6.2MLN HECTARES OF AMAZON FORESTS ENDANGERED BY BRAZIL’S NEW GOLD RUSH

Thu 19 August 2021:

According to a study conducted by Instituto Escolhas, a Sao Paulo-based non-governmental organization supporting sustainable development, Brazil’s intense gold extraction threatens about 6.2 million hectares (15 million acres) of national reserves in Amazonia.

“Over the last five years, the devastation of Amazonia forests increased five times solely due to mining activities,” Larissa Rodrigues, a project manager with Instituto Escolhas, stated on Wednesday. In 2020, Brazil exported 110.

6 tonnes of gold to about 20 countries, with 17.2% of the gold mined and exported illegally. Illicit mining is one of principal causes of deforestation in Amazonia, which lost 850,000 hectares, according to official data.

On August 4, Brazil’s Congress passed a law on appropriation of Amazon lands, occupied by businesses, opening the areas, inhabited by indigenous people, for mining and other extractive activities. The move was met with caustic criticism from green and human rights activists.

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