[1/2] Brazil's Environment Minister Marina Silva meets Davi Kopenawa, chief of the Yanomami, after a ceremony to commemorate Amazon Day, at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, September 5, 2023. Environmentalists say Indigenous groups are the best guardians of the rainforest and deforestation data shows that the forests on their reservations are the best conserved. Lula, who pledged to legalize the greatest number of reservations possible, has so far signed decrees recognizing eight Indigenous territories since taking office in January. The Supreme Court, however, is expected rule that the cut-off date for claiming ancestral lands that were not lived on in 1988 is unconstitutional for denying recognized Indigenous rights. The reservations legalized by Lula on Tuesday are the Acapuri de Cima and the Rio Gregorio Indigenous territories in the states of Amazonas and Acre, respectively.

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Persons: Marina Silva, Davi Kopenawa, Ueslei Marcelino, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Lula, Cima, Sonia Guajajara, Guajajara, Anthony Boadle, Sandra Maler Organizations: Amazon, REUTERS, Rights, Rio, Indigenous Peoples, Thomson Locations: Brasilia, Brazil, Rights BRASILIA, Rio Gregorio, Amazonas, Acre