Get our news on your inbox! Suscribe x MercoPress, en Español Montevideo, May 5th 2025 - 14:01 UTC The Governors of the Brazilian States of Pernambuco and Alagoas issued separate emergency decrees during the weekend due to heavy rains affecting 12 and 29 cities respectively Pernambuco Governor Raquel Lyra decreed a situation of emergency in 12 cities in Zona da Mata heavy rains have affected 2,862 people from 756 families 447 people from 656 families are displaced and 101 families are homeless The emergency is established in the municipalities of São Benedito do Sul Thirteen points of landslides were registered in these cities - four in Catende it took into account the preservation of the welfare of the population and the socioeconomic activities of the affected regions and the fact that the inhabitants of the affected municipalities still do not have satisfactory conditions to overcome the damage and losses caused The government also announced the availability of emergency funding to municipalities in distress and calamity including those caused by heavy rains recorded in the metropolitan region of Recife and the areas of Mata and Agreste in recent days Governor Paulo Dantas Saturday declared a situation of emergency in 29 municipalities The municipalities reached by the decree are Atalaia Over 22,000 people have been affected statewide 2,756 people were left homeless and 19,273 people have been displaced 2,862 people have been affected by the rains in the state of which 447 are homeless and 101 are displaced Commenting for this story is now closed.If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page Federal government announces homologation of six Indigenous Lands; in one case telegram Join our Telegram channel! telegram updating data on the territorial extension of Indigenous Lands They add up to 610,3 hectares ‒ an area slightly larger than that of the Federal District ‒ and cover a population of around 40 people Some of the communities had been on the waiting list for regularization for over XNUMX years (learn more below).  The Lula government is trying to unlock the demarcation agenda and opted to homologate areas without major conflicts With the creation of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples by the new management the expectation is that the demands for territorial recognition will advance in all its stages The five-year stoppage imposed by former President Jair Bolsonaro led to a series of actions by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) for the resumption of processes Lula promised to put an end to pending demarcation by the end of his term “I want not to leave any Indigenous Land that is not demarcated in my four-year term This is a commitment that I have and that I made with you before the campaign” Also this Friday, the publication by the president of the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai), Joenia Wapichana, of the reports on the identification and delimitation of the ILs Sete Salões (MG), belonging to the Krenak people, and Sawre Ba'pim (PA), belonging to the Mundurucu people The last time one of these documents was published by the indigenist agency was seven years ago.  The country currently has 733 ILs in different stages of recognition at Funai the six homologated lands represent little more than 6% of the total area pending regularization Chief Tanoné Kariri-Xokó sees the ratification of her territory as the best outcome for so many years of struggle The battle for the definitive conquest of the Indigenous Land began almost four decades ago adding up to 16 years of waiting for the decree “Just thanking the Great Father for this light for this victory and today my Land is already signed it is already won and no one will be able to take away or take anything that is ours” “There [in our territory] our ancestors lived "Today's act shows the historic milestone of conquest of the indigenous movement in the face of years of struggle including six years of nightmare that we had after the coup of persecution and suppression of indigenous rights this shows the government's real commitment There are still more lands to be recognized by the State" he said to the ISA the CEO of the Federation of Indigenous Organizations of Rio Negro (FOIRN) we maintain the firm struggle to consolidate and demarcate the Indigenous Lands that are still in the process of demarcation especially in the region of Santa Isabel do Rio Negro" A total of 14 ILs were expected to be signed, listed by the transitional government and considered ready for the conclusion of their recognition. According to the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI) the other eight homologations did not come out due to administrative pending issues Some sources in the indigenous movement confirmed that there was pressure from politicians against the decrees “We are going to legalize the Indigenous Lands Our minister [of Indigenous Peoples] knows about the processes so that we can demarcate the largest possible number of Indigenous Lands if we want to reach 2030 with zero deforestation we need you [indigenous people] as guardians of the forest” In the press conference after the announcement of the measures confirmed that the government will prepare a timetable for the approval of the other eight areas due to the time taken to analyze the process” from the coordination of the Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (Apib) “These are processes that were four years in the hands of our enemies and we did not know what kind of measures were taken in relation to these processes to have greater legal security in the signing of these acts ” Kleber considered as normal the frustration of communities that did not have their areas approved but that the measures announced today are a positive and important signal in the face of so many years of paralysis of processes The indigenous movement has a role in articulating “Each one of the approvals signed today by the president is very important because it consolidates an administrative solution to a historical pendency” stresses the founding partner of the ISA Mario Santilli these six approvals represent the resumption of the demarcation process and compliance with the Constitution We await the issue of the decrees referring to lands that are also already physically demarcated” the government announced a package of measures in defense of indigenous rights The president signed the decree to recreate the National Council for Indigenous Policy (CNPI) the collegiate had representatives from government ministries and bodies representatives of the indigenous movement and other sectors of civil society and had the function of discussing formulating and improving indigenous policies Lula also signed the decree establishing the Management Committee of the National Policy for Territorial and Environmental Management of Indigenous Lands (PNGATI) PNGATI was established in 2012 with the objective of guaranteeing the protection conservation and sustainable use of natural resources in indigenous territories the Planalto announced the release of R$ 12,3 million to Funai with “the objective of recovering the productive capacity of the Yanomami indigenous communities”.  The announcement adds to other federal government actions to face the humanitarian crisis experienced by these people including the removal of illegal miners and emergency health care which has had timid results for the communities so far Sonia Guajajara also announced measures that should be made official in the coming days such as the creation of an inter-ministerial committee to fight crime and remove invaders from the ILs A Working Group should also be set up to repair the indigenous communities affected by the construction of the Itaipu hydroelectric plant in the 1970s in Paraná Both Sonia and President Lula repeated that they intend to implement a career plan at Funai.  The minister asked the government to create an Indigenous Truth Commission to investigate crimes committed against indigenous peoples especially during the military dictatorship And she reinforced Lula's and the government's commitment to move forward with the demarcations.   “The creation of the ministry [of the Indigenous Peoples] is a first step And we all know that all these positive steps necessarily depend on guaranteeing our territories The first actions for a concrete and positive policy for indigenous peoples are the recognition and protection of indigenous territories” with 553 thousand hectares and located in the Legal Amazon with 20 thousand hectares and located in an important continuous mosaic of protected areas one in the South and another in the Midwest reaffirm the indigenous presence in all regions of Brazil The 2010 Census registered a total of 896,9 thousand people who declared themselves to be indigenous in more than four thousand municipalities these numbers should increase significantly as the preview of the 2022 Census indicates a total of 1,6 million self-declared indigenous people The TI Uneiuxi is part of the occupation territory of the Nadob an indigenous people from the Northwest Amazon of recent contact whose area of ​​occupation is located in the interfluvial regions of the Guaviare River Located in the municipalities of Japurá and Santa Isabel do Rio Negro the land tenure regularization of this IL began in 1982 with the constitution of a Working Group by Funai to identify and delimit the territory The studies were approved in March 1993 and five months later this area was declared when a contracted company drew the physical boundaries of the territory the Nadöb indigenous communities would come to realize that important parts had been left outside the demarcation of the 400-hectare area a new WG was constituted to review the territorial limits of the TI and include the areas of use excluded from the demarcation The new study was approved in September 2005 The new boundaries were declared in December 2006 since then the area has been awaiting approval by the President of the Republic for 17 years The Avá-Canoeiro Indigenous Land is part of what was once the traditional territory of the Avá-Canoeiro a Tupi group from Central Brazil that became notorious due to their great skill in using canoes Located in the municipalities of Colinas do Sul and Minaçu this IL had its recognition process started in 1983 after the traumatic process of contact with these indigenous people by the Brazilian State The Avá-Canoeiro are remnants of attacks perpetrated by ranchers such as the Mata do Café massacre in the 1960s when around 15 people were killed and their bodies burned along with their malocas the area was interdicted and the invaders began to be removed demarcated in 1999 and declared as permanent possession by the Ministry of Justice in 1996 Part of this was flooded by the Serra da Mesa Hydroelectric Power Plant The Avá-Canoeiro have been waiting for 24 years for the approval of their Indigenous Land Of traditional occupation of the indigenous people kaingang this IT is located in the northwest of the State of Rio Grande do Sul close to the border with Argentina and on the limit with the State of Santa Catarina The region of the Uruguay River has a strong historical presence of the Kaingang indigenous people after the first part of the 2000th century it began to have an intense occupation of colonization fronts leading to the loss of traditional territory for agricultural enterprises The delimitation studies were approved three years later with the area being declared at the end of 19 at least nine ordinances with procedures for surveying and evaluating improvements in non-indigenous occupations have been published The Kaingang of Rio dos Índios have been waiting for the homologation of their territory for XNUMX years Located on the border with Peru, in the municipality of Marechal Taumaturgo, state of Acre, the TI Arara do Rio Amônia is the territory of the people Apolima or Macaw of the river Amônia a group of families descended from indigenous peoples of different origins connected with the history of exploitation in the region's rubber plantations Its recognition process began in December 2001 and in September 2008 the president of Funai approved the report identifying and delimiting the area with 20.764 hectares and the declaration of its limits took place the following year The TI overlaps the Alto Juruá Extractive Reserve and the Serra do Divisor National Park and integrates an important continuous mosaic of Protected Areas of the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra) the main area occupied by the Apolima families TI has been waiting for the conclusion of its demarcation for 14 years Today around 500 people live in this territory almost twice as many as when the area was identified In the past, Barra do Mundaú, on the coast of Ceará, became a refuge for Tremembe pursued by invaders and ranchers in the Almofala region The Tremembé are an indigenous people with a historical presence in this region The Córrego João Pereira Indigenous Land is the only approved territory for this people which currently has a population of approximately four thousand people The territorial demands of the ethnic group can be traced back to the 30th century when landowners began invading their lands TI Barra do Mundaú is located in the municipality of Itapipoca There are 9,74 hectares of territory in an area with beaches with an overlap of 2009% with the Environmental Protection Area (APA) of the Mundaú River Estuary The Tremembé dispute this land with a Spanish business group which intends to build a complex of resorts in the area it was only in 2012 that a Working Group was set up to identify and delimit the land in XNUMX the Minister of Justice declared it permanent possession of the group The Tremembé have been waiting eight years for TI approval The most relevant news for you to form your opinion on the socio-environmental agenda LAST ISSUE