Illegal mining destroys rivers on Brazilian indigenous lands

The illegal minery in the last five years destroyed more than 600 kilometers of rivers on indigenous lands of the Brazilian Amazon, according to a study released by the NGO Greenpeace.

The “garimpo”, as illegal mining is called in Brazil, devastated between 2016 and so far this year 632 kilometers of rivers in territories of the Mundurukú and Sai Cinza indigenous communities, in the Amazonian state of Pará (north).

“The impact of the destruction is equivalent to the one that (the mining company) Vale infringed on the Rio Doce, in the Mariana tragedy, and that it impacted 663 kilometers of rivers,” said the Greenpeace report in comparison with the spill of the world producer of iron that in 2019 left 270 dead in the state of Minas Gerais (southeast).

In 2016, the report recalled, 26.6 kilometers of rivers were destroyed in the indigenous lands of Pará, so the increase in the last five years was 2,278%.

The NGO also pointed out that during the investigation work, 16 clandestine flight paths used by illegal miners were discovered, as well as active equipment such as dredges, heavy machinery, engines and illegal camps.

“In addition to the environmental damage and preventing the use of these waters for the vital needs of the peoples, such as fishing, the pollution of these rivers also causes enormous cultural damage to the Mundurukú,” the study stressed.

For the researchers responsible, “the Bolsonaro government’s speech and the dismantling of the socio-environmental legislation impacted the expansion of illegal mining.”

The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, champions a speech considered as “anti-environmentalist” in which he defends mining and agricultural activities in the Amazon and refuses to demarcate new indigenous reserves, which for specialists has increased deforestation and fires.

For years, the destruction of rivers in those territories was 26.6 kilometers (2016), 39.3 (2017), 88.5 (2018), 178 (2019), 235.3 (2021) and 65 so far in 2021.

The worst of the years was 2020, which coincided with the relaxation of control due to the coronavirus pandemic and with a sanctioned law that allows mining and energy exploitation on indigenous lands.

The affected rivers are Marupá, Tropas, Cabitutú, Mutum and Joarí and the result of the Greenpeace study was sent as a complaint to the Federal Public Ministry (prosecutor’s office) to “demand that the authorities take measures against this crime.”

Of all the extractive activity that takes place in the largest tropical forest on the planet, illegal mining, known in Brazil as “garimpo”, represents 67.6% and is practiced mainly in environmental conservation areas.