Brazil stops demarcating land for indigenous people: ex-government agency official
Wed Jan 11, 2017 | 12:08pm EST
Brazil stops demarcating land for indigenous people: ex-government agency official
By Chris Arsenault
RIO DE JANEIRO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Facing pressure from agricultural interests, Brazil has stopped formally demarcating land for indigenous communities in a threat to rainforest conservation efforts, according to a former senior government agency official and campaigners.
Brazil's constitution recognizes the right of indigenous people to live on their ancestral lands and the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), a government body, has been working to demarcate land for tribes, who make up less than 1 percent of the population.
But new lands have not been demarcated for indigenous groups since August amid a push by lawmakers from Brazil's rural areas to change the process, said former FUNAI president Marcio Santilli in comments echoed by campaigners.
"There have been no positive actions to move forward with pending demarcations," said Santilli, who led FUNAI in the mid-1990s and now advises the Instituto Socioambiental, a Brazilian environmental group.
More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-landrights-politics-idUSKBN14V24R?rpc=401&