Panel SA: Mining project on indigenous land is a crime and a lost chance, say entrepreneurs

The indignation of a part of the Brazilian high business community grows with the attempt by the Bolsonaro government to launch mining on indigenous lands in the Amazon.

In addition to recent public demonstrations on behalf of business associations, important figures in the private sector contest the Bolsonarist onslaught.

“It is not a business issue, but a national one. This bill 191 is a crime against the country”, says businessman Horácio Lafer Piva.

“I prefer not even to imagine the reasons why some parliamentarians, under the false argument of the need for exploitation, run over the country’s image, the defense of the environment and respect for culture and indigenous rights. I don’t know if it’s madness or bad character. Nor because some of them want to melt the image of the Legislature”, says Piva.

Former minister Luiz Fernando Furlan (BRF) is also opposed. “There are many areas researched and researched that can meet the demand”, he says.

For investor Eduardo Mufarej, unfortunately, this is yet another opportunity that Brazil misses to take on a leading role in the global climate agenda.

“The country with the greatest potential for capturing carbon credits in the world is once again in the opposite direction of the others, accentuating a process of isolation that implies a loss of credibility, potential investments, in addition to disrupting one of the main engines of the economy, agribusiness “, says Mufarej.

Earlier this month, the Brazil Climate, Forests and Agriculture Coalition, which brings together the main Brazilian agribusiness associations, large companies in the sector, banks, academia and civil society, prepared a note criticizing the project.

According to the coalition, mining on indigenous lands will not solve possible fertilizer shortages, contrary to what the president defends at a time when the war in Ukraine exposes Brazil’s dependence on imported products.

Ibram (Instituto Brasileiro de Mineração), which has among its associates giants such as Gerdau, Vale and Mosaic Fertilizantes, also released a statement stating that the bill is not adequate.

Joana Cunha with Andressa Motter and Ana Paula Branco