Brazilian authorities are preparing to remove illegal gold miners from the Munduruku territory in the Amazon rainforest, reported Reuters, noting that the Indigenous reservation has the second-most illegal mining in Brazil.
The miners have crisscrossed the territory with 21 informal airstrips and contaminated it with mercury, a Brazilian official told the news agency. The planned operation will involve federal bodies from the Defense Ministry to Indigenous affairs agency Funai. The aim is to cut supplies for illegal activities in partnership with Brazil’s fuel and aviation regulators.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has vowed to fight illegal mining on Indigenous lands after a surge under his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.
Government agency Censipam, which manages operations protecting the Amazon, reported 388 new illegal mining spots opened in the Munduruku territory in 2022, the last year of the Bolsonaro administration, falling to 128 last year and 23 so far this year.
Source: Reuters