Global Crisis In Amazon Rainforest

5. Juni 2009 | Von atsil2 | Kategorie:English feature_E

Yet again, wildcat mining in the Amazon region of Brazil is attracting our attention:

First the famous gold rush of the 1980s in Serra Pelada in the Amazonian state of Para, secondly the invasion of wildcat miners in Apuí in the state of Amazon and nowadays the run on the Tapajos valley area in Roraima state.

The number of miners there “has jumped about 40 percent to 30,000 since October, coinciding with a sharp rally in the price of gold to nearly $1,000 an ounce earlier this year before retreating to about $890,” says Raymond Colitt, the Reuters correspondent.

According to him “the global crisis has revived this and other wildcat mines in Brazil where hundreds of thousands of desperate workers toil in precarious conditions, damaging health and environment.”¹

Wildcat mining is damaging both the diggers and the environment together with the various local indigenous tribes – namely the Yanomami and Yekuana people of this area.

The miners are working under subhuman conditions – the bulk of their profits is being taken away by local strongmen “while disease, prostitution and poverty abound.“

Rainforest protectors try to find an all-in-one solution to save the rainforests and their indigenous population.

A global movement started to buy the tropical habitats and wants to establish rainforest preserves for both men and nature.

In the meantime the Brazilian government is calling for a giant fund financed with donations from industrialized nations although the REDD alliance (of 15 nations) is working on a market-based concept where credits are generated from forest conservation traded between countries.²

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