Mining threat to uncontacted Indians in
Brazil
Waiãpi Indians are firmly
against President Temer's decision to abolish a
reserve in the Amazon
© Fiona
Watson/Survival In
another blow to indigenous rights and the environment,
Brazil’s President Temer has abolished a protected area
in the Amazon known as the Renca reserve.
Renca
lies within a mosaic of protected areas in northern
Amazonia which includes two indigenous territories. It
is believed that a group of uncontacted
Indians also lives in the region.
With
the reserve abolished, an area of rainforest the size of
Denmark could be opened up to large-scale mining by
multinationals. It is likely too that wildcat miners
will invade the area, polluting the rivers with mercury,
as the Yanomami
have witnessed to devastating effect.
Should
this happen, the consequences will be catastrophic for
the vulnerable uncontacted Indians who will be exposed
to deadly diseases in encounters with outsiders, and
will see their lands invaded and stolen.
In
response to an outcry in Brazil and abroad, the
government has just announced that it will publish a
decree outlining how it will protect indigenous
territories and conservation areas in the area.
The
Brazilian authorities have not consulted with indigenous
peoples about their plans.
The
Waiãpi Indians, who live to the east of Renca, were only
contacted in 1973 and are also likely to suffer from the
impacts of mining. They depend entirely on the forest
and rivers for their livelihood, and like all tribal
peoples they have a deep spiritual connection to their
land.
Jawaruwa,
a Waiãpi spokesman said: “This won’t bring development
for us. It will only bring catastrophe for the Amazon
rainforest in Brazil.”
There
is ample evidence of the serious negative impacts of
large-scale mining on indigenous peoples south of this
region, where the massive Carajás mine and related
projects operate.
The
mine, its roads and railways introduced thousands of
colonists and loggers, who have had a devastating impact
on uncontacted Awá
Indians.
Survival
is protesting to the Brazilian authorities against the
abolition of the reserve, highlighting in particular the
danger to the area’s uncontacted Indians.
Read
this online: http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/11790
| 
