Will Brazil’s Supreme Court deal a blow to Amazon protection efforts?
Brazil’s Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling this week that could determine the fate of controversial legislation that conservationists fear will undermine efforts to protect the nation’s forests. Indigenous and environmental groups are urging the court to reject a long-standing legal bid to weaken the ability of Brazil’s roughly 300 Indigenous groups to lay claim to traditional territories. If the justices rule in their favor, the decision—expected Wednesday—would also prevent Brazil’s Senate from finalizing a closely related bill, approved last week by the Chamber of Deputies, that could dramatically reduce the land area governed by Indigenous groups. At stake in the legal and legislative battle is control of huge swaths of Indigenous land—including roughly one-quarter of the Amazon—that are rich in biodiversity and “essential to [securing] the world’s climate stability”...