Brazil stops demarcating land for indigenous people: ex-government agency official says
Home to the world’s largest tropical forest, Brazil has lost about one fifth of the Amazon rainforest in the last 50 years, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Research by the U.S.-based World Resources Institute shows that deforestation rates on land formally owned by indigenous peoples are about 2.5 times lower than other areas since they are more likely to conserve the forest than other users.
But politicians representing rural voters1 oppose demarcating new territories for indigenous groups, saying the land ought to be used for farming or cattle ranching to boost economic growth in the recession-hit country. Marcio Santilli, former FUNAI president, said rural politicians were proposing new steps to the demarcation process, which would make it “virtually endless”. He also said they were also proposing that Congress, rather than FUNAI or the Justice Ministry, make decisions on which lands are demarcated to indigenous groups.
(Chris Arsenault. www.reuters.com, 11.01.2017. Adaptado.)
1 Politicians representing rural voters: bancada ruralista no Congresso Nacional.
No trecho do primeiro parágrafo “they are more likely to conserve the forest”, a expressão em destaque tem sentido equivalente, em português, a
