A little less conversation, a little more indigenous demarcation

One of the most vocal promises of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s 2022 election campaign was to resume the demarcation of indigenous lands in Brazil. During the far-right Jair Bolsonaro government that preceded, the outspoken then-leader barked that “not a single centimeter” of territory would be demarcated and ratified under his watch — a promise he kept, much to the detriment of the country’s traditional peoples.

But despite Lula’s pledges, the current government hasn’t done much better.

Besides being a historical claim of indigenous ethnicities and communities, protected lands are also the best preserved parts of Brazil’s native forests, where deforestation is lowest. And most of the country’s indigenous lands are located in the Amazon.

In the final months of 2022, during the government transition, technocrats within the Lula cabinet highlighted 13 pending indigenous lands that merely needed a signature to become officially ratified and protected territories.

The bureaucratic process of turning a piece of land into an indigenous reserve involves several stages, but the final phase of ratification is the most straightforward. These 13 lands — plus another added at the beginning of 2023 — were to fulfill Lula’s promise of resuming indigenous demarcations.

The president announced the ratification of six of these indigenous lands during the Acampamento Terra Livre in April, a yearly gathering of indigenous communities from all across the country. But the remaining eight, despite requiring minimal added effort, are still no closer to becoming official.

The original plan was for Lula to announce “at least” two such ratifications, of the indigenous lands of...