Brazil’s President Lula da Silva signed six decrees demarcating new territories for indigenous peoples, including a vast territory in the Amazon, during a meeting of representatives of native peoples in Brasilia. These new reserves, which guarantee indigenous peoples the exclusive use of natural resources and preserve their traditional way of life, are considered by scientists to be one of the main barriers against deforestation in the Amazon, whose control is one of the government’s priority objectives.
Lula made the announcement at the closing of the 19th edition of the “Terra Livre” camp, an annual meeting that brings together thousands of indigenous people from all over the country. No new reserve had been created under the mandate of the previous president, Jair Bolsonaro, who had promised before coming to power “not to give an inch” to the native peoples.
Under Bolsonaro’s presidency, average annual deforestation increased by 75% compared to the previous decade. Two of the six new demarcations approved on Friday are located in the Amazon, including the largest, called Unieuxi, assigned to 249 indigenous people of the Maku and Tukano peoples on more than 550,000 hectares in the northern state of Amazonas. Two others are located in the northeast of the country, a fifth in the south, and the last in the central region.
Lula, 77, signed the decrees together with prominent indigenous leaders, such as the iconic chief Raoni Metuktire. “In four years we will do more (for the indigenous peoples) than in the eight years we have already governed the country (2003–2010),” promised the leftist president, who began his third term in office in January.
The largest South American country is home to some 800,000 indigenous peoples, most of them living in reserves that occupy 13.75% of the territory. New demarcations are expected to be approved soon, as the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara, announced that 14 territories (including the six approved on Friday) were ready to be placed under indigenous management, covering a total of about 900,000 hectares.