巴西原住民和环保团体对该国近期选举结果感到担忧。加布里埃拉·萨·佩索阿 圣保罗 — 巴西原住民和环保组织周一对周末的选举结果表示担忧，警告称国会中极右翼势力的壮大可能威胁到在保护亚马逊雨林和其他巴西生态系统中发挥关键作用的原住民。
Indigenous and environmental groups in Brazil are worried about the country's recent election results. GABRIELA SÁ PESSOA SAO PAULO — Indigenous and environmental organizations in Brazil expressed concern Monday about the weekend’s election results, warning that far-right gains in Congress could threaten Indigenous peoples who play a key role in protecting the Amazon and other Brazilian ecosystems.
作为世界第四大民主国家和拥有约60%亚马逊雨林的国家，巴西于周日进行了总统、国会和州长选举。总统大选悬而未决，前极右翼总统雅伊尔·博尔索纳罗之子、参议员弗拉维奥·博尔索纳罗将于10月25日与现任总统路易斯·伊纳西奥·卢拉·达席尔瓦进行第二轮决选。
Brazil, the world’s fourth-largest democracy and home to about 60% of the Amazon rainforest, voted Sunday for president, Congress and governors. The presidential race remains undecided, with Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, set to face President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in an Oct. 25 runoff.
博尔索纳罗的自由党赢得了约三分之一的参议院席位和近四分之一的众议院席位，成为两院中最大政党。
Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party won about a third of Senate seats and nearly a quarter of seats in the Chamber of Deputies, making it the largest party in both houses.
“选举已经导致国会出现重大权力转移，”专注于环境保护和原住民权利的非营利组织“亚马逊观察”在声明中表示。“无论决选谁获胜，新的权力平衡都强化了支持在原住民土地上开采矿产以及修改领土和环境保护法规的群体。” 在亚马逊州当选的几位议员支持采矿，包括在原住民土地上采矿，或削弱环境保护。来自朗多尼亚州的自由党当选参议员费尔南多·马克西莫将非法金矿开采导致汞污染的科学发现斥为“谎言”。
“The elections have already produced a significant shift in Congress,” Amazon Watch, a nonprofit focused on environmental protection and Indigenous rights, said in a statement. “The new balance of power strengthens groups that support mining on Indigenous lands and changes to territorial and environmental protections, regardless of who wins the runoff.”Several lawmakers elected in Amazon states have backed mining, including on Indigenous lands, or weaker environmental protections. Fernando Máximo, a Liberal Party senator-elect from Rondonia, has dismissed as “falsehoods” scientific findings of mercury contamination from illegal gold mining.
此类立场已超越博尔索纳罗的政党。来自中右翼巴西社会民主党、在亚马孙州连任的参议员普利尼奥·瓦莱里奥呼吁将采矿合法化，并批评执法行动。
Such positions extend beyond Bolsonaro’s party. Sen. Plínio Valério of the center-right Brazilian Social Democracy Party, reelected in Amazonas, has called for legalizing mining and criticized enforcement operations.
巴西领先的原住民组织巴西原住民团结组织（葡萄牙语缩写Apib）表示：“巴西在这些选举中崛起，国会对原住民权利更加积极。”
“Brazil emerges from these elections with a Congress that is even more aggressive toward Indigenous rights,” said the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, the country’s leading Indigenous organization, known by its Portuguese acronym, Apib.
保护原住民领土被广泛认为是遏制亚马逊森林砍伐的有效方法，亚马逊是世界上最大的雨林，也是全球气候的主要调节者。2022年MapBiomas分析发现，三十年来，巴西原住民领地仅失去了1%的原生植被，而全国私人土地上的植被损失率为20%。
Protecting Indigenous territories is widely seen as an effective way to curb deforestation in the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest and a key regulator of the global climate. A 2022 MapBiomas analysis found that Indigenous territories in Brazil lost just 1% of their native vegetation over three decades, compared with 20% on private land nationwide.
根据巴西法律，原住民领土上的任何矿产研究或采矿活动除了咨询当地社区外，还需要国会批准。将于2027年2月1日宣誓就职的下一届国会将不可避免地对原住民土地上的采矿做出裁决，因为巴西最高法院法官弗拉维奥·迪诺（Flávio Dino）在2月份命令立法者通过监管该问题的立法。
Under Brazilian law, any mineral research or mining activity on Indigenous territories requires Congress’ approval, in addition to consulting local communities. The next Congress that will be sworn in on Feb. 1, 2027, will inevitably rule on mining on Indigenous land, since in February, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino ordered lawmakers to pass legislation regulating the issue.
“无论选举结果如何，关于在土著土地上采矿的辩论预计都会向前推进。巴西非营利组织社会环境研究所的创始成员、巴西土著事务机构前主席马西奥·阿利利说："选举结果带来了更大的风险，即法规将很少关注土著权利。”
“The debate about mining on Indigenous lands is expected to move forward regardless of the election outcome. And the election results pose greater risks that the regulations will pay little attention to Indigenous rights,” said Márcio Santilli, a founding member of Brazil’s nonprofit Socioenvironmental Institute and a former president of Brazil’s Indigenous affairs agency.
Apib的原住民政治策略师Marcos Sabaru表示，Bolsonaro允许原住民在其土地上采矿的承诺将面临重大法律障碍，因为原住民土地及其矿产资源在技术上属于联邦政府。
Marcos Sabaru, an Indigenous political strategist with Apib, said Bolsonaro’s pledge to allow Indigenous people to mine on their lands would face significant legal hurdles, as Indigenous lands and their mineral resources technically belong to the federal government.
“如果他们开放原住民土地，而它不再属于联邦政府，那么它属于谁呢？牧场主和矿业公司？原住民？”萨巴鲁说道。“我们将开创一个先例，但不知道它会走向何方。”创纪录的黄金价格主要是由投资者在全球风险上升的情况下对安全资产的需求推动，推动了亚马逊地区新一轮的采矿热潮，加剧了森林砍伐和河流和原住民社区的汞污染。
“If they open up Indigenous land and it no longer belongs to the federal government, then who does it belong to? Ranchers and mining companies? Indigenous people?”Sabaru said. “We would be setting a precedent with no way of knowing where it would lead.”Record-breaking gold prices, driven largely by investor demand for safe assets amid rising global risks, have driven a renewed mining rush in the Amazon spiking deforestation and mercury contamination of riverine and Indigenous communities.
非营利组织亚马逊环境研究所最近的一项分析发现，2016年至2024年间，这些土地的金矿开采量扩大了近七倍。博尔索纳罗领导的自由党没有回应美联社的置评请求。
A recent analysis by the nonprofit Amazon Environmental Research Institute found that gold mining expanded nearly sevenfold in these lands between 2016 and 2024. Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
弗拉维奥·博尔索纳罗在竞选期间表示，他将将原住民土地用于经济活动，但没有澄清是否会为原住民土地制定森林砍伐规则。
During his campaign, Flávio Bolsonaro said that he would Indigenous lands to economic activities without clarifying whether he would establish deforestation rules for Indigenous lands.
“如果他们想耕种或租赁领土，他们可以自由地这样做。如果他们想授权在自己的土地上采矿，他们也可以这样做，”博尔索纳罗告诉市场制造者播客。“所有这些都将以负责任的方式进行，并采取环境保障措施，同时尊重他们的意愿。”自2023年以来，卢拉政府扭转了贾伊尔·博尔索纳罗领导下亚马逊森林砍伐激增的局面，加大了打击非法金矿开采的力度，成立了原住民部并重建了原住民事务机构。但萨巴鲁说，它没有兑现一些承诺，包括原住民土地的划分。尽管如此，阿皮布仍支持卢拉连任。
“If they want to farm or lease their territory, they will be free to do so. If they want to authorize mining on their lands, they will be able to do that as well,” Bolsonaro told the Market Makers podcast. “All of this will be done responsibly and with environmental safeguards, while respecting their wishes.”Since 2023, Lula’s government has reversed a surge in Amazon deforestation under Jair Bolsonaro, stepped up efforts against illegal gold mining, created a Ministry of Indigenous Peoples and rebuilt the Indigenous affairs agency. But it has fallen short on some promises, including the demarcation of Indigenous lands, Sabaru said. Still, Apib supports Lula’s reelection.
“我们很难捍卫卢拉政府。确实如此，”萨巴鲁说。“但我们这样做是因为对方不是一个选择。”
“It’s difficult for us to defend the Lula government. It really is,” Sabaru said. “But we are doing it because the other side is not an option.”