Brazil’s Lula resumes recognition of Indigenous land areas

By CARLA BRIDI and FABIANO MAISONNAVE

BRASÍLIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has approved the creation of six Indigenous territories, the first such move after a five-year hiatus in Indigenous demarcation. Lula’s action delivers in part on a campaign promise and also serves to help protect critical Amazon rainforest from commercial exploitation. Lula’s predecessor, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, had suspended Indigenous demarcation in deference to agribusiness interests that opposed it. The largest of the areas recognized Friday is in the Amazon, the world’s largest tropical forest and a critical factor in the world’s ability to sequester carbon and stem climate change.