Definition: The most relevant legal controversy in the current procedure concerns the interpretation of the so-called thesis of the “marco temporal”. The thesis gave the framework for the ruling of the Raposa Serra do Sol case in 2009 and authorises the demarcation of land by indigenous groups only if the group claims that it already possessed the land at the time of the promulgation of the Brazilian Federal Constitution (5 October 1988). In case they had already been expelled, the group must prove that an application for reoccupation of the land was pending at that same date.
A recent effort by Brazilian lawmakers would be a disaster for Indigenous land claims and efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest.
In September, Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that marco temporal, a legal theory that would have limited Indigenous claims to land and opened those territories to extractive industries like mining and agriculture, was unconstitutional. The marco temporal case spent 16 years moving through the courts.
But following the ruling, Brazilian lawmakers approved legislation that would make marco temporal legal anyway, putting Indigenous lands and communities at risk again.
It’s estimated that Indigenous peoples safeguard nearly 80 percent of the planet’s remaining biodiversity, with the Brazilian rainforest containing almost a quarter of all terrestrial biodiversity and 10 percent of all known species on Earth. However, over the last four years, under former president Jair Bolsonaro’s policies, deforestation in the Amazon rose 56 percent, with an estimated 13,000 square miles of land destroyed by development and an estimated 965 square miles of Indigenous territories lost to extractive industries.
definition link: https://verfassungsblog.de/indigenous-rights-and-the-marco-temporal/