Illegal mining has increased in the Brazilian Amazon

Informal mining in Brazilwhich is mostly illegal, increased sharply in 2022, the year in which the area occupied by the so-called “garimpeiros” grew by 35,000 hectares, mainly affecting the Amazon region, its protected areas and the indigenous territories inhabited there.

2022, to be precise, the last year of the far-right government Jair Bolsonaro, 39% of the area taken up by exploitation in the largest tropical forest on the planet was within an ecological reserve or indigenous territory, the country’s mining-prohibited areas, according to a study published this Friday by the Mapbiomas initiative.

The paper reveals that the biome is concentrated in 92% of informal extractions in the country, almost half of which (40.7%) were opened in the last five years.

As for illegal extraction in protected areas and the land of indigenous peoples, the area occupied in these territories last year was 190% larger than in 2018.

According to Mapbiomas, the area occupied by illegal mines in 2022 was more than 25,000 hectares in indigenous areas and 78,000 hectares in conservation areas.

This means that the areas illegally exploited in indigenous settlements last year were 265% larger than in 2018, which means that almost two-thirds (62.3%) of illegal mines on these lands were opened in the last five years.

The Kayapó, Munduruku, Yanomami, treatim do igarapé preto and sai-cinza peoples, all living in the Brazilian Amazon, have been the most affected by extractive activity.

In terms of ecological reserves, the study says that about half (43%) of the areas with illegal mines have been opened in the last five years, the most affected being APA do Tapajós, Flona do Amaná, Esec Juami Japurá, Flona do Crepori and Parna do Rio Novo .

“(…) Their existence and growth is proof of the economic and political support of the activity, without which they would not survive, since they are located in areas where mining is prohibited”, points out César Diniz, technical coordinator of mining mapping at MapBiomas, according to press release.

The greatest expansion of illegal mining occurred precisely under the administration of Bolsonaro (2019-2022), a defender of the economic exploitation of the Amazon, even on the soil of indigenous peoples.

Between 2019 and 2021, activity increased by 53.8% on indigenous lands, according to Mapbiomas data from last year.

Rivers polluted by gold rush

One of the consequences of mining is sedimentation of rivers and pollution of their waters.

In the study, Mapbiomas emphasizes that 85.4% of the 263,000 hectares exploited in the country are intended for gold extraction, most of them in the Brazilian Amazon, in ecological reserves or indigenous lands.

The biome is an ideal area for carrying out this activity because of the number of water sources that bathe it – gold is found on the slopes of rivers – but also because the density of its vegetation, which extends over thousands of square kilometers, makes it difficult to control extractions.

Gold extraction requires the use of mercury, a highly toxic metal that is eventually mined by illegal miners in river waters, polluting the waters that are critical to the thousands of species that make up the biome’s biodiversity and to the survival of the 50 million people who live in the region.

In humans, the metal affects the nervous system, digestive tract, immune system, lungs and kidneys and can cause malformations during pregnancy.

Satellite images analyzed in the study showed that the basins most affected by mining activity were river basins Tapajós, Teles Pires, Jamanxim, Xingu and Amazonas.