Group of leading agribusiness companies criticizes project that allows mining in indigenous lands

The coalition that brings together the main Brazilian agribusiness associations, large companies in the sector, banks, academia and civil society prepared a note criticizing the bill that allows mining in indigenous lands.

The Chamber of Deputies granted a wish by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and approved on Wednesday night (9) the urgency of the vote, which will ignore the House committees. The plenary review is scheduled for April.

The organization’s position was sent to all federal deputies.

The Brazil Climate, Forests and Agriculture Coalition, which has 324 members, pointed out that the bill, as it stands, jeopardizes the environmental integrity of indigenous lands, “very important areas for climate stability and protection of the country’s cultural diversity.” “.

In addition, according to the coalition, mining on indigenous lands will not solve eventual fertilizer shortages.

The coalition is made up of Abag (Brazilian Agribusiness Association), ABBI (Brazilian Industrial Biotechnology Association), Abia (Brazilian Food Industry Association), Abiec (Brazilian Meat Exporting Industries Association), Amaggi, Basf, Bayer , Cargill, Gerdau, Marfrig, Nestlé, Suzano, Bradesco, Itaú Unibanco, BTG Pactual and Santander, among others.

“The possible vote on an emergency basis is being justified with the mistaken argument that mining in indigenous lands would solve the shortage of fertilizers, especially potash, coming from Russia, in the wake of the war between that country and Ukraine”, says the organization in the note with the position in relation to the bill.

Congress should discuss the real obstacles to fertilizer production, according to the note, such as legal uncertainty, the tax system and other regulatory problems “that make imported products more competitive than domestic ones.”

“The war between Russia and Ukraine should not be a pretext for the approval of a bill that has not yet been adequately debated by society and, above all, has not been consulted with the representative organizations of indigenous peoples, the most interested in the matter”, says the text.

The war is used as a pretext by Bolsonaro, who is based on false arguments about the occurrence of potassium in indigenous lands. The president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), and the center used this pretext to see progress on the project that allows mining in indigenous lands.

In the released note, the Brasil Clima Coalition cites a study by the UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais) that shows that two-thirds of Brazilian potassium reserves are outside the Amazon. And, among existing reserves in the biome, only 11% overlap with indigenous lands.

“The absence of significant overlap of potash reserves and indigenous lands was also confirmed by an independent study carried out by the Brazilian Association of Mineral and Mining Research Companies.”

The UFMG research shows that the existing reserves in the country are sufficient for more than 2100, as mentioned in the note.

“Furthermore, the ANM [Agência Nacional de Mineração] has more than 500 active processes of potash exploration in progress and that could be made possible without aggression to the territories of the original peoples”, cites the document.

The project urgently approved in the Chamber seeks to regulate mining in indigenous lands, based on the provisions of the Federal Constitution. As there was never this regulation, the activity is vetoed in these territories.

For almost 50 years, the 1973 Indian Statute has restricted indigenous people from exploiting wealth on their lands. The bill sponsored by the Bolsonaro government overturns the article that makes this restriction. And it goes further, even allowing research and cultivation of transgenics on indigenous lands.

For the MPF, there are “incurable addiction”, “fallacy” and “conflict of interest sponsorship” in the proposal. Federal prosecutors working in the Amazon intend to challenge any law that allows mining in indigenous lands, within more than ten actions against mining in demarcated areas.

The bill was presented to Congress by the Minister of Mines and Energy, Admiral Bento Albuquerque, and by the then Minister of Justice and Public Security, Sergio Moro. The two signed the justification for the proposal. Today, Moro says he is disaffected by Bolsonaro and is a pre-candidate for the presidency.

The Chamber approved the project’s urgency request, but an agreement between Lira and the opposition postponed the vote on the text’s merits to April, after analysis by a working group.

The vote took place while outside Congress the Land Act against what they call the destruction package was being held, a series of projects criticized by environmentalists.

Urgency was approved by 279 to 180 — it needed an absolute majority of deputies to pass (at least 257). Before the vote, Lira announced the creation of a working group to debate the proposal, which must be voted on in plenary until April 14.