Nine mining giants, including Brazil’s Vale, Britain’s Anglo American and Canada’s Belo Sun, submitted requests for authorization to exploit indigenous reserves in Brazil, despite the fact that it is currently illegal.according to the report by the environmental NGO Amazon Watch and the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB).
The companies seem to be betting that the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonarowho is pressing to open protected lands to mining and agribusiness, will get the projects presented by his government to be able to operate in indigenous territories approved, the report explains.
As of November, the companies had a total of 225 active mining applications before Brazil’s National Mining Agency (ANM), matching 34 indigenous lands, for a total area more than three times the size of London, it said.
“The environmental damage and threats against the lives of the peoples of the jungle from mining activities are brutal and have only worsened under the Bolsonaro administration,” Ana Paula Vargas, director of Amazon Watch’s Brazil program, said in a statement.
“With the rainforest at the tipping point of ecological collapse, we need to engage all the players behind this industry.”
Experts say preserving indigenous lands is one of the best ways to protect the Amazon, the planet’s largest rainforest, a vital resource in the race to curb climate change.
The report reveals that mining companies, which also include Glencore, AngloGold Ashanti, Rio Tinto, Potassio do Brasil and Grupo Minsur, Received a total of $54.1 billion in funding from international investors over the past five years for its operations in Brazil.
The text urges the banks and financial firms that back these companies to withdraw from them, arguing that many also have a history of human rights violations and environmental destruction.
The main financiers of the nine mining companies include the US firms black rock, Capital Group and Vanguardwhich invested $14.8 billion in them over the past five years, according to the report.
Banks like the French Agricultural Creditthe Americans Bank of America and citigroup, and the german Commerzbank They are also major financiers of the companies, with a total of $2.7 billion in loans and insurance, he said.
Many of the companies denied the allegations.
Anglo American said it had “inherited claims” for indigenous land that it had “fully and formally withdrawn several years ago.”
Belo Sun, Minsur of Peru and Potassio do Brasil said that they do not have any activity related to the indigenous territory and defended their social and environmental performance.
Source: Ambito
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