Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Tuesday signed the documents providing for the demarcation of two indigenous lands in the States of Acre and Amazonas, Agência Brasil reported. It was also the last step before the final regularization of the areas, it was explained.
Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro introduced a controversial Bill that opens up indigenous lands, many of them in the Amazon, to mining, agricultural activities and hydraulic energy production. The conservative president described the measure, which still needs approval in Congress, as a “dream” while indigenous leaders have labelled it a “genocide Bill.”
Leonardo Di Caprio's environmental organization is putting US$5m towards helping the Amazon rainforest after the recent surge in fires there. Earth Alliance will give the money to local groups and indigenous communities as they work to protect the Amazon.
New York’s Museum of Natural History said it was “considering its options” after discovering a private function booked to take place there would honour Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Brazil's incoming far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, took a swipe at the government's environmental monitoring agencies, warning he would not allow them to impose “fines all over the place.”
An indigenous leader has been found murdered in Brazil, exposing the growing threat to tribes fighting illegal logging in the Amazon, campaigners and authorities said. Jorginho Guajajara was found dead in the northern state of Maranhao with his neck broken, rights group Survival International said. Police in Maranhao confirmed on Thursday they were investigating the case.
From deep in the Amazon rainforest, Pope Francis demanded on Friday that corporations stop their relentless extraction of timber, gas and gold from God's “holy ground,” and called on governments to recognize the indigenous peoples living there as the primary forces in determining its future.
Hundreds of members from indigenous tribes opposing a jungle highway financed by Brazil and that they say will spoil their lands in Bolivia's Amazon drew cheers Wednesday when they paraded into the capital La Paz after a 63-day protest march.