And Brazil, a developing nation, has heavy demand for socioeconomic benefits. While opponents regard them as catastrophic, some in Lula's Workers' Party continue to view them as essential for providing jobs and promoting growth. We’re still very worried,” said Alessandra Korap, an Indigenous leader of the Munduruku people who recently won the Goldman Environmental Prize for work that included battling illegal mining.īut Lula faces difficult tests in the large infrastructure projects. He’s already learned a lot, but needs to learn more.

“Lula is talking about the environment, showing preoccupation with illegal mining, demarcating Indigenous territories. Others include an oil drilling project near the mouth of the Amazon River a highway that would slice through some of the Amazon rainforest’s most protected areas and renewal of a giant hydroelectric dam’s license. And it's just one of several mega-projects that activists and experts say would devastate the natural world - and seriously dent Lula's newfound image as a defender of the environment - if they proceed. 1, Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva walked up the ramp to the presidential palace arm in arm with Indigenous leader Raoni Metuktire, instantly recognizable by his yellow headdress and wooden lip plate.īut a major railway that would accelerate deforestation in Metuktire's ancestral land risks souring relations between the leftist leader and the chief of the Kayapó people.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - After his swearing-in ceremony on Jan.

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