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- MAAP, a program of the organization Amazon Conservation, has documented more than 102 square kilometers (40 square miles) of mining-linked deforestation in the indigenous reserves of Kayap\u00f3, Munduruku and Yanomami in Brazil. Mongabay had exclusive access to the report prior to its release.<\/em><\/li>\n
- Though mining is still illegal in indigenous reserves under Brazilian law, President Jair Bolsonaro has introduced a bill awaiting a vote in Congress that would to allow mining, oil and gas extraction and other uses of these lands.<\/em><\/li>\n
- Human rights groups like Survival International hold Bolsonaro and his policies responsible for the loss of forest, as well as mercury pollution, societal disruption and the introduction of diseases such as malaria and potentially COVID-19 that result from mining.<\/em><\/li>\n
- The groups say Bolsonaro\u2019s rhetoric, in favor of developing the Amazon, has emboldened would-be miners.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
Illegal gold mining led to deforestation of thousands of hectares of forests inside indigenous reserves in the Brazilian Amazon in 2019, according to\u00a0new satellite image analysis<\/a>\u00a0published April 8 by the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP). Mongabay had exclusive access to the\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0prior to its release.<\/p>\n
MAAP, a program of the organization Amazon Conservation, has documented more than 102 square kilometers (40 square miles) of mining-linked deforestation in the indigenous reserves of Kayap\u00f3, Munduruku and Yanomami. These indigenous lands are all officially demarcated and supposed to be protected from industrial activity by the Brazilian Constitution.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/04\/08105620\/maaproject.org-maap-116-amazon-gold-mining-part-2-brazil-ezgif.com-gif-maker-mundu-1-resize.gif\")
Gold mining deforestation in Munduruku Reserve between 2017 and 2019. Image courtesy of MAAP with data from Planet and MAAP.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n In Peru, MAAP previously tracked hundreds of hectares of lost forest at the hands of illegal miners in the region of\u00a0Madre de Dios, bordering Brazil and Bolivia<\/a>. Now, for the first time, it has found a similar rate of deforestation in Brazil\u2019s section of the Amazon, and the evidence shows that it\u2019s been going on for several years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the closest thing that we\u2019ve seen to Peru,\u201d Matt Finer, an ecologist and the director of MAAP, said in an interview. In other parts of the Amazon, he said, mining hasn\u2019t caused the loss of forest on that scale, though nefarious environmental effects such as mercury contamination of water sources typically come in tow.<\/p>\n
Losses of around 20 km2 (7.7 mi2) of mining-related deforestation were found in the Kayap\u00f3 and Munduruku reserves in 2019; in the Yanomami reserve, it reached 5 km2 (1.9 mi2). MAAP combined its analysis of satellite images down to a resolution of 3 meters (10 feet) with news reports and maps of gold mining areas across the Amazon compiled by the Brazilian organization\u00a0RAISG<\/a>\u00a0to get a \u201creal-world snapshot\u201d of these incursions.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/04\/08104825\/maaproject.org-maap-116-amazon-gold-mining-part-2-brazil-ezgif.com-gif-maker-kayapo-resize.gif\")
Gold mining deforestation in Kayap\u00f3 Reserve between 2017 and 2019. Image courtesy of MAAP with data from Planet and MAAP.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Finer said he and his colleagues had been getting reports of a rush of miners into the Yanomami reserve \u2014 up to 10,000 by the count of the human rights NGO Survival International, which holds President Jair Bolsonaro and his policies responsible for the loss of forest, as well as mercury pollution, societal disruption and the introduction of diseases such as malaria that result from mining. They say his rhetoric, in favor of developing the Amazon, has emboldened would-be miners, both legal and illegal.<\/p>\n
\u201c[M]any of their territories are being invaded and stolen for logging, mining and agribusiness, with the encouragement of President Bolsonaro, who has virtually declared war on Brazil\u2019s indigenous peoples,\u201d campaigner Sarah Shenker said in a\u00a0statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Survival International also recently warned of the danger that miners could bring the global COVID-19 pandemic to uncontacted peoples in Brazil, with the potential to \u201cwipe out whole peoples.\u201d On April 1, Brazil\u2019s health ministry confirmed the first case of the disease in a member of Brazil\u2019s indigenous communities in the state of Amazonas, and 26 other people are being monitored after they came into contact with a doctor who has tested positive for COVID-19.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere invaders are present, coronavirus could wipe out whole peoples,\u201d Shenker said. \u201cIt\u2019s a matter of life and death.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Gold mining deforestation in Yanomami Reserve between 2017 and 2019. Image courtesy of MAAP with data from Planet and MAAP.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Mongabay reported<\/a>\u00a0in February that nearly 3,800 requests had been submitted to the Brazilian government for mining-related activities inside indigenous territories or protected areas. Another\u00a0investigation<\/a>\u00a0found that the mining giant Anglo American has applied for almost 300 such licenses in indigenous territories.<\/p>\n
In February, Antonio Oviedo of the Brazilian NGO Socio-Environmental Institute told Mongabay that his research revealed an 80% uptick in deforestation within indigenous territories in 2019 compared with 2018. Oviedo similarly sees Bolsonaro, who took office at the start of 2019, as the catalyst for that rise.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever he makes statements against the environmental agencies responsible for oversight, the deforestation statistics automatically jump the very same month,\u201d Oviedo said. \u201cThe deforestation is a clear indicator of the impact the policies are having.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/04\/07230025\/maaproject.org-maap-116-amazon-gold-mining-part-2-brazil-Basemap-BrazilAmz-Mining2017-2019-Eng-300dpi-v4-scaled.jpg\")
The three indigenous reserves, Yanomami, Munduruku and Kayap\u00f3, where MAAP tracked deforestation due to gold mining in 2019. Image courtesy of MAAP with data from Planet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Controversial mining bill<\/h3>\n
Though mining is still illegal in indigenous reserves under Brazilian law, Bolsonaro has introduced a\u00a0bill<\/a>\u00a0that would allow mining, oil and gas extraction and other uses of these lands, justified partly on the grounds that it will bring development to indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n
But Marcio Santilli, a former head of\u00a0FUNAI<\/a>, the Brazilian government\u2019s indigenous rights agency, disagrees. Instead of improving their lives, he said in a\u00a0February interview with Mongabay<\/a>, the proposed law, which is\u00a0currently awaiting a postponed vote<\/a>\u00a0in Brazil\u2019s Congress, would \u201cguarantee the exploitation by third parties of their natural resources.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deforestation related to mining on indigenous lands, however, began before Bolsonaro took office in January 2019, MAAP researchers found, pointing to tracked forest loss as a result of gold mining back to 2017. \u201cThese problems didn\u2019t come out of nowhere,\u201d Finer said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/04\/07230035\/maaproject.org-maap-116-amazon-gold-mining-part-2-brazil-Mining-IT-Brazil-2017-2019-v2-671x580.jpg\")
Gold mining in the three indigenous reserves. Image courtesy of MAAP.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n And while MAAP\u2019s analysis does show a steady increase in the three reserves they examined \u2014 including a more than 100% jump between 2018 and 2019 in Munduruku \u2014 it also revealed a growing trend.<\/p>\n
Still, the specter of a bill legalizing the incursions of miners into indigenous lands looms, threatening to push deforestation rates even higher as a result of the thrum of new extractive industries within what have been constitutionally protected indigenous lands for decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can imagine \u2014 if it was more formalized \u2014 the deforestation that could quickly unfold,\u201d Finer said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2020\/04\/07225927\/GP0STTZNC_Web_size_with_credit_line-2.jpg\")
Land cleared for mining within the Munduruku reserve in September 2019. Image \u00a9 Christian Braga\/Greenpeace.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n - Though mining is still illegal in indigenous reserves under Brazilian law, President Jair Bolsonaro has introduced a bill awaiting a vote in Congress that would to allow mining, oil and gas extraction and other uses of these lands.<\/em><\/li>\n