Greenpeace
Gold prospectors destroy four football fields of rainforest a day
View from a Brazilian Environmental Agency helicopter of an illegal mining camp during an operation to curb illegal mining in Yanomami Indian territory in Roraima state, Brazil. photo
© Edmar Barros/AP/dpa
In Brazil, any type of mining is prohibited in indigenous protected areas. But illegal mining is increasing significantly – with fatal consequences.
According to environmentalists, illegal gold miners are destroying an area the size of four football fields per day in the indigenous protected areas in the Brazilian rainforest. Last year, 1,410 hectares of land were destroyed in the territories of the indigenous peoples of Kayapó, Munduruku and Yanomami in the Amazon, the environmental protection organization said Greenpeace on Monday citing a new study.
“Every hour that prospectors are in indigenous areas means more people are threatened, more rivers are polluted and more biodiversity is lost,” said Greenpeace Brazil spokesman Jorge Eduardo Dantas. So far, 26,000 hectares of land have been destroyed by illegal mining in indigenous protected areas. This corresponds roughly to the size of the city of Frankfurt am Main.
In Brazil, any type of mining is prohibited in indigenous protected areas. Nevertheless, according to Greenpeace, illegal mining has increased significantly again in recent years. The advance of gold seekers leads to violence against indigenous people, pollution of rivers with mercury, deforestation and loss of the cultural identity of the indigenous people.