Amapá is in the sights of oil exploration in the region of newly found corals

Far from the arc where forest degradation advances and with all indigenous lands demarcated, Amapá is the Brazilian state in the Legal Amazon with the lowest rates of irregular felling of trees and fires, according to reports by INPE (Instituto Nacional of Spatial Research) and MapBiomas.

Also the state with the smallest territorial extension of the Amazon biome, Amapá has a peculiar ecosystem. It includes the mouth of the Amazon River, a part of the Cerrado, mangroves and integrates a newly discovered and unique reef system on the planet, called the Amazonian corals.

However, poverty, the atrophy of indigenous and environmental agencies and the pressure of economic interests —problems common to the entire Amazon — do not allow the state to be considered a model for the others.

Impacts generated by hydroelectric plants and mercury contamination in rivers used by indigenous people are at the heart of the state’s environmental and social issues. There are complaints, by the Federal Public Ministry and the Public Ministry of the State of Amapá, of damages caused by the construction of the Cachoeira Caldeirão, Ferreira Gomes and Coaracy Nunes plants, in the Araguari river basin, the main one in the state.

Father Sisto Magro, who is part of the collegiate coordination of the Pastoral da Terra do Amapá and has lived in the state for 32 years, regrets that the works, in addition to not preventing the energy crisis, did not guarantee even light in the communities affected by the dams. In 2020, Amapá went through a 22-day blackout.

“Many people had to sell their properties. People who live with them know that they are starving. The Judiciary does not do its part for the compensation due”, says Father Sisto.

Moroni Pascale, 60, professor and coordinator of the Movement of People Affected by Dams in Amapá, reports that fish reproduction was affected, swiddens were flooded and families that lived on agriculture and flour production lost their activities.

Moroni and Father Sisto point out that the change in the natural phenomenon called pororoca — the impact caused by the meeting of river and ocean waters — intensified after the construction of the hydroelectric dams. The Araguari River, which used to flow into the Atlantic, now has its mouth in the Amazon River. The case is considered one of the biggest environmental accidents in Amapá.

On the way to the new course of the river, residents of communities in the Bailique archipelago are at risk of landslides. So far, there is no research that points to the responsibility of the hydroelectric plants.

“It was always a calamity for the lowland lands of Amapa. [Antes] had the buffalo herds [que interferem no fenômeno das terras caídas], many belonging to families of politicians. The hydroelectric plants came to give the final blow. The river is no longer strong”, says Father Sisto.

With the retreat of the Araguari, which changed course, the ocean has advanced further towards the coast of Amapá, creating another type of problem in the Amazon River. About 14,000 residents of the Bailique archipelago still face salinization of the waters, which causes a lack of drinking water and leaves açaí with a salty taste.

The so-called Amazonian corals, another point of environmental concern in the state, were discovered in 2016 after a Greenpeace expedition. With species that have not even had the opportunity to be studied, the formation is in the sights of oil exploration.

Therefore, after the finding, Greenpeace gathered about 2 million signatures to ask for the protection of the region. In 2018, a proposal was processed to make the reef a permanent preservation area, but the Chamber of Deputies blocked it.

In the same year, failures in the proposals for the safe exploration of the oil potential in the region made Ibama deny a license to the French company Total.

The difficulty of licensing the wells then led Total to give up the area and sell its stakes to Petrobras. The state-owned company, in turn, has plans to explore the mouth of the Amazon, if it gets approval from environmental agencies.

This Monday (26), at an event in Rio de Janeiro, the Minister of the Environment, Joaquim Leite, said that “it is possible to explore oil and guarantee environmental protection”.

Another environmental risk in Amapá originates from mining: mercury contamination in the fish consumed. In 2020, a study showed levels above the limit recommended by the WHO (World Health Organization) in 28.7% of the fish analyzed. The research was carried out jointly by entities such as Fiocruz.

Four of the seven species with the highest concentrations of mercury were among the most consumed in the region — and fish is the only source of protein for communities in the interior of the state, including indigenous ones.

“Amapá doesn’t suffer much from illegal deforestation. The mining issue is the main threat. It’s not just mercury, mining brings prostitution, arms trafficking. It’s a silent problem”, says Decio Yokota, coordinator of information management at the Iepé (Instituto de Pesquisa e Formação Indígena), one of the organizations that coordinated the study.

Simone Vidal, indigenous to the Karipuna people, a member of APOIANP (Articulation of Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of Amapá and Northern Pará), criticizes the abandonment of public policies for communities, which are under pressure from invaders.

Vidal says that surveillance is focused only on the areas of the BR-210, the Perimetral Norte, and on the Oiapoque River, which borders French Guiana.

“There are three indigenous lands cut by a BR and a river that forms the border between Brazil and French Guiana. The territories suffer impacts. They are on the margins of this BR, and this limits freedom. The river is the entrance to illegal mining in Guyana French”, he says.