- Last month, the Brazilian Supreme Court authorized the possibility of mining exploration and exploitation inside an Indigenous territory for the first time, at the request of an Indigenous Cinta Larga association in the southwestern Amazon.
- While the decision does not automatically authorize mining within Cinta Larga land, it has set a deadline for Congress to regulate mining in Indigenous lands and has established provisional rules in case mining authorization is approved by Congress, such as allowing mining on only 1% of the territory.
- A representative of the Cinta Larga Patjamaaj Association told Mongabay that the absence of such a law has prevented them from being able to benefit economically from mining on their land, leading to a lack of income for health, education and sustainability projects.
- Brazil’s Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI), several public prosecutors and other Indigenous peoples and organizations have raised concerns about the precedent this could set, and say that by establishing these rules, it can be interpreted as opening the door to future exploration requests while on-site environmental compliance inspections in Brazil remain rare.
On Feb. 3, at the request of an association of the Indigenous Cinta Larga people in the Amazon, the Brazilian Supreme Court authorized the possibility of mining exploration and exploitation inside an Indigenous territory for the first time. While the decision does not automatically authorize mining in the Cinta Larga Indigenous territory, it has set a deadline for Congress to regulate mining in all Indigenous lands, and has established provisional rules in case mining is approved.
The absence of such mining laws has meant that many Cinta Larga people have been unable to benefit economically from mining within their Indigenous territory in southwestern Brazilian Amazon, where some of the world’s largest diamond deposits are thought to exist and are being mined illegally. Unregulated illegal mining has caused river contamination, deforestation, violent conflicts and social problems in some communities.
The court decision also framed lack of regulation as an Indigenous autonomy issue.
If approved, this will allow Indigenous peoples to mine in their territories, as well as any company if they receive permission — subject to social and environmental checks. In this case, a portion of the profits must be shared with Indigenous communities for matters of collective interest.
“The main motivation was to seek economic autonomy and better living conditions for the community,” Gilmar Cinta Larga, a Cinta Larga leader and coordinator of the Patjamaaj Association, which is one of several associations that act as a representative body for the Cinta Larga people, told Mongabay via WhatsApp. “The Cinta Larga territory possesses significant mineral and natural resources, and the community understands that, with adequate regulation and direct participation in management, exploration can generate income, infrastructure, access to health, education, and sustainable development projects.”
The Supreme Court decision set a two-year deadline for Congress to regulate mining within Indigenous lands in Brazil and established provisional rules in case it does approve mining in Cinta Larga land. The rules include allowing only 1% of the demarcated territory to be exploited, as well as the need to follow the usual procedures, including obtaining government and congressional approval for projects, impact studies, environmental licensing and measures to recover the degraded environment and consultation with affected communities according to constitutional and legal requirements — notably ILO Convention 169. It also ordered the removal of non-Indigenous people from the Cinta Larga land.
Several sources told Mongabay that they are concerned about the precedent this decision may set and that, by establishing these rules, it could be interpreted as opening the door to future exploration requests within Indigenous lands — which are often beacons of biodiversity conservation in Brazil. They also raised questions about issues in on-site environmental inspections even when regulation does exist and the possible presence of isolated peoples in the Cinta Larga territory.
Márcio Santilli, the founding partner and president of the socio-environmental NGO Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), said consultation with Indigenous peoples to mine in their territory would definitely be required but the level of obtaining consent may “be contested in the regulation process.”
Gilmar Cinta Larga from the association that requested the regulation said he has mixed feelings about the decision. One of his biggest concerns for the next steps is “loss of autonomy in decision-making.”
Can regulation bring benefits?
According to Gilmar, the Patjamaaj Association made the request to the Supreme Court because without a law to regularize mining, others, such as illegal miners, benefit.
Meanwhile, the community bears the negative impacts. He explained that without clear rules and effective oversight, illegal mining brings serious consequences, such as violent conflicts, uncontrolled environmental degradation, river contamination, lack of financial return for the community and an increase in social problems. Some Cinta Larga people have joined illegal mining networks in the territory to profit from these activities, but the money hasn’t spread to the wider community while environmental degradation continues.
“The community faces challenges such as lack of adequate medical care, difficulties in accessing quality education, social vulnerabilities, lack of oversight, and few income-generating opportunities,” Gilmar said. “In addition, there are historical problems related to the invasion of illegal miners, illegal logging, encroachment by hunters, farmers exceeding the territory’s boundaries, etc.”
Ever since the Cinta Larga were introduced to Western tools and concepts by the Brazilian state in the 1960s, the Indigenous group began to experience violence, illegal logging and mining, as recounted in the book, When We Sold God’s Eye: Diamonds, Murder, and a Clash of Worlds in the Amazon.
In February this year, Brazil’s National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai), in coordination with the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) and other protection agencies, carried out an operation to combat illegal mining in the Aripuaña Indigenous land, which is where some Cinta Larga communities live. It resulted in the seizure and destruction of 23 dredges and other tools used for illegal mining in Aripuaña and two other Indigenous lands, Kayabi and Sararé. Illegal mining is also carried out in the Cinta Larga’s Roosevelt Indigenous land.
Gilmar said that by regulating mining on Cinta Larga land, the community can generate its own financial resources, reduce the presence of illegal mining, allow investments in basic infrastructure and strengthen the administrative autonomy of the community.
Mongabay was unable to confirm the position of several other Cinta Larga associations by the time of publication.
A Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI) spokesperson told Mongabay over email that there are records of Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation in part of the Cinta Larga territory, and therefore, “any activity in territories with the presence or transit of isolated peoples is especially sensitive and may result in serious human rights violations.”
They also said that there are no guarantees that the regularization of mining will necessarily facilitate the control of illegal activities, and highlighted the serious environmental impacts that arise from mining, whether regularized or not.
“On-site inspections of mineral extraction procedures and methods, and their compliance with environmental aspects, are rarely carried out,” the agency said. “In addition, it is common for clandestine mining activities to use regularized mining ventures to falsify the origin of the minerals, using permits and authorizations from third parties to illegally extract and trade minerals from protected areas.”
Gilmar told Mongabay he also shares concerns about the possible increase in illegal mining, whether it is ultimately authorized or not, as well as the potential lack of government support, internal and external conflicts, irreversible environmental damage and the loss of autonomy in decision-making.
“The main concern is to ensure that whichever path is chosen respects the culture, the territory, and the future of the next generations,” Gilmar said.
Implications for other Indigenous lands
While the Supreme Court decision focuses on the Cinta Larga people, it acknowledges that a law is needed to regulate mineral exploration and exploitation on all Indigenous lands. The MPI spokesperson told Mongabay that “by establishing provisional guidelines, it can be interpreted as opening the door to future exploration requests, which generates great institutional concern.”
The opening of Indigenous lands for mining could cause cultural disruptions in communities, as well as environmental damage that could lead to serious impacts to Indigenous peoples’ ways of life, waters and natural resources, said Mauricio Terena, an Indigenous Terena lawyer for the Office of Indigenous Rights and Forests (EDIF). He told Mongabay via WhatsApp that those who stand to benefit most from mining in Indigenous lands are the large mining companies.
“Even if some kind of autonomy is given to these communities to carry out these projects, we don’t have the structure for these communities to do so, and we must never lose sight of the fact that Indigenous peoples have a different worldview,” he said. “Even the relatives who go and request permission to carry out this activity do so for reasons of economic viability. The actors who benefit most will obviously be the economic agents of the mining sector.”
Santilli of the ISA told Mongabay via WhatsApp that the decision by the Supreme Court sets a precedent that may be followed by other groups.
“[It] puts pressure on Congress, which will also likely be pressured by Indigenous associations interested in provisional authorizations,” Santilli explained. “A probable effect is to accelerate the regulation of mining in Indigenous territories by Congress.”
Brazil’s National Mining Agency (ANM in Portuguese), Funai and Ibama did not respond to Mongabay’s requests for comment by the time of publication.
Banner image: A meeting in the Cinta Larga territory in 2017. Image for representation purpose only. Image by Amazônia Real via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
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