Between October 2018 and December 2022, deforestation resulting from illegal mining in the Yanomami Indigenous Land (TI) increased by 309%, according to a survey prepared by the Hutukara Associação Yanomami. In December 2022, the last month of Jair Bolsonaro’s government, the devastated area was 5,053.82 hectares, compared to 1,236 hectares detected at the beginning of monitoring. According to the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), the entity established a comparison with the numbers collected by the Annual Mapping Project of Land Use and Coverage in Brazil (MapBiomas) team, noting a greater growth curve in the period. The difference is due to the quality of the equipment used. While the satellite used by MapBiomas, Landsat, processes data with artificial intelligence, Hutukara’s system has high spatial resolution, which allows for greater precision and coverage of perimeters that sometimes fail to be captured. Another factor highlighted by the ISA is the high frequency of visits to the Indigenous Land by the representative association of the Yanomami, which influences the follow-up and registration work. Garimpo – Hutukara Yanomami Association According to MapBiomas’ calculation, the Yanomami communities ended the years 2020 and 2021 with 920 and 1,556 hectares of forest less. The Yanomami entity, in turn, estimates that the losses were, respectively, 2,126.64 and 3,272.09 hectares. Malaria According to the president of the Urihi Yanomami Association, Junior Yanomami, the mining problem goes beyond the environmental issue and is the root of other consequences, such as the blockage of health care. A few weeks ago, the Yanomami IL became the center of attention of the press and the federal government, with the dissemination of complaints about the health condition of the local population. Photographs of Yanomami children and adults have flooded social networks and impacted users, due to the thinness of their bodies, which, according to the Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (Apib), shows the failure of the Bolsonaro government in the face of countless ignored appeals. In addition to child malnutrition, another well-known affliction of the Yanomami is malaria, a treatable disease. According to Hutukara’s balance sheet, only during the Michel Temer government, 28,776 cases of the disease were registered. Of this total, 9,908 cases correspond to 2018, and, in the following year, beginning of the Bolsonaro government, the sum jumped to 18,187. In 2020, the entity accounted for 19,828 cases and, in 2021, 21,883 cases. Malaria – Hutukara Yanomami Association For the Yanomami leader, public security authorities are fundamental while the prospectors’ siege of indigenous peoples and health professionals remains. “It’s no use for us to send doctors. Garimpeiros will intimidate with rifles, submachine guns. Army, Federal Police have to fight hard, punish, hold these people responsible who are destroying life, the river”, says Junior. The crisis affecting the communities of the Yanomami Indigenous Land led the federal government to declare a Public Health Emergency of National Importance to combat the lack of health care for the people living in the region. On Saturday (21), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and ministers of State visited Roraima to monitor the situation of the indigenous people.
Agência Brasil
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