CNA goes to the STF against government orders on demarcation of indigenous lands
The Brazilian Agriculture and Livestock Confederation (CNA) filed a request with the Federal Supreme Court to suspend the federal government’s ordinances and decrees with new demarcations of indigenous lands. These announcements were made last week during Indigenous Peoples’ Day at COP 30, held in Belém. The confederation’s request to the Supreme Court was made on Monday (24) and requests that official acts be suspended until the court judges the action within the time frame.
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The ordinances were signed jointly by the Minister of Justice and Public Security (MJSP), Ricardo Lewandowski, and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI). Among the territories is the Tupinambá de Olivença (BA), whose demarcation had been promised during the act of returning the Tupinambá Mantle — an artifact that remained on display for 300 years in a museum in Denmark and returned to Brazil last year.
The act also covered the territories of Vista Alegre (AM), Comexatiba – Cahy-Pequi (BA), Ypoi Triunfo (MS), Sawre Ba’pim (PA), Pankará da Serra do Arapuá (PE), Sambaqui (PR), Ka’aguy Hovy (SP), Pakurity (SP), Ka’aguy Mirim (SP).
According to the federal government, the areas are occupied by the Mura, Tupinambá de Olivença, Pataxó, Guarani-Kaiowá, Munduruku, Pankará and Guarani-Mbya indigenous peoples.
In 2024, the Brazilian government recognized permanent indigenous possession of 11 territories. With these new ordinances signed, 21 indigenous lands became recognized. Since 2018, there was no demarcation.
CNA objects
For the CNA, these measures and the recent Homologatory Decrees issued by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, occur “in complete disloyalty to this Court and the Brazilian Parliament”.
In the action, the Confederation recalls that, in the discussion on the constitutionality of Law 14,701/2023 of the time frame, approved by the National Congress, the STF, “given the scenario of political and social instability that permeates the issue”, decided to establish a Conciliation Table in search of a consensual solution.
Thus, in the CNA’s opinion, when deciding on demarcations, the government “demonstrates that it never sought to act with procedural loyalty or with respect to the search for a consensual solution, that is, in the search for an effective solution to the problem.”
In a note, the CNA also says that “the actions of the Executive Branch only demonstrate that, in its understanding, respect for fundamental rights only applies when it is for its own interests” and that “the property rights of farmers, especially small and medium-sized farmers, can be disregarded and, as a logical consequence, encourage conflict in the countryside”.
In the petition, the CNA provides a history of demarcations in several states and highlights that the government’s initiative promotes “social instability”, with a risk of conflicts in the countryside, which will cause legal uncertainty for rural producers who have property in the region. For the entity, “the disregard for the full validity” of the time frame law “demonstrates the federal government’s complete disregard for rural producers and legal security”.
Currently, indigenous lands occupy 117.4 million hectares, around 13.8% of the national territory – the government highlights that these are areas that are among the largest continuous areas of tropical forest on the planet. A study by the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib), the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) and the Indigenous Committee on Climate Change (CIMC), shows that expanding demarcations can prevent up to 20% of additional deforestation and reduce 26% of carbon emissions by 2030.
