February 15, 2022

07:02

Bruno Pacheco – from Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – Environmentalists, indigenous leaders and politicians were against the new decree of President Bolsonaro (PL) that established, on Monday, 14, the Program to Support the Development of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (Pro-Mapa).

For the indigenous leader Beto Marubo, of the Marubo ethnic group and member of the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (Univaja), the program is yet another “aberration” and an incentive to the destruction of rivers, forests and communities.

“There is another aberration coming: the Bolsonaro government has published a decree with the objective of ‘encouraging mining’ in the Legal Amazon. It is another incentive to the destruction of rivers, forests, and life in our communities,” wrote the indigenous man in a post on Twitter.

To CENARIUM MAGAZINE, the environmentalist with a Master’s degree in Ecology, Carlos Durigan, referred to the decree as “absurd. The specialist recalls that the measure will directly impact the Amazon, which has been experiencing tense situations of conflict between indigenous peoples, traditional communities and miners, the latter in the incessant search for gold, amid the increase in illegal and environmental crimes.

“We have a very complicated situation, throughout the Amazon, where there is an expressive increase in illicit environmental crimes and, in general, with murders and conflicts with indigenous peoples and traditional communities, precisely because of the incentive that has been given in the speeches of many politicians about the region, instead of promoting a wider debate and trying to build the bases for a more sustainable exploration of any ore,” said Durigan.

Federal lawmaker Talíria Petrone (Polo-RJ), in a post on social media, said that artisanal mining is a bland name to refer to illegal “genocidal and ecocidal” mining. “That is the decree that Bolsonaro has now issued. It’s not enough the climate crisis we’re going through, the president wants to deepen the destruction even more!”, the congresswoman pointed out on Twitter.

The decree

The decree was published in this Monday’s edition, 14, of the Official Journal of the Union. According to the document, Pro-Mapa should “integrate and strengthen” policies for the development of artisanal and small-scale mining in Brazil, promoting “synergy between stakeholders and those involved in the production chain of the mineral commodity”.

Among the goals set by the program are the stimulation of “best practices, the formalization of the activity, and the promotion of health, assistance, and dignity of the people involved in artisanal and small-scale mining.

Also according to the text of the decree, the Legal Amazon will be a priority for the development of the work of the Interministerial Commission for the Development of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (Comape), under the coordination of the Ministry of Mines and Energy.