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~Mining In the Amazon~
Adriana Ramos Coordinator,
Socioenvironmental Policy and Law Programme, ISA
ISA releases Mining in Protected Areas in the Brazilian Amazon and calls for mining licences granted in federal environmental conservation areas to be revoked [April 20,2006 04:53:PM]
Publication overlays official data and information and shows that mining activities can represent threats to forest integrity, even in legally protected areas. The launch took place in Brasília on Tuesday, 18 April. At the same time ISA requested Ibama, the federal environment agency, to revoke 337 licences that allow mining activities within federal environmental conservation areas.
The creation of environmental conservation areas (unidades de conservação or UCs) in Amazonia constitutes one of the Lula administration’s main environmental protection policies for the region. Out of the almost eighty million hectares that constitute the existing environmental conservation areas in the region, fifteen million were established by decrees signed by the current President. The Lula administration’s scorecard includes six new Full Protection Conservation Areas (totalling 57,185 square kilometres) and twenty one Sustainable Use Conservation Areas (94,745 square kilometres), as well as the expansion of the Amazonia National Park.
In the State of Pará by a further 1,670 square kilometres. However, research carried out by the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) reveals that a large proportion of these areas are not in fact protected against one of the economic activities with potentially high environmental impacts – mining.
Using information drawn from the Mining Register maintained by Brazil’s National Department for Mineral Production (DNPM), ISA’s survey shows that, of the 40,144 existing applications for mining in the Legal Amazon region, 5,283 affect federal conservation areas and 880 affect state conservation areas. Even worse, of the total number of valid mining applications registered by DNPM, 406 have already reached the research or exploration stages in thirty two Full Protection Conservation Areas and in twenty three Extractive Reserves. These are areas where mining activities are not allowed. A further 571 applications have reached the research or exploration stages in thirty three Sustainable Use Conservation Areas, mainly in National and State Forests where such activities are subject to a series of conditions. The results of this survey, providing an in depth portrait of the contradictions between the legal framework and the on-the-ground situation, make up the centrepiece of the publication Mining in Protected Areas in the Brazilian Amazon which ISA released on 18 April 2006 in Brasilia.
Whilst environmental legislation expressly prohibits the direct exploitation of natural resources in Full Protection Conservation Areas and conditions such use in Sustainable Use Conservation Areas to conservation, zoning and management plans, these eighty eight Amazon region Conservation Areas currently being surveyed or explored by mining companies may already be suffering alterations arising from a series of activities with high environmental impacts. Amongst the main threats are: releases of gaseous, liquid and solid wastes; noise pollution; movements of waste, minerals and equipment; creation of transport and energy infrastructure; traffic of heavy vehicles such as trucks, diggers and helicopters; encampments; the opening of trails, ditches, wells and paths; waste tanks and ponds; buildings and lodgings; circulation of workers; explosions and excavations; clearing of vegetation; processing of minerals; activities in areas of permanent protection and in refuges of native fauna; and the removal of vegetation traditionally used by local populations.
Licences should be revoked.
ISA’s newest publication identifies and quantifies the pressure exerted by mining interests on the Amazon forest. It brings together information on mining applications and licences, and concessions granted for mechanised and traditional mining operations that occur within conservation areas in Amazonia. ISA’s GIS laboratory mapped the data obtained from DNPM against the perimeters of federal and state conservation areas, using the geographic coordinates contained in the presidential and state decrees establishing the conservation areas in question.
Overlaying these data enabled the listing of mining interests according to company, type of mineral, number of applications and the extent to which the subsoil of each conservation area is the object of applications for survey or extraction. The publication presents this monitoring, organization, overlay and analysis of data and information in table format.
The tables show, for federal and for state conservation areas separately, those mining licences that should be revoked on the grounds of falling within Full Protection Conservation Areas or Extractive Reserves – a situation which is illegal. The tables also show conservation areas by category (Full Protection or Sustainable Use), together with the name of the mining company involved, the status of the application, the type of mineral and the number of applications. The report also provides an overall survey of conservation areas by name, use, area, number of mining applications and the area covered, and the percentage of each conservation area that is the subject of mining applications.
In some cases, mining applications cover practically the entire area of the conservation area in question. The Carajás National Forest (99.51% of its area) and the Itacaúnas National Forest (95.25%) are two such cases. Mining interests are often superimposed, creating several layers of survey applications over the same area. For example, the sum total of all the applications involving the Carajás National Forest amounts to 173% of its total area.
With a view to informing and promoting discussions on the legal regulations concerning mining activities in conservation areas, Mining in Protected Areas in the Brazilian Amazon also provides a full analysis of the legal framework. As part of the research for the publication, ISA analysed the set of laws, regulations, and legal opinions that govern the use of conservation areas, as well as the decrees establishing and regulating the conservation areas themselves, including the law establishing the National System of Conservation Areas (SNUC). A selection of this material can be found in the final section of the book.
Research on mining interests in Amazonia constitutes one of the activities of ISA’s Monitoring Protected Areas Programme, which it has been undertaking for twenty years. Initially the programme monitored interests in the subsoil of Indigenous Lands, but from 1994 onwards the research has expanded to cover conservation areas in the Legal Amazon region. Mining in Protected Areas in the Brazilian Amazon is the first publication to have this specific focus.
Three previous publications from ISA addressed the question of mining in Indigenous Lands, the most recent of which was released in June 2005. Mining in Indigenous Lands, currently prohibited, is also the theme of a draft law which the federal government is expected to submit this month to Congress for approval.
Call made to Ibama
On 17 April ISA delivered a letter to the president of the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), Dr. Marcus Barros, calling for annulment of 337 mining applications that would allow mining within federal environmental conservation areas in Amazonia. The text of the letter is attached below.
ISA is calling upon Ibama to request the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) and the National Department for Mineral Production (DNPM) to cancel the licences in question. The justification for such cancellations is that these licences allow mineral research and exploration in categories of conservation areas where, under the Law on the National System of Conservation Areas, mining activities are prohibited.
The document delivered by ISA to Ibama argues that 406 mining licences granted by the National Department for Mineral Production (DNPM) should be revoked. This number is the result of the research carried out by ISA and published in Mining in Protected Areas in the Brazilian Amazon.
Of these 406 permits, 337 fall within 28 federal conservation areas. They comprise 199 survey authorizations, one permit to work, 129 applications to work, three approvals for traditional working and five licences involving seventy mining interests – mining companies and individuals.
Brasília, 17 April 2006
Dr. Marcus Barros President Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama)
Dear Sir,
The Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) has for more than ten years been carrying out detailed monitoring of protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon region, focusing on federal and state environmental conservation areas and on indigenous lands.
One of the themes of this monitoring is the overlay of mining interests and titles on these areas, developed through analysis of applications submitted to the Mining Register maintained by the National Department for Mineral Production (DNPM). The results of this survey have been brought together in the publication Mining in Protected Areas in the Brazilian Amazon, which the Institute will release in Brasília on 18 April.
The evaluation of these data reveals that, out of the total number of valid applications registered with DNPM, 406 have reached the survey or working stages in 32 full protection conservation areas and in 23 extractive reserves, where mining activities are not permitted. A further 571 applications are in the survey or working stages in 33 sustainable use conservation areas, mainly national or state forests.
The report concludes that these 406 permits should be revoked because the areas in question are within categories of conservation areas that do not allow the exploitation of mineral resources. Of these, 337 are within 28 federal environmental conservation areas and comprise 199 survey authorizations, one authorized working, 129 applications for mechanised working, three authorized traditional workings, and five licences.
We attach a list of these applications in the expectation that Ibama will take the necessary steps, in collaboration with DNPM, to annul these permits. In the case of authorizations to work the concession, the request for annulment needs to be made to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, since such concessions are approved by ministerial order.
Counting on your attention to this matter and your interest in facilitating the resolution of this matter in collaboration with the other competent authorities, with a view to ensuring the necessary compliance with the Law on the National System of Conservation Areas, we remain at your disposal for any further information.
Adriana Ramos Coordinator, Socioenvironmental Policy and Law Programme, ISA
Our sincere thanks and credits go to Yahoo News, Adriana, and Socioambiental
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