten, wrote on X, the website formally known as Twitter.
Bloomberg Businessweek
Andrew Rosati
Thu, September 21, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- Attorneys of Jair Bolsonaro denied reports published in local news outlets that Brazil’s former president met with top military brass to discuss the armed forces overturning the results of last year’s election.
In a statement released late Thursday afternoon, lawyers representing Bolsonaro, who is currently facing multiple criminal investigations, say he “never supported any movement or project that was not supported by the law.”
Hours earlier, newspaper O Globo and website UOL reported that Bolsonaro’s longtime personal aide, Lt. Col. Mauro Cid, told federal police in a plea bargain that after his defeat to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the right-wing leader spoke with commanders about drafting a decree that could bring about a military intervention in Brazil.
Cid agreed this month to cooperate with authorities who are probing Bolsonaro for possible crimes including embezzling luxury watches and stirring up the rioters that stormed Brasilia in January in a failed insurrection against Lula.
The outlets did not say how they obtained the contents of the plea bargain, which is under court seal. An attorney representing Cid did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In June, Brazil’s electoral authority barred Bolsonaro from seeking public office for eight years for the baseless claims he made about the integrity of Brazil’s electronic voting system. He denies any wrongdoing and has since tried to distance himself from his most radical supporters as investigators bear down on him.
“Elections are turned pages,” Bolsonaro’s attorney, Fabio Wajngarten, wrote on X, the website formally known as Twitter.
Bloomberg Businessweek
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