With deforestation on the rise, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro signed an executive order just hours after his inauguration on Tuesday that lets the agriculture ministry, which is swayed by the agribusiness lobby, regulate and create new indigenous reserves.
The indigenous agency Funai handles demarcation of indigenous lands; as part of the executive order, Funai is being moved from the justice ministry to a new ministry for women, family, and human rights, led by an ultraconservative evangelical pastor. In a tweet on Wednesday, Bolsonaro defended himself by saying "more than 15 percent of national territory is demarcated as indigenous land and quilombos. Less than a million people live in these places, isolated from true Brazil, exploited and manipulated by NGOs. Together, we will integrate these citizens." Quilombos are settlements in rural areas for descendants of former slaves.
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