SÃO PAULO — After years of delays in protecting the Munduruku Indigenous people from illegal gold mining and mercury use that is destroying the Tapajós River Basin, Brazil’s independent prosecutors say there is now a planned start date for removing miners from the area. Munduruku Indigenous territory. Although the exact date and operation remain secret, sources share it with Mongabay; Stakeholders in government and communities are collecting preliminary data to plan the deportation of miners.

The Munduruku people and their ancestral lands in the Amazon rainforest have been plagued by illegal gold miners for decades. When miners use mercury to extract gold from ore, the toxin flows downriver, affecting communities that drink the water and consume its fish. From babies to the elderly studies They detected the presence of this heavy metal in their bodies. Mercury affects the central nervous system, causing brain damage and deformities. cross the placental barrier to reach the fetus.

Munduruku Indigenous lands were officially recognized two decades ago, but miners came anyway. Despite 2020 Supreme Federal Court federal government order to deport miners from Munduruku and other Indigenous lands “in a more critical situation” 2023), little has been done so far.

In addition to the STF, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office and the Pará Prosecutor’s Office have been demanding for years that illegal miners be removed from Munduruku lands. 2.4 million hectares (5.9 million acres) of land, Second largest area of ​​illegal mining It belongs to any Indigenous territory in Brazil and is home to 6,500 people.

“(Indigenous) communities are demanding action,” said Thaís Medeiros da Costa, federal prosecutor at the Pará Prosecutor’s Office.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, elected in 2022, focused first on removing illegal residents from the region. Yanomami area (occupied by about 20,000 miners at the time) and apyterewa And Trincheira Bacajá lands (the latter are occupied by land grabbers and cattle breeders).

“The current administration inherited a decimated Brazil and had to prioritize the most serious situation, the Yanomami region. But if he had successfully carried out the eviction within the stipulated time, other land cases would have progressed further,” said Luísa Molina, deputy coordinator of the Xingu Program at the Socio-Environmental Institute (ISA).

“This work requires cooperation, and the lack of logistical support from the military made the process longer and more necessary than expected.”

operation

In a note to Mongabay, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples stated: “The federal government will comply with the court decision. “However, this is a covert operation, so we are not authorized to disclose the dates prior to the start of operations (on Munduruku territory).”

The coordination meeting for planning the operation will be held on November 7, 2024. stated Federal government press conference. According to Reuters, the operation will involve federal bodies from the Ministry of Defense to Funai (Brazil’s Department of Indigenous Affairs).

The federal environmental agency, Ibama, also contacted by Mongabay, said the withdrawal process “will be coordinated through the Indigenous Lands Clearance Committee, which was established to comply with the STF decision.” In this regard, Ibama’s actions will follow committee planning.”

The agency added that it is essential that the removal of miners from the area be completed before any environmental monitoring activities are implemented.

academic studies to recommend The predatory (top of the food chain) fish species that Munduruku commonly consume from a young age have the highest levels of mercury due to eating other contaminated fish. Black piranha (Serrasalmus rhombus) had highest level The proportion of mercury among the species analyzed in an article.

“Elimination of invaders is a more immediate and short-term action, but there is also a need to identify the most affected populations and the treatment to be given to them,” MPF-PA’s Costa said. Indigenous lands in the Tapajós River Basin have been contaminated.

“All of this requires data,” he continued. “Most of the information produced comes from academia, but is not translated into official data that feeds systems such as SISSOLO (Health Surveillance Information System for Populations Exposed to Contaminated Soil) and BDNAC (National Database on Contaminated Areas). The government needs to produce data so it can implement public policies.”

This month, in November, Ibama and the conservation units agency ICMBio will present the first data on the most contaminated areas of the Tapajós basin in Munduruku territory (whether recognized or not). This will be presented at the Pará Forum to Combat the Effects of Mercury Pollution in Tapajós, created last year by federal and state prosecutors’ offices and non-governmental organizations. Indigenous representatives, as well as the Pará Department of Environment and Sustainability, are participating in discussions about the location of contaminated sites, how to combat the presence of mercury in rivers, and the treatment of Indigenous people.

The Ministry of Health reported that 381 cases of “toxic effects of mercury and its compounds” were recorded in the Indigenous Health Information System (SIASI) between January and October 2024 in the lands of Mundurku and Sawré Muybu.

Responding to questions about what the Ministry of Health is doing about mercury contamination, the ministry’s communication office stated that “efforts are being made” to implement this regulation. Mercury Minamata Convention Regulating and eliminating the use of mercury.

“The Ministry is reviewing the Health Sector Plan with representatives from academia and civil society in the Mercury Working Group. “The goal is to increase demands on the health of Indigenous peoples and develop a strategic plan for care, surveillance and comprehensive health promotion measures for mercury-exposed populations.”

Another Munduruku land

According to civil society and human rights sources, drawing official boundaries is critical to protect Munduruku lands from miners.

While the Munduruku Indigenous Territory has been recognized, the Sawré Muybu Indigenous lands (also affected by significant mercury pollution) have been awaiting demarcation and official recognition for over a decade.

ISA’s Molina noted that the two Indigenous territories have different land ownership statuses, even though they face the same problem with illegal miners and expect to be deported.

“Under Brazilian law, the removal of invaders from an Indigenous territory can only be done when formally recognized by presidential decree; this is true in Munduruku territory, but not Sawré Muybu. Therefore, it is very important that the government completes drawing the borders of the second region as soon as possible.”

This indicates that the removal of miners from Sawré Muybu Indigenous lands will begin after the president recognizes the territory.

On September 25, 2024, eleven years after Funai completed the determination of the border area, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security declared The territory is in permanent possession of the people of the Sawré Muybu territory.

The remaining steps will be for Funai to draw the borders administratively and for President Lula to officially recognize the region. Mongabay was not given a date for when this would be completed.

Banner image: Illegal mining on the Munduruku Indigenous Territory in 2020. Image: Marizilda Cruppe/Amazônia Real/Amazon Watch.

Besieged by mining and megaprojects, Munduruku fight for land rights in the Amazon

quotes

De Vasconcellos et al. (2021). Health Risk Assessment of Mercury Exposure Due to Fish Consumption in Munduruku Indigenous Communities in the Brazilian Amazon. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(15), 7940.

Kempton, J. W. et al. (2021). Assessment of Health Outcomes and Methylmercury Exposure in Munduruku Indigenous Women and Their Children Under 2 Years of Age. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(19), 10091.

Bello, TCS et al. (2023). Mercury exposure in women of reproductive age in Rondônia State, Amazon region of Brazil. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(6), 5225.

De Oliveira et al. (2021). Neurological effects of chronic methylmercury exposure in Munduruku Indigenous adults: somatosensory, motor and cognitive abnormalities. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(19), 10270.

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