Representatives of civil society organizations pointed to the dismantling of regulatory bodies, support to the mineral market lobby and the attempt to further weaken legislation related to mining as the main reasons for the increase in illegal mining in the country. During a public hearing at the Senate Environment Committee, this Wednesday (10), the results of a report were presented pointing out that, in the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro, mining gained unprecedented political protagonism. Prepared by the Mineração Observatório e Sinal de Fumaça, civil society organizations that deal with the subject, the report Dinamite Pure: How the Mineral Policy of the Bolsonaro government set up a climate and anti-indigenous bomb, shows that members of the Bolsonarist federal summit favored the lobby of illegal mining. “Which resulted in the explosion of activity in indigenous lands and conservation units”. According to the founder and director of the Mining Observatory, Maurício Ângelo, the previous government ignored the appeals of the Yanomami leaders who denounced the humanitarian crisis in the indigenous land, while it was articulating to formally approve mining in indigenous lands. “The government knew very well what was happening in the Yanomami indigenous land and in other lands. You had leaders talking eye to eye to the government about what had happened, you had very detailed reports, including the deaths of children, this was already known before and it did not cause any commotion in the government”, denounced Ângelo during the hearing, citing that the situation is also critical in the Caiapó Munduruku lands. One of the main initiatives was Bill 191/2020, signed by Jair Bolsonaro, former Minister of Mines and Energy Bento Albuquerque and then Minister of Justice Sérgio Moro, to release mining on indigenous lands. Ângelo also mentioned the recent history of the mining sector, with emphasis on disasters and accidents such as the rupture of the Mariana dam, considered the biggest environmental disaster in the history of Brazil; the rupture of the Brumadinho dam that killed 270 people; and the extraction of rock salt by Braskem, in Maceió, which caused the sinking of neighborhoods, affecting 200,000 people. “Considering the history that mining has in Brazil, is it reasonable for you to open indigenous lands for industrial mining, agribusiness, prospecting, hydroelectric plants? Does Brazil need this? Is this what we want?” he asked. According to the specialist, the mining and steel sectors together represent only 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), consume 11% of all energy produced in the country and emit more than 107 million tons of CO² into the atmosphere. Ângelo defended that Brazil needs to review the sector’s development model and create alternatives, since mining activity is finite. “Is mining worth what it weighs? What is mining contributing to the country? What is the legacy in the main mining cities of Minas Gerais, Pará, Bahia, Goiás, Mato Grosso, talking here about industrial mining. The mining issue drew attention this year, but you need to offer economic alternatives, but even the cities that have lived from mining for many decades, they do not have greater economic development, “he warned. The founder of Sinal de Fumaça, Rebeca Lerer, said that there was, in the previous government, a very sophisticated lobbying strategy to advance bills, provisional measures, that would facilitate access to land in a very predatory way both for agribusiness and for the mining. “What we observe in this timeline is the total lack of control in the use of land for mining in Brazil, in the most extreme cases, such as the cases of humanitarian crises that we see in indigenous lands, not only in Yanomami lands, but in the Caiapó, in the Munduruku, in the Madeira River region and other mineral projects”, he said. “It was a mineral policy of large transnational companies, of strategic minerals, of private exploitation of minerals such as uranium, for example, and this was little discussed by society”, she added. Rebeca mentioned that mining activity impacts around 700,000 people per year, with water and soil pollution, serious health problems with contamination by mercury, radioactive materials, people affected by dams, among other problems. “What is Brazil’s medium and long-term strategy that addresses the climate emergency that is upon us, for us to make an economic, social, energy transition and in the way we use the land in our country towards a low-income economy? carbon and climate justice?” he asked. The ombudsman of the National Mining Agency (ANM), André Elias Marques, said that the agency is abandoned, despite having the third highest revenue among regulatory agencies. He defended a greater structure for the ANM, which has, among other attributions, to regulate, inspect and inspect dams and tailings piles, control the proper closure of mines and mining according to environmental aspects. “The National Mining Agency is abandoned, it is scrapped. It is a very outdated agency and far behind other regulatory agencies. ANM is scrapped and is not ready to supervise the sector properly”, he said.
Agência Brasil
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