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BRAZIL-ENVIRONMENT-INDIGENOUS
Illegal mining surges on Yanomami indigenous land: report
RIO DE JANEIRO, March 25, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Illegal mining, a leading cause
of environmental destruction in the Amazon rainforest, expanded 30 percent
last year on protected Yanomami indigenous lands, devastating the equivalent
of 500 football pitches, a report found Thursday.
The increase brought the total amount of land deforested by illegal miners
on the Yanomami’s reserve in northern Brazil to 2,400 hectares (nearly 6,000
acres), an area more than seven times the size of New York’s Central Park,
said the report by two indigenous associations.
Illegal gold and diamond mining are big business in the Amazon, and
according to the report only accelerated on Yanomami lands in 2020, when the
coronavirus pandemic led environmental authorities to scale back enforcement
operations.
“The water is dirty, the river is yellow, everything is riddled with holes.
Illegal miners are like pigs,” said Yanomami shaman Davi Kopenawa, the head
of one of the groups behind the report, the Hutukara Yanomami Association
(HAY).
“They come in like hungry animals, looking for the riches of our land.
It’s expanding very fast. It’s arriving right in the heart of Yanomami
territory,” he said in a statement.
Kopenawa said his community feared a conflict with the miners, who are
often armed.
Last June, illegal miners shot dead two young Yanomami men, leading HAY to
warn that tensions could escalate into a “cycle of violence.”
Last month, miners attacked the indigenous village of Helepe, leading to
clashes that left one indigenous man wounded and one miner dead, the group
said.
The Yanomami, who are known for their face paint and intricate piercings,
were largely isolated from the outside world until the mid-20th century.
They have a history of conflict with illegal miners dating back to the
1970s.
Together with diseases such as measles and malaria, the conflicts
decimated the Yanomami population, which numbers around 27,000 today.
Indigenous authorities have also warned there is a danger of illegal
miners with Covid-19 infecting members of the Yanomami.
BSS/AFP/RY/10:35hrs