Abstract
The Brazilian Amazon has the highest concentration of indigenous peoples in the world. Recently, the Brazilian government sent a bill to Congress to regulate commercial mining in indigenous lands. This work analyzes the risks of the proposed mining bill to Amazonian indigenous peoples and their lands. To evaluate the possible impact of the new mining bill, we consider all mining license requests registered in Brazil’s National Mining Agency that overlap indigenous lands as potential mining areas in the future. The existing mining requests cover 176 000 km2 of indigenous lands, a factor 3000 more than the area of current illegal mining. Considering only these existing requests, about 15% of the total area of ILs in the region could be directly affected by mining if the bill is approved. Ethnic groups like Yudjá, Kayapó, Apalaí, Wayana, and Katuena may have between 47% and 87% of their lands impacted. Gold mining, which has previously shown to cause mercury contamination, death of indigenous people due to diseases, and biodiversity degradation, accounts for 64% of the requested areas. We conclude that the proposed bill is a significant threat to Amazonian indigenous peoples, further exposing indigenous peoples to rural violence, contamination by toxic pollutants, and contagious diseases. The obligation of the government is to enforce existing laws and regulations that put indigenous rights and livelihoods above economic consideration and not to reduce such protections.
Highlights
The Indigenous Lands (ILs) in the Brazilian Amazon are home to the highest concentration of indigenous peoples in the world, housing close to 355 thousand people divided into more than 150 ethnic groups
According to our analysis of data from the Real-time Deforestation Detection System (DETER), 551 deforested areas classified as mining were detected in 13 Amazonian ILs between 2017 and 2019 (2017 = 92; 2018 = 155; and 2019 = 304) totaling 57.8 km2 (figure 1 and 2(A))
The road ahead In countries where mining in indigenous territories has been legalized, such as the United States, Australia, and Canada, several negative impacts have affected indigenous peoples (Horowitz et al 2018, Milanez 2020), such as the demographic changes caused by the migration of foreign workers (Hilson 2002), the increased exposure of indigenous peoples to diseases (Hilson 2002, Le Tourneau 2015), a displacement from their territories, the establishment of new frontiers for urban development, and the fact that indigenous people are co-opted to work in mining, resulting in a break in the social dynamics of these peoples (Hilson 2002, Horowitz et al 2018, Milanez 2020)
Summary
The Indigenous Lands (ILs) in the Brazilian Amazon are home to the highest concentration of indigenous peoples in the world, housing close to 355 thousand people divided into more than 150 ethnic groups. 383 ILs in the Brazilian Legal Amazon region cover more than 1,160,000 km, representing 22% of this biome and 98% of the total area of ILs in Brazil They are territories established by federal jurisdiction to guarantee the land rights of indigenous peoples, their social organization, and the maintenance of their cultural values (Le Tourneau 2015). As the Brazilian government reduced protections in these areas, loggers, farmers, squatters, and gold miners have extensively established illegal occupation in several ILs in the Amazon. Their action has intensified conflicts, environmental degradation, and is placing indigenous peoples in a vulnerable situation (CIMI 2019). Intense lobbying action by the mining sector over the Brazilian government is threatening indigenous territories, especially in the Amazon (Agencia Camara de Notícias 2020a, Angelo 2020)
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