Far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro hours after his inauguration issued an executive order transferring the regulation and creation of new indigenous reserves to the agriculture ministry, worrying environmentalists and supporters of indigenous rights.
Noting that Brazil’s agriculture ministry is effectively controlled by powerful agribusiness interests, the UK’s Guardian newspaper
reported that indigenous leaders said the order threatens the Amazonian reserves that make up about 13 percent of Brazilian territory.
Previously, demarcation of indigenous reserves was controlled by the indigenous agency Funai, the paper said.
Under Brazilian law, the temporary decree will expire in 120 days unless it’s ratified by the legislature. It also empowers the office of the government secretary, Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz, to “supervise, coordinate, monitor and accompany the activities” of local and international non-governmental organizations in Brazil.
Tereza Cristina Dias, the incoming agriculture minister, defended the agribusiness sector from what she called “unfounded accusations” of widespread deforestation and other environmental damage.
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