Indigenous Management Plans are a tool derived from the social mobilization of Brazilian indigenous communities, organizations and their partners. Elaborated in collective and unique processes by each of the peoples, the PGTA have also become the main instrument for implementing the National Policy for Territorial and Environmental Management of Indigenous Lands (PNGATI), established in 2012 by the Decree no. 7,747/2012.

Despite the recognized power of this instrument – whose positive impacts far exceed the limits of indigenous communities, being key in the fight against climate change – the PGTA and PNGATI have suffered from severe and successive lack of public funding. The combination of austerity policies, such as Constitutional Amendment EC955, with the anti-indigenous and anti-environmentalist shift taken by the executive branch, have ended the meager public funding for carrying out the PNGATI, excluding any mention of PGTA at the current multi-year government plan.

To face this situation and reinforce territorially-based solutions to tackle climate change, Inesc launches the “PGTA cost estimation methodology”, which aims to facilitate the fundraising by indigenous communities for the PGTA, as well as encourage the struggle for public resources to guarantee the fulfillment of the Brazilian State’s constitutional duties towards indigenous peoples. We also launch the document “ Funding possibilities for Territorial and Environmental Management Plans for Indigenous Lands (PGTA)”, with the aim of raising awareness of the importance of global and national commitment to the territorial management of indigenous lands.

In the last week, on May 22 and 23, Brasilia host a meeting between the G20 Financial Track Presidency and civil society organizations. The debates will be on international taxation. For the first time, the chair of the Track, led by Brazil’s Ministry of Finance, was willing to receive a document with eleven recommendations from civil society on the subject.

The proposals were drawn up by more than 40 national, Latin American and international organizations, which have been meeting since February. They all worked together to draw up the proposals for the G20 finance ministers.

For Nathalie Beghin, a member of the Management Board of Inesc (Institute for Socio-Economic Studies), the meeting provides an opportunity to open dialogues on solutions in the interests of people and the planet. “It’s important to build interactive spaces to channel demands and formulate proposals, guaranteeing accountability and social participation in international cooperation on fiscal policy,” says the expert, who was directly involved in drawing up the recommendations.

Access the full document with the Civil Society Recommendations on International Taxation for G20 Finance Ministers
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The 11 recommendations listed by civil society have been divided into three parts and can be summarized as follows:

International Tax Governance

1. Support the creation and implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (UNFCITC).
2. Ensure civil society participation in tax debates and tax decision-making processes.

Overarching values and guiding principles

3. Incorporate human rights, socio environmental and climate obligations as overarching principles to guide and inform tax decision-making.
4. Decolonize standards on taxation by adopting criteria and measures which promote equity between countries, jurisdictions and regions, and compensate developmental differences and imbalances of power.
5. Incorporate a gender and race/ethnicity approach to tax policies to fight gender and race/ethnicity inequalit

Substantive reforms

6. Include in the UNFCITC the creation of a global minimum tax on the super-rich
7. Include in the UNFCITC the creation of a Financial Transactions Tax
8. Promote international tax cooperation to facilitate a just and equitable climate transition, including by fostering more equitable trade and investment globally.
9. Support multilateral taxes to finance climate, environmental and social justice.
10. Shift resources from tax incentives for fossil fuels to the fight against hunger, climate change, poverty and inequality, and to promote climate justice and just energy transition.
11. Enhance existing efforts on exchange of information and tax transparency, and work towards the creation of a Global Asset Registry within the UNFCITC.

The seminar organized by the Ministry of Finance, which will take place at the University of Brasilia, is being seen as a milestone in civil society organizations’ fight for tax justice, reflecting their commitment to influencing public policies in a meaningful and responsible way.

>> Access the full program of the Civil Society Meeting on G20 and International Taxation here <<