The Brazilian government has approved gold exploration in a pristine expanse of Amazon rainforest that is home to 23 Indigenous groups, an by the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper has revealed.
It reported that the head of Brazil鈥檚 Institutional Security Cabinet, granted seven licences this year to explore for gold in a virtually untouched stretch of jungle bordering Colombia and Venezuela.
Ecologists say mining in the area, within the municipality of S茫o Gabriel da Cachoeira, would drive deforestation in one of the most biodiverse regions in the world and increase mercury poisoning of Indigenous groups, some of which are uncontacted.
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It could also embolden a deadly gold rush that has accelerated across the Amazon in the past five years as prices for the metal have spiked.
Last month, Brazilian police set fire to 131 illegal gold dredging boats up a river bed in the heart of the rainforest. Miners reportedly shot dead two members of one of Brazil鈥檚 largest Indigenous group, the Yanomami, earlier this year when they tried to expel them from their territory with bows and arrows.
Mining is directly responsible for 10 per cent of deforestation in the Amazon, but opens the way for more destructive cattle farmers and loggers to follow, says , an ecologist at the University of Oxford.
Another problem is the release of toxic mercury, often used to separate gold from sediment. This is a decline in fish populations and there is growing evidence that it is causing in Amazonian people, particularly .
Fish make up the bulk of the Indigenous Amazonian diet, and of 428 fish near mining sites in the state of Amap谩 in 2018, all had detectable mercury levels. 鈥淭hey are slowly poisoning themselves with something they cannot treat,鈥� says Berenguer.
The metal has been found in alligators, porpoises and river dolphins, and as far as 100 kilometres away from mining activity, she adds.
The Brazilian Amazon is home to many uncontacted groups and at least two have been sighted on the Brazilian side of the Cabe莽a do Cachorro region in which S茫o Gabriel da Cachoeira lies, says Antenor Vaz, a consultant on South America鈥檚 isolated tribes for the organisation Land is Life. Another group has been sighted in Colombia and there may be others as the government body tasked with protecting Indigenous rights has yet to explore the remote region.
Mining in Cabe莽a do Cachorro would poison the rivers that these isolated groups rely on, says Vaz.
The quiet expansion of mining is the latest evidence of why Brazil鈥檚 COP26 pledge of net zero deforestation by 2030 is hollow, say Berenguer and Vaz. Deforestation has soared under Brazil鈥檚 president Jair Bolsonaro, and in 2020 the controversial leader proposed a bill to legalise the development of Indigenous territories, which has yet to be ruled on by congress. 鈥淚f Brazil continues attacking the right to live in voluntary isolation, it will put the very existence of these uncontacted groups at risk,鈥� says Vaz.
Folha de S.Paulo reports that a total of 45 mining licences have been approved across the Amazon so far in 2021, the highest number since 2013. Bolsonaro鈥檚 office didn鈥檛 respond to a request for comment.
