Ibama licenses the explosion of rocks and the removal of sand in a river where thousands of fishermen work

The president of Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), Eduardo Fortunato Bim, granted an initial license for the explosion of a 35-kilometer rock in the Tocantins River, in Pará, and for the dredging of sandbanks in the river course. According to the project, these banks are in a strip of 177 kilometers in the watercourse.

The preliminary license was issued by Bim on the 11th. The entire stretch involved is 300 kilometers long, according to the authorization request.

The demolition in Pedral do Lourenço and the dredging of the sandbanks, to ensure the navigability of the Tocantins-Araguaia waterway in dry periods, will directly impact fishing communities in the region.

The project’s own EIA/Rima (environmental impact study and report), which is in charge of the Dnit (National Department of Transport Infrastructure), points to the existence of 6,500 fishermen in the affected municipalities. The report states, however, that this number should be higher, 12 thousand, according to information from the fishing colonies.

Researchers who monitor the likely impact of such works in the region estimate the number of fishermen who live directly from the activity in the affected region at 10,000.

In June 2021, the MPF (Federal Public Ministry) in Marabá (PA), one of the impacted cities, recommended that Ibama suspend the licensing of the waterway until there was consultation with riverside communities.

Ribeirinhos from the Pedral do Lourenço region, in Itupiranga (PA), reported to public prosecutors that they were not consulted and that Ibama did not consider them to be traditional communities. The same picture remained until the license was issued, according to leaders of these communities.

In addition, technical opinions from Ibama itself pointed out, in 2019 and 2020, the need for a diagnosis of the fishing communities affected by the works before the license is issued.

THE Sheet asked Ibama if these diagnoses were made and asked for copies of the diagnoses. There was no response.

In a statement, Dnit stated that the prior license is necessary for the approval of the basic engineering projects, which are ready, and for the elaboration of the executive project.

“Dnit presented all the studies requested according to the terms of reference issued by Ibama, especially the EIA/Rima”, he said. The agency did not respond if it made a diagnosis on fishermen, nor did it provide a copy.

The preliminary license is an initial phase of the licensing, which attests to the environmental feasibility of the enterprise and precedes the installation license. It was, until now, the main step of the process, which began in 2013, in the first Dilma Rousseff (PT) government.

The environmental impact reports were presented by Dnit in 2018, the last year of the Michel Temer government (MDB), when the prior license was requested. The authorization was granted on the 11th. The project is taken over by the PPI (Investment Partnership Program), of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government.

The license is the second for a major-impact venture in the Amazon granted by the president of Ibama in recent months, when the electoral dispute took hold. At the end of July, Bim issued a preliminary license for paving the middle section of the BR-319, which connects Manaus (AM) to Porto Velho (RO).

The stretch is 405.7 kilometers long and there is a risk of further illegal occupation of public lands along the highway, according to documents in the licensing process itself.

Both the paving of the highway and the explosion of rocks and removal of sandbanks for the waterway have strong appeal from companies and residents of both regions.

In the case of the waterway, the perspective is to expand the transport of grains and ores along the Tocantins River to ports for flow. Under the project, it will be possible to navigate convoys formed by nine barges, glued to each other in threes. The length is 200 m and the width is 32 m.

The preliminary license document establishes necessary conditions for the issuance of an installation license, the next step, such as the development of a fishing project during the explosion of the rock.

Dnit needs to “identify production, monthly and annual income and the number of people related to the fishing activity for all areas directly affected by the enterprise before any intervention”.

In addition, it is necessary to “estimate the consumption and dependence of fish on the food security of fishermen’s families”. During the dredging and demolition works, it is necessary to guarantee the income of the fishermen, according to the previous license.

Pedral do Lourenço is important for the reproduction of fish, highlights Cristiane Vieira da Cunha, a professor at Unifesspa (Federal University of the South and Southeast of Pará). She works as a researcher in the region, together with communities that should be impacted by the works.

So far, 19 communities are mobilized in relation to the project, according to Cunha.

“Ibama’s granting of the license was a surprise. Ibama had already said that the license would only be granted if a diagnosis of fishing activity was carried out, and that was not done”, said the researcher.

The teacher will trigger the MPF so that the prior license is contested. She claimed that environmental impact reports omit and “false description of relevant information”.

“The EIA/Rima has flaws. The Dnit did not monitor fishermen,” said Cunha.

Also in Pará, on the Xingu River, a large undertaking left thousands of fishermen without fish: the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant.

For the renewal of the operating license –the plant has been in operation since 2016–, IBAMA said that Norte Energia, the company responsible for the venture, needs to reimburse fishing families due to the company’s failure to take mitigation measures.

The reimbursement must refer to a period of two years and two months and initially cover 785 families. Other families need to be identified. The MPF estimates that more than 4,000 fishermen were impacted by the plant.

Norte Energia diverged from Ibama and proposed an annual cash aid, for three years, for income-generating projects.