Chamber Committee Approves Agricultural and Forestry Activities on Indigenous Land

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) of the Chamber of Deputies approved on Tuesday, August 27th, the admissibility of the proposed amendment to the Constitution (PEC) that allows indigenous communities to carry out agricultural and forestry activities on the lands they occupy. The PEC also allows the groups to sell their products independently. There were 33 votes in favor, 18 against and one abstention.

Admissibility approval implies that the CCJ deputies believe that the proposal is in accordance with the Constitution and the laws in force in the country. In other words, it is a formal analysis, without consideration of its content.

The PEC’s substance and content, are still to be analyzed in a second stage, in a special committee that will deal exclusively with the issue.

The establishment of this committee requires action by Chamber president Rodrigo Maia. The committee will have up to forty sessions to prepare its opinion. This report may result in the approval of the original proposal or in a new text, prepared from amendments.

However, Rodrigo Maia pointed out on Monday that he may not establish the Special Committee. He stated that he would appraise the PEC’s content, should it be approved, to consider “whether or not it is appropriate at this time.”

“If it is something that points to some controversy, something that generates more negative narratives for Brazil, it will clearly stay where it is, only approved in the CCJ,” said the Chamber’s president.

The PEC was introduced in the Chamber in 2016, by deputy Vincentinho Júnior. The proposal includes, in the article that deals with indigenous people in the Magna Carta, a provision that “indigenous communities may, directly and subject to relevant legislation, carry out agricultural and forestry activities.”

The text also states that indigenous communities are “autonomous in carrying out the necessary actions for the administration of their goods and the trade of their production.”