Brazil’s lower house approves curtailing environment, indigenous ministries

By Staff Editor On In Regional News |
FILE PHOTO: Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva talks with Brazil’s indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire, during the closing of the Terra Livre (Free Land) camp, a protest camp to demand the demarcation of land and to defend cultural rights, in Brasilia, Brazil April 28, 2023. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
FILE PHOTO: Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva talks with Brazil’s indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire, during the closing of the Terra Livre (Free Land) camp, a protest camp to demand the demarcation of land and to defend cultural rights, in Brasilia, Brazil April 28, 2023. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

 (Reuters) – Brazil’s lower house of Congress approved late yesterday a bill that curtails the powers of the ministries of the environment and Indigenous affairs.

The approval marks a further setback for Lula’s environmental agenda, which was also handed a defeat on Tuesday when lawmakers passed a bill that limited the recognition of new Indigenous reservations.

The bill on Wednesday passed with 337 in favor to 125 against and was sent to the Senate, which must approve it today, or it will expire.

In the approved bill, lawmakers removed land decisions from the Indigenous affairs ministry, while the registry of rural land, a vital tool to stop deforestation, will be managed by the agriculture and not the environment ministry.