Indigenous and traditional community leaders from Brazil’s Amazon come to the Sperrin Mountains

Between Friday 10th and Sunday 11th May, leaders from the indigenous and traditional river communities of the Brazilian Amazon will be hosted by the people of the Sperrin Mountains.
The men and women from the Munduruku and Kayapo territories are travelling to Ireland with their stories of how wildcat and corporate gold mining that have brought conflict and contamination to their territories. They are joined by representatives from the Lower Trombetas region who are protesting the bauxite mining taking place in the lands and forests that they have occupied for generations. 
While the Amazon Basin of Brazil is widely recognised for its importance as hosting the world’s greatest rainforest, the minerals beneath its soils and riverbeds are increasingly coveted by both smaller scale, unlicensed ‘wildcat’ unlicenced gold miners,
and by large mining companies, many based in UK, Europe and North America.
Doto Takak Ire, president of the Kabu Institute, an indigenous association that brings together 15 villages from the Mekrãgnotí group of the Brazlian Amazon, points out how UK company, Serabi Gold Plc, that mines gold from what once was indigenous lands, was condemned in court for failing to consult with residents. According to this leader, the company then produced an impact study that he deems to be seriously flawed, minimising the actual and future harm from the mining operations. Despite these serious concerns, the company continues to extract gold, forcing the leaders to embark on this international visit to raise awareness of the situation facing the ancestral residents of the forest.
Opposing mining in the Amazon region carries great risk. In the Tapajos at least 22 leaders of the Munduruku indigenous people are currently under death threat for speaking out against violent invasion and gold extraction. There are around 14,000
Munduruku living across their territory that has been compromised by illegal mining activity. The grave contamination of the waters on which these people depend has caused illnesses, destroyed fish stocks and led to serious food insecurity. Among the
diseases, contamination by mercury and other heavy metals used in mining stands out, which have caused alarming clinical conditions such as Minamata disease, which causes difficulty or loss of control of body movement (ataxia) and the muscles used for speaking (dysarthria). vision, hearing, smell and taste; memory problems; tremors and paresthesia of extremities. From a survey of 200 residents, almost 60 per cent of the Munduruku people had mercury levels above those considered safe, including pregnant women and their children.
The loss of fish, the contamination of the rivers and springs region is a major concern of the community representatives of the Lower Trombetas region of the Amazon, who only discovered that Mineração Rio Norte (a consortium that brings together Glencore, Rio Tinto and other large mining companies) had started to extract bauxite through the incessant noise of the machines , day and night: “We couldn’t sleep,” remembers Jesi Ferreira de Castro, from the São Francisco community. Without warning and without consultation, the communities lost access to the forest on which they had depended for generations and then observed the change in the colour of the water in the streams, and a red coating on the leaves. “Here, fish that don’t die, go away,” says Castro, who also denounces local mudslides that he blames on the mining and the contamination of the
springs.

“We have to far to the field to take water, because the water there is no longer safe to drink.”
Concerns over rights violations and the environmental impacts of mining are not confined to the Amazon, and the campaign by residents of the Sperrins caught the attention of the Brazilian rainforest defenders. Fidelma O ‘Kane of the Save Our Sperrins Campaign points out that the visit is particularly pertinent at this time as those opposing the Dalradian gold mine in County Tyrone prepare for a Public Inquiry, “into a Canadian company’s plans for a toxic goldmine and processing plant in our Area of
Outstanding Natural Beauty”.

“They are suffering from land grabs, gold and bauxite mining and human rights abuses” observes Fidelma, “We look forward to hearing their stories, learning from their experiences and building solidarity. This visit highlights the growing awareness of the global issues caused by mining. In this time of climate and ecological crisis, the forests of the Amazon and the bogs of Ireland are invaluable carbon stores and must be afforded greater protection”.
The communities will have the opportunity to share experiences on Friday evening in An Creagan, when young Munduruku women of the Wakoborun audiovisual collective show their film, The Ailing Forest, followed by discussion. On Sunday the visitors will be brought to the Beaghmore Stone Circles to learn more of the history of this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and meet with those opposed to gold mining in the foothills of the Sperrins.