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Smoke Signal's report on mining is featured in more than 350 vehicles and generates debate and hearings in the House of Representatives and in the Senate

Public hearing in the House of Representatives debates the findings of the report “Pure Dynamite”

Credit: Reproduction

10 May 23

Smoke Signal’s report on mining is featured in more than 350 vehicles and generates debate and hearings in the House of Representatives and in the Senate

The report  Pure Dynamite: how Bolsonaro’s Government (2019-2022) Mineral Policy Set Up a Climate and Anti-Indigenous Bomb released on March 27 by the Mining Observatory and Smoke Signal, has been generating debate and resulted in public hearings in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The document, which analyzed the Brazilian mineral policy during the Bolsonaro government, pointed out the existence of illegal favoring to the mining industry, and called into into question the system of self-licensing and mineral exploration in indigenous lands.

The report was featured in more than 350 media outlets, including Agência Brasil, TV Brasil and Miriam Leitão’s column in O Globo, generating reactions from both environmentalists and the mining industry.

On Thursday, April 27, the House of Representatives held a public hearing on the report’s findings, stocking the debate on the Brazilian mineral policies. Participating in the hearing were Daniel Pollack, Superintendent of Revenue at the National Mining Agency (ANM), Maurício Ângelo, Founder and Director of the Mining Observatory, and Rebeca Lerer, founder and coordinator of Smoke Signal.

“There has been a shock indoctrination, with fake news and disinformation, in addition to deregulation (of legislation), equipping of social control institutions, demobilization of control bodies, and criminalization of social movements. We saw a mix of tactics to advance a predatory land use agenda, whether for mining or agriculture, which resulted in increased violence and deforestation,” said Lerer.

The hearing participants contributed with questions about the situation of miners, the proper destination of CFEM (Financial Compensation for Mineral Exploration) resources in the municipalities, and the impossibility of pointing an example of “sustainable mining”. You can watch the public hearing on Youtube.

On Wednesday, May 10, the Federal Senate hosted a debate on the “Pure Dynamite” report and examined the 4 years of climate and anti-indigenous activities carried out by the government of Jair Bolsonaro. The event was attended by several experts, including Maurício Angelo of the Mining Observatory, André Elias Marques, Ombudsman of the National Mining Agency, and Suely Araújo, former president of Ibama and senior public policy specialist at the Climate Observatory, as well as the remote participation of Rebeca Lerer, coordinator of Smoke Signal, and Juliana de Paula Batista. representing the Socio-environmental Institute (SISA).

The main focus of the debate was “mineral denialism” and self-licensing in the mining sector on indigenous lands. In addition, it was discussed that mining represents only about 1% of Brazilian GDP, consumes 11% of electricity, and employs only 200,000 people, many of them in high-risk, outsourced activities. Environmental licensing was another highlight, with pressure from mining companies and industry to include mining in the Licensing Law (PL 3729). The influence that mining companies have on the licensing process was seen as a problem, as they have encouraged dams in an imminent state of disruption throughout the country. The full debate is available on the Senate website.

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FUNAI asks for the suspension if mining concessions that threaten indigenous lands in the Amazon

The number of concession requests that overlap with indigenous lands exploded during the Bolsonaro government.

Crédito: OPI

29 Mar 23

FUNAI asks for the suspension if mining concessions that threaten indigenous lands in the Amazon

The National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI) has requested the National Mining Agency (ANM) to suspend the 6th Round of Area Availability for mining in the Amazon. In the letter sent on March 20, Funai warned about the proximity of some concessions to indigenous lands and asked that the authorization for mining activity should not affect these territories.

The 6th Round, which offers 420 mining areas throughout Brazil, was launched in September 2022 by the Bolsonaro government and follows the schedule available on the agency’s website. The Observatory of Human Rights of Isolated and Newly-Contacted Indigenous Peoples (Opi) had warned about the possible impacts of the concessions, especially in the Yanomami Indigenous Lands in Roraima, Piripkura in Mato Grosso, and Uru Eu Wau Wau in Rondônia, where people live in voluntary isolation.

 

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Angra 1 nuclear plant leaked waste in 2022 and Eletronuclear tried to hide the accident, says public prosecutor

Angra nuclear power plant

Credit: Marinelson Almeida/Traveling through Brazil

24 Mar 23

Angra 1 nuclear plant leaked waste in 2022 and Eletronuclear tried to hide the accident, says public prosecutor

Eletronuclear, a subsidiary of Eletrobras, Brazil’s electricity company, is facing a public civil suit after the Angra 1 nuclear plant in Angra dos Reis. in Rio de Janeiro state, leaked radioactive material into the sea in September 2022. About 90 liters of radioactive waste escaped from valves during a maintenance process and was carried by rain into Itaorna Bay.

Eletronuclear took three weeks to notify the regulatory agency about the incident, which happened on September 16. The company denied the leak in a statement, but the Federal Prosecutor’s Office believes that Eletronuclear tried to hide the incident. The Court ordered the company to publicly disclose information about the incident and the measures to contain the damage, and to make a full assessment of the damage within 30 days and not to conceal or manipulate information about what happened. It is not yet known whether the accident may cause harm to the environment and to the population.

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UOL

Bolsonaro's Ministry of Environment gave up on defending 8 million hectares in the Amazon, Pantanal, and Cerrado

Number of conservation units created per government

Crédito: Júlia Coelho/The Intercept Brasil

8 Feb 23

Bolsonaro’s Ministry of Environment gave up on defending 8 million hectares in the Amazon, Pantanal, and Cerrado

During Ricardo Salles’ tenure as Minister of Environment in the Bolsonaro administration, the Ministry of the Environment decided to abandon the creation of protected areas in 167 federal lands, without making a fuzz or consulting technical staff. These areas are located in the Amazon, Cerrado, and Pantanal regions, covering eight Brazilian states across three regions of the country, including the states of Amazonas, Amapá, Pará, Roraima, Rondônia, Tocantins, Maranhão, and Mato Grosso.

Furthermore, on October 29, 2020, the ministry announced that it “has no interest in acquiring new areas for the creation of conservation units.” The decision was made without considering the concerns previously expressed by the ministry’s technical staff regarding these areas, according to an investigation by The Intercept Brasil.

However, there are at least 39 areas that should not have been discarded, according to ICMBio’s own technicians. These are large, well-preserved forest masses, totaling more than 8 million hectares – almost twice the size of the state of Rio de Janeiro – and are located in the states of Mato Grosso (16), Amazonas (10), Pará (9), Rondônia (2), and Roraima (2).

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Deforestation, fines and gold mining: the first measures of Lula's government to rebuild Brazil's socio environmental governance

Presidente Lula inicia o seu terceiro mandato restabelecimento vários programas de proteção ambiental que haviam sido extintos ou enfraquecidos no governo do ex-presidente Jair Bolsonaro

Crédito: Ana Pessoa / Mídia NINJA

2 Jan 23

Deforestation, fines and gold mining: the first measures of Lula’s government to rebuild Brazil’s socio environmental governance

On his first day in office, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) signed the first decrees revoking or repealing measures adopted by his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. The so-called “revogaço” (a package of repeals) was promised during Lula’s election campaign and targeted firearms policies, environment and secrecy practices involving public data. 

With regards to the environmental agenda, the president signed the following decrees: determined a 45-day deadline to finalize a proposal to regulate the National Council for the Environment (CONAMA, which was strongly damaged under Bolsonaro); ; reestablishment of rules to reopen the Amazon Fund (shut down by Bolsonaro in the first few months of this government) – both Norway and Germany announced R$ 3,3 billion of Fund resources for immediate release; revoked a decree permitting gold mining inside protected and sensitive areas that was signed by Bolsonaro;  resuming the Action Plan to Prevent and Control Deforestation, including all Brazilian biomes to reach the zero deforestation target; reviewed the norms for environmental fines and sanctions, excluding practises that led to impunity for environmental criminals (that were also weakened by Bolsonaro); established the permanent Interministerial Commission to Prevent and Control Deforestation engaging 19 federal ministries, including the Ministry of Climate and Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, Agrarian Development and Indigenous Peoples; the decrees also rearranged the civil society participation on the board of the National Environmental Fund and gave back to the Ministry of the Environment the control over the Rural Property Database (which was moved to Agriculture under Bolsonaro). 

On Monday January 2nd, Funai had its name changed: created in 1967 as the National Indian Foundation, it is now called National Foundation for Indigenous People.  FUNAI is now part of the structure of the newly established Ministry of Indigenous People. For the first time also, Funai is presided over by an indigenous woman, the former federal deputy Joenia Wapichana. 

On the same day, Minister Marina Silva canceled a norm created by former minister of the Environment Ricardo Salles that took away important technical attributions to Ibama’s environmental agents. According to  Brasil de Fato publication, the norm paralyzed Ibama’s inspections and law enforcement capacities. A survey by Estadao media showed that out of 1,154 infractions and fines issued after October 2019, when Salles changed the rules, 98% were not enforced or charged. Marina Silva also determined that infractions and fines must be made publicly available on the internet. During Bolsonaro’s government, the database on infractions and fines were made inaccessible. It was also determined that 50% of money raised with fines will be destined to the National Environmental Fund (FNMA), to support environmental policies. Minister Marina also said that more repeals and changes will be published in the upcoming days and weeks.

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When the lights go out, Agro maneuvers the last herd of the Bolsonaro government

Campanha em Guarapuava (PR) alerta para perigos dos agrotóxicos

Crédito: @samuelfbueno/Mídia ECO

21 Dec 22

When the lights go out, Agro maneuvers the last herd of the Bolsonaro government

This Monday afternoon (19) the Brazilian Senate Agrarian Reform and Agriculture Commission approved a favorable opinion on the Poison Package (PL1459/2022).

The Poison Package is a compilation of legislative projects that aims to replace the current Pesticides Law (Law 7.802/1989) with a new text, even eliminating the word “agrotoxic” [as it is commonly known in Brazil], and replacing it with a milder term: pesticide. The text makes the release and use of pesticides more flexible in the country, in addition to leading Anvisa and Ibama to a secondary role in the registration, inspection and analysis of substances. At the end of the meeting, Congress also approved an urgent request for the consideration of the bill in the plenary of the House.

On the same date, Greenpeace Brasil filed an appeal with the Court of Justice of Rondônia in response to the lawsuit filed by Senator Acir Gurgacz (PDT – RO) for his position against the approval of the “Poison Package”. More than 300 health and environment organizations, government agencies – such as Ibama, the National Cancer Institute (INCA), the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), Fiocruz and Anvisa – and even the United Nations have already protested against this measure.

On Tuesday night (20), the Senate approved in plenary the Law Project of Self-Control, a bill that will allow the agricultural industries to supervise their food production themselves. These activities are currently carried out exclusively by inspectors from the Ministry of Agriculture. “Outsourced inspection”, which removes part of the role of federal agricultural inspectors, subordinated to the Ministry of Agriculture, has been contested by the Union of Federal Agricultural Inspectors (Anffa Sindical). The Project has already passed through the Chamber of Deputies and is now going for presidential sanction.

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Belo Monte proposes a meager R$ 20,000 in reparations to fishermen in the Xingu

Belo Monte under construction in 2004

Credit: Reproduction

23 Nov 22

Belo Monte proposes a meager R$ 20,000 in reparations to fishermen in the Xingu

Norte Energia, the company responsible for operating the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant, in the state of Pará, proposed to pay R$ 20 thousand for each fisherman who can no longer work due to lack of fish in the Xingu River since the beginning of operation of the plant, in 2016.

Hundreds of fishermen gathered on Tuesday (22) in the city of Altamira, Pará, to express dissatisfaction with the proposal. They disagree with the number of people contemplated by the reparation, because, according to them, there are at least 4,000 workers affected by the plant, more than double the almost 2,000 fishermen that Norte Energia proposed to attend.

Belo Monte is a project conceived during the military dictatorship (1964-1985) that was on the agenda of several governments until it was made possible by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff. The first turbines began operating in 2016. The construction resulted in serious environmental and social impacts in the Amazon.

 

Petrobras insists on starting exploration in the Amazon coast in 2022

Company is ignoring environmental licensing procedures

Crédito: Airton Morassi/Flickr

3 Nov 22

Petrobras insists on starting exploration in the Amazon coast in 2022

The management of Petrobras, Brazil state-owned oil company, wants to begin exploration along the coast of the state of Amapá this year, even without having fulfilled all the necessary phases for environmental licensing. Environmentalists and federal prosecutors warn that Petrobras has not carried out all the environmental impact studies nor concluded the previous consultations with the various indigenous and riverside communities that could be affected by the operation.

Another decision by the top management at Petrobras also generated resistance from civil society. The board of directors approved the distribution of R$ 43.7 billion in dividends for the third quarter of the year. Unions and representatives of Petrobras workers threaten to go to court to prevent this payment before the beginning of the next government. “Any decision on dividends should be up to the future management of the company, and already considering the guidelines of a new controller,” said the law firm Garcez, which represents oil workers.

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Company associated with Bolsonaro's youngest son is granted 18 mining licenses in just two days

Renan was gifted by the company a R$ 90,000 car

Credit: Instagram/Reproduction

24 Oct 22

Company associated with Bolsonaro’s youngest son is granted 18 mining licenses in just two days

A company linked to Jair Renan, Jair Bolsonaro’s had 18 mining licenses granted in just two days. Amid an investigation into the crime of influence peddling and money laundering, Gramazini Granitos and Mármores Thomazini, linked to Jair Renan, youngest son of Jair Bolsonaro, got at the end of last year 18 more permits to mine in the south, southeast and northeast regions of the country. The decrees were published in the Diário Oficial da União (DOU) of December 29 and 30, 2021, and are valid for two to three years.

The group from Espírito Santo state, composed of 17 mining companies, is the same one that gave the Renan an electric car valued at R$ 90,000, as reported by O Globo newspaper early last year. A month after the donation, in October 2020, the firm scheduled a meeting with the Minister of Regional Development, Rogério Marinho, which Jair Renan also attended.

The situation drew the attention of the Federal Public Prosecution Office (MPF), which opened a preliminary procedure to investigate the case. Shortly afterwards, in December, the president’s son was summoned by the Federal Police to testify in the investigation.

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Businessman gives money to Bolsonaro's allies while lobbying for mining on indigenous lands

Belmonte and Bolsonaro together

Credit: Reproduction

28 Aug 22

Businessman gives money to Bolsonaro’s allies while lobbying for mining on indigenous lands

The businessman Luis Felipe Belmonte, an ally of Jair Bolsonaro, gave money to people in the president’s close circle while lobbying for the approval of laws that allow for mining on indigenous lands, according to messages intercepted by the Federal Police (PF). The information is from the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo. The messages were obtained by the Federal Police as part of an operation aimed at investigating the financing of antidemocratic acts in April 2020.

More than 2 million reais were distributed by Belmonte between Jair Renan, Bolsonaro’s son (R$10,000), the lawyer Karina Kufa, that represents the president (R$634,000), and the marketers Sergio Lima and Walter Bifulco, responsible for his reelection campaign (R$1.5 million). In one of the messages, when asked by his wife, Representative Paula Belmonte, about the expenses, the businessman said that “the goal was to come closer to the palace and make the ‘indigenous project’ viable,” says the report.

 

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51.1% of Brazil's gold mining area is in illegal areas

Devastation grew in indigenous lands and conservation units

Credit: Felipe Werneck/Ibama

9 Aug 22

51.1% of Brazil’s gold mining area is in illegal areas

A study conducted by the MapBiomas network indicates that in 2020, 51.1% of the area used for gold mining in Brazil was in illegal areas. According to the data from the monitoring initiative, there were 97.8 thousand hectares of gold mining area in Brazil in the analyzed period, of which 92.3 thousand hectares were “garimpo”, small gold digging sites that usually are illegal, and 5.5 thousand hectares were industrial mining. The map was superimposed on the mining processes (PMs) authorized in 2019, revealing the illegality of more than half of the “garimpo” areas.

In recent years, the country has suffered from the aggressive advance of mining activity in protected areas, especially Indigenous Lands. According to the report, between 2019 and 2020, 45% of this growth occurred in unauthorized territories.

The document also highlights the pressure of bills in protected areas. “The approval of PL 191/2020 can lead to a new gold rush inside Indigenous Lands and give amnesty to those who already carried out exploitation before the regulation of mining in these territories. The core of the discussion should be the development of control and enforcement measures between government agencies such as ANM, IBAMA, ICMBio, Federal Revenue Service and Federal Police in order to mitigate the socio-environmental damage of illegal exploitation in the country,” says the text.

 

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Mining project threatens Serra do Curral, landmark of Belo Horizonte (MG)

Region that would be affected harbors large swats of the Atlantic Rainforest

Credit: André Jean Deberdt

23 May 22

Mining project threatens Serra do Curral, landmark of Belo Horizonte (MG)

The state government of Minas Gerais has granted an environmental license to the mining company Taquaril Mineração S.A. (Tamisa) to build a mining complex in the Serra do Curral, a mountainous region located between the municipalities of Belo Horizonte, Nova Lima and Sabará. The project will occupy an area of 101.24 hectares, equivalent to 121 soccer fields.

The municipality of Belo Horizonte and the Public Ministry of Minas Gerais have filed actions in court to reverse the decision. Activists, social movements and civil society organizations launched the campaign “Tira o pé da minha Serra” [Hands off my Serra], which calls for the installation of a parliamentary investigation commission to investigate the bidding process.

Specialists say that a mining can increase deforestation in the region and compromise the water supply for the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais’s capital.

 

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Brazilian military managed network of fake profiles to attack NGOs and environmentalists

Image army officials utilized to slander Greenpeace

Credit: Reproduction/via O Estado de S. Paulo

7 Apr 22

Brazilian military managed network of fake profiles to attack NGOs and environmentalists

Two army officers have been identified as the responsible for a network of 14 fake profiles and nine Facebook pages, as well as 39 Instagram accounts, used for attacking NGOs and environmentalists and spreading lies about the Amazon and environmental issues in Brazil.

The information was shared by the company in its quarterly report on threats made by users. “We cannot share many details of how our investigation reached the military. The more we share, the more these networks are able to hide. We use technical and behavioral signals,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of global security policy, told the newspaper Estado de S. Paulo.

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STF begins voting on the "green package" but trial is suspended after adjournement request

Appointed by Bolsonaro, Mendonça required a postponement


Crédito: Nelson Jr./SCO/STF

6 Apr 22

STF begins voting on the “green package” but trial is suspended after adjournement request

The Federal Supreme Court (STF) has begun the trail of the “green package”, the nickname that was given to the set of seven lawsuits that deal with socio-environmental issues, signed by opposition parties. 

In a historic vote, Cármen Lúcia, rapporteur of six of the seven proposals and, therefore, the first to speak, said that there is an “Unconstitutional State of Things” (ECI) in the country’s environmental policy. The Justice also criticized the execution of the budget for environmental policies and ordered the government to draw up a new plan to fight deforestation in the country.

The ECI is a judicial decision-making technique created by the Colombian Constitutional Court (CCC) in the context of the negligence of the other powers in the face of violations of fundamental rights. The appeal was first evoked by the STF in 2015, in a case about the Brazilian prison system.

However, the Court suspended the trial due to a request for examination by Justice André Mendonça, which occurs when one of the justices needs more time to decide its vote. On the agenda were the Argument of Noncompliance with Fundamental Rights (ADPF) 760, which calls for the federal government to resume the Plan to Prevent and Combat Deforestation of the Amazon, and the Direct Action of Unconstitutionality by Omission (ADO) 54, which points to the omission of Bolsonaro and the former Minister of Environment, Ricardo Salles, regarding the advance of deforestation in the Amazon.

 

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Indigenous people are 'trapped' by coal-fire power plant complex in Roraima

Serra da Lua power plant


Credit: State of Roraima

28 Mar 22

Indigenous people are ‘trapped’ by coal-fire power plant complex in Roraima

Indigenous members of the Macuxi and Wapichana ethnic groups claim that they “were never consulted” about the construction of the Serra da Lua coal-fired power plant complex, inaugurated this week by the administration of Roraima state, governor Antonio Denarium. The project is located at the limits of the Tabalascada, Malacacheta and Canaunim Indigenous Lands, where 16 communities and 3 thousand indigenous people live.

The project, which has been called the “power plant of death” by the indigenous people, received tax incentives from Denarium’s administration. The plants were auctioned in May 2019, in the first energy auction promoted by Bolsonaro, and are controlled by OXE Energia.

 

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Lower House approves urgency regime for bill 191, which authorizes mining in indigenous lands

Mineração em terras indígenas é pauta prioritária do governo

Crédito: Alan Santos/PR

10 Mar 22

Lower House approves urgency regime for bill 191, which authorizes mining in indigenous lands

By 279 to 180 votes, the Chamber of Deputies approved the urgency request for the bill 191/2020 (PL 191/2020), which authorizes industrial mining and large enterprises, such as hydroelectric plants and commodities plantations, in Indigenous Lands. With this, the proposal gains priority and should be voted on in the first half of April. 

The request was forwarded by the government leader in the House, congressman Ricardo Barros (PP-PR), and put on the agenda by the president of the House, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), while thousands of people gathered outside in the Protest for Earth [Ato pela Terra], summoned by the singer Caetano Veloso, against bills that affect the Brazilian environmental policy.

For the opposition, this is an unconstitutional bill that seriously violates the rights of the indigenous population. In an interview with Pública, congresswoman Joenia Wapichana (Rede-RR), the only indigenous federal representative, said that the proposal is a summary of Bolsonaro’s agenda. “Everything that he [Bolsonaro] dreamed of in regards to exploring the indigenous lands is in this bill.”

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Miners block ICMBio headquarters in Itaituba (PA) against Federal Police operation and are supported by the mayor

The municipality is a illegal gold digging hotspot

Photo: Paulo de Tarso Moreira Oliveira/MPF/Via Cimi

23 Feb 22

Miners block ICMBio headquarters in Itaituba (PA) against Federal Police operation and are supported by the mayor

In protest against Operation Amazonian Caribbean, in which the Federal Police (PF) acted to suppress illegal gold digging near the Munduruku Indigenous Land (TI) in the region of the Tapajós river, miners blocked access to the headquarters of the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity (ICMBio) in the city of Itaituba, in the state Pará, on February 16th.

Criticizing the action of the Federal Police, the mayor of Itaituba, Valmir Climaco (MDB), met with Bolsonaro administration Chief of Staff, Ciro Nogueira, asking the federal government to intervene on behalf of the illegal gold diggers.  In an interview with O Globo, Climaco admitted that his administration was admittedly boycotting inspections on gold mining camps and that he will create a program to monitor the region’s mines and “re-educate” the gold diggers.

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Government keeps 3,500 illegal mining requests in the Legal Amazon in its database

Roraima está entre os estados mais ameaçadas

Crédito: Vinícius Mendonça/Ibama/via CC BY-SA 2.0

22 Feb 22

Government keeps 3,500 illegal mining requests in the Legal Amazon in its database

A new version of the interactive panel Amazônia Minada (Mined Amazon) shows that the National Mining Agency (ANM) has 3,500 mining applications that overlap, totally or partially, with Indigenous Lands (TIs) and fully protected Conservation Units (UCs) in the Legal Amazon region. Despite being illegal, the federal autarchy continues to allow the requests to be processed. This is seen by analysts as a demonstration of leniency with mining and political pressure for changes in the legislation.

The platform, a partnership between InfoAmazônia, Amazon Watch and the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil Network, collects data from the ANM database on a daily basis and cross-references it with the boundaries of the indigenous land and conservation units of full protection in the Amazon region, identifying which requests overlap or touch on protected areas.

 

Sources:

InfoAmazônia (22/1)

Bolsonaro administration signs two decrees that favor mining activity and gold digging

Measures constitute a grave threat to indigenous peoples

Photo: ISA

15 Feb 22

Bolsonaro administration signs two decrees that favor mining activity and gold digging

The president Jair Bolsonaro published decree No. 10,966, which established the “Program of Support for the Development of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining” (Pro-Mape), with the goal of fostering “sustainable regional and national development”, with the Legal Amazon as a priority region. In practice, this is an action to support gold digging. The text also announces the creation of the Interministerial Commission for the Development of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (Comape) to support the implementation of the program. He also released decree No. 10.965 amends the regulations of the Mining Code, obliging the National Mining Agency to adopt “simplified criteria” for the analysis of processes and licences.

Escolhas Institute, which studies the illegal gold mining chain in the Amazon and recently published the study “X-Ray of Gold: more than 200 tons may be illegal”, released a statement highlighting the critical points of the measures and requesting the revocation of the acts. “The two decrees further weaken the almost non-existent control in the gold digging chain. Instead of establishing more rigid criteria for controls and inspection, which are necessary on the part of the federal government, they stimulate the activity that today is one of the main threats to the Amazon forest and its peoples,” says the text.

There was also a reaction from Congress against the measures. Congressman Reginaldo Lopes asked for the suspension of the act through a legislative decree project.

 

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National Electrical Energy Agency extends deadline for studies for construction of three large hydroelectric dams in the Amazon

Projeto está parado há dez anos devido aos seus riscos socioambientais

Crédito: Marizilda Cruppe/Greenpeace

27 Jan 22

National Electrical Energy Agency extends deadline for studies for construction of three large hydroelectric dams in the Amazon

The National Electrical Energy Agency (Aneel) extended until December 31st, 2023, the deadline for the state-owned company Eletrobras and its subsidiary Eletronorte to conduct technical and economic feasibility studies for three large hydroelectric plants in the Tapajós River Basin (PA), in the Amazon. The first approval for the evaluation was granted by Aneel in 2009, and was extended twice, in 2018 and 2020.

Together, the plants have a potential of 2.2 GW.

Led by Eletrobrás, the “Tapajós Consortium”, created to enable hydroelectric plants in the Amazon region, has undergone several changes in recent years due to the great environmental risk of the projects, located near areas of environmental preservation, including Indigenous Lands.

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