Amazonas Authorizes Prospecting Along the Madeira River

12/14/2017 - 11h09

A month and a half after the attacks against offices of Ibama, the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, and ICMBio, the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, in Humaitá (700 kilometers from Manaus), Governor Amazonino Mendes (PDT) granted environmental licenses to cooperatives in the region, where gold is prospected along the Madeira river.

In late October an operation led by Ibama against illegal prospecting sites that crossed into conservation units and indigenous lands in areas along the river destroyed 31 vessels used in gold prospecting. Later hundreds of angry prospectors set public buildings on fire.

In practice, these licenses take away the federal inspection agencies' right to destroy vessels in the region, one of the main instruments in the fight against illegal environmental activities in the Amazon.

"Here in Humaitá alone, there are nearly 6,000 people who make their living from prospecting. And the resources used in marginalized, hidden, illegal prospecting – these resources amount to millions of reals in gold – are becoming clandestine, none of that money stays in the city for the people and pollution is out of control, continuously destroying the river," says Amazonino.

Before the decision, all the environmental licenses on the Madeira river were suspended because the cooperatives had not been complying with the 2012 article 11 of resolution 14 of the State Environmental Council (Cemaam), which calls for the mercury residues be stored in closed recipients and delivered at official sites chosen by the government.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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	Divulgação
	Hundreds of angry prospectors set public buildings on fire