Lula calls for an end to mining project on indigenous land – 03/31/2023 – Environment

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) sent a message to Congress in which he asks that a bill by former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) that allows mining on indigenous lands be withdrawn from processing.

The message was published in the Official Gazette of the Union this Friday (31).

Presented by Bolsonaro in February 2020, the project was stalled in the Chamber of Deputies until March 2022, when the President of the House, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), and the centrão approved the urgent request for the matter, without listening to the indigenous people and without going through the special committees of the Chamber.

The proposal was not voted on by parliamentarians. Now, according to the House’s internal regulations, it will be up to Lira to accept Lula’s request or not – and this decision may be subject to appeal in plenary.

The leader of the government in the Chamber, José Guimarães (PT-CE), stated on social networks that this is an “important response from the Lula government in the protection of indigenous peoples in Brazil and for environmental preservation”.

Of direct interest to Bolsonaro, the project was criticized by environmentalists and parliamentarians when it was presented.

On the 28th, Lira determined that a bill authored by Ricardo Ayres (Republicanos-TO) be attached to Bolsonaro’s article.

The Ayres PL proposes “to prohibit and suspend the carrying out of research and mining of mineral and hydrocarbon resources and for the use of water resources to generate electricity in indigenous lands”.

The congressman cites the Yanomami crisis in his justification. “The allegations of abuse are the most varied. However, they all seem to have a common vector: the deleterious presence of mining in that indigenous land, constitutionally intended for the exclusive enjoyment of its original people.”

Lula’s message to Congress was published one day after the Chamber approved a provisional measure (MP) by the Bolsonaro government that loosened protections for the Atlantic Forest, the most devastated biome in the country and where most of the Brazilian population is concentrated.

The MP that was voted on underwent changes in its original text by the rapporteur, deputy Sérgio Souza (MDB-PR), allowing changes to the Atlantic Forest Law. The measure was criticized by environmentalists and parliamentarians who pointed out irreparable damage caused by it.

The matter will go to the Senate. For the approval of the MP, an agreement was signed between centrão leaders and government leadership. According to parliamentarians, the Executive is not committed to sanctioning the norm and, if there is a veto, the House will not overthrow it.

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}