Statement of Concern over Bill that threatens the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their ancestral lands

ClientEarth opposes a Brazilian bill that would restrict the legal recognition of Indigenous territories to lands occupied as of 1988. The organization argues this 'marco temporal' thesis violates human rights and threatens critical ecosystems like the Amazon and Cerrado, which are essential for global carbon sequestration.

• Bill 490/2007 (referred to as Bill 2903/2023 in the Senate) seeks to restrict the demarcation of Indigenous territories by applying the 'marco temporal' thesis, which limits land rights to areas occupied when the 1988 Brazilian Constitution took effect.
• The bill is viewed as favoring the interests of the mining, logging, and agri-business sectors by reducing protections for Indigenous lands to allow industrial use.
• If passed, the legislation could affect over 300 pending land demarcation cases and potentially trigger reviews of existing demarcations, increasing vulnerability to land-grabbers and violent conflict.
• The bill poses significant climate and biodiversity risks because Indigenous territories often overlap with the Cerrado savanna and Amazon rainforest, which are critical for sequestering carbon and regulating the global climate.

APA

ClientEarth (n.d.). Statement of Concern over Bill that threatens the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their ancestral lands. https://www.clientearth.org/media/syenvg1k/statement-of-concern-over-bill-that-threatens-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples-to-their-ancestral-lands-eng.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Statement of Concern over Bill that threatens the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their ancestral lands. n.d. https://www.clientearth.org/media/syenvg1k/statement-of-concern-over-bill-that-threatens-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples-to-their-ancestral-lands-eng.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=ClientEarth |title=Statement of Concern over Bill that threatens the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their ancestral lands |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/syenvg1k/statement-of-concern-over-bill-that-threatens-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples-to-their-ancestral-lands-eng.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{clientearthndstatement, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Statement of Concern over Bill that threatens the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their ancestral lands}}, publisher = {ClientEarth}, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/syenvg1k/statement-of-concern-over-bill-that-threatens-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples-to-their-ancestral-lands-eng.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }