Uncontrolled illegal mining and Garimpo in the Brazilian Amazon

Luiz Cortinhas Ferreira Neto; Cesar Guerreiro Diniz; Raian Vargas Maretto; Claudio Persello; Maria Luize Silva Pinheiro; Marcia C. Castro; Luis Waldyr Rodrigues Sadeck; Alexandre Fernandes Filho; Julia Cansado; Arlesson Antonio de Almeida Souza; Jeremias Pinto Feitosa; Diogo Corrêa Santos; Marcos Adami; Pedro Walfir M. Souza-Filho; Alfred Stein; Andre Biehl; Aldebaro Klautau

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-54220-2

Uncontrolled illegal mining and Garimpo in the Brazilian Amazon

Luiz Cortinhas Ferreira Neto^*, Cesar Guerreiro Diniz^*, Raian Vargas Maretto, Claudio Persello, Maria Luize Silva Pinheiro, Marcia C. Castro, Luis Waldyr Rodrigues Sadeck, Alexandre Fernandes Filho, Julia Cansado, Arlesson Antonio de Almeida Souza, Jeremias Pinto Feitosa, Diogo Corrêa Santos, Marcos Adami, Pedro Walfir M. Souza-Filho, Alfred Stein, Andre Biehl, Aldebaro Klautau

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

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Abstract

Mining has played an important role in the economies of South American countries. Although industrial mining prevails in most countries, the expansion of garimpo activity has increased substantially. Recently, Brazil exhibited two moments of garimpo dominance over industrial mining: 1989–1997 and 2019–2022. While industrial mining sites occupied ~ 360 km² in 1985 but increased to 1800 km² in 2022, a 5-fold increase, garimpo mining area increased by ~ 1200%, from ~ 218 km² in 1985 to ~ 2627 km² in 2022. More than 91% of this activity is concentrated in the Amazon. Where almost 40% of the sites are five years old or younger, this proportion increases to 62% within Indigenous lands (ILs). Regarding the legal aspect, at least 77% of the 2022 extraction sites showed explicit signs of illegality. Particular attention must be given to the Kayapo, Munduruku, and Yanomami ILs. Together, they concentrate over 90% of the garimpo across ILs.

Original language	English
Article number	9847
Journal	Nature communications
Volume	15
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54220-2
Publication status	Published - Dec 2024

Keywords

ITC-GOLD
ITC-ISI-JOURNAL-ARTICLE

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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s41467-024-54220-2Final published version, 7.62 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

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Cortinhas Ferreira Neto, L., Diniz, C. G., Maretto, R. V., Persello, C., Silva Pinheiro, M. L., Castro, M. C., Sadeck, L. W. R., Filho, A. F., Cansado, J., Souza, A. A. D. A., Feitosa, J. P., Santos, D. C., Adami, M., Souza-Filho, P. W. M., Stein, A., Biehl, A., & Klautau, A. (2024). Uncontrolled illegal mining and Garimpo in the Brazilian Amazon. Nature communications, 15(1), Article 9847. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54220-2

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abstract = "Mining has played an important role in the economies of South American countries. Although industrial mining prevails in most countries, the expansion of garimpo activity has increased substantially. Recently, Brazil exhibited two moments of garimpo dominance over industrial mining: 1989–1997 and 2019–2022. While industrial mining sites occupied ~ 360 km2 in 1985 but increased to 1800 km2 in 2022, a 5-fold increase, garimpo mining area increased by ~ 1200%, from ~ 218 km2 in 1985 to ~ 2627 km2 in 2022. More than 91% of this activity is concentrated in the Amazon. Where almost 40% of the sites are five years old or younger, this proportion increases to 62% within Indigenous lands (ILs). Regarding the legal aspect, at least 77% of the 2022 extraction sites showed explicit signs of illegality. Particular attention must be given to the Kayapo, Munduruku, and Yanomami ILs. Together, they concentrate over 90% of the garimpo across ILs.",

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Cortinhas Ferreira Neto, L, Diniz, CG, Maretto, RV , Persello, C, Silva Pinheiro, ML, Castro, MC, Sadeck, LWR, Filho, AF, Cansado, J, Souza, AADA, Feitosa, JP, Santos, DC, Adami, M, Souza-Filho, PWM, Stein, A, Biehl, A & Klautau, A 2024, 'Uncontrolled illegal mining and Garimpo in the Brazilian Amazon', Nature communications, vol. 15, no. 1, 9847. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54220-2

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AU - Cortinhas Ferreira Neto, Luiz

AU - Diniz, Cesar Guerreiro

AU - Maretto, Raian Vargas

AU - Persello, Claudio

AU - Silva Pinheiro, Maria Luize

AU - Castro, Marcia C.

AU - Sadeck, Luis Waldyr Rodrigues

AU - Filho, Alexandre Fernandes

AU - Cansado, Julia

AU - Souza, Arlesson Antonio de Almeida

AU - Feitosa, Jeremias Pinto

AU - Santos, Diogo Corrêa

AU - Adami, Marcos

AU - Souza-Filho, Pedro Walfir M.

AU - Stein, Alfred

AU - Biehl, Andre

AU - Klautau, Aldebaro

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N2 - Mining has played an important role in the economies of South American countries. Although industrial mining prevails in most countries, the expansion of garimpo activity has increased substantially. Recently, Brazil exhibited two moments of garimpo dominance over industrial mining: 1989–1997 and 2019–2022. While industrial mining sites occupied ~ 360 km2 in 1985 but increased to 1800 km2 in 2022, a 5-fold increase, garimpo mining area increased by ~ 1200%, from ~ 218 km2 in 1985 to ~ 2627 km2 in 2022. More than 91% of this activity is concentrated in the Amazon. Where almost 40% of the sites are five years old or younger, this proportion increases to 62% within Indigenous lands (ILs). Regarding the legal aspect, at least 77% of the 2022 extraction sites showed explicit signs of illegality. Particular attention must be given to the Kayapo, Munduruku, and Yanomami ILs. Together, they concentrate over 90% of the garimpo across ILs.

AB - Mining has played an important role in the economies of South American countries. Although industrial mining prevails in most countries, the expansion of garimpo activity has increased substantially. Recently, Brazil exhibited two moments of garimpo dominance over industrial mining: 1989–1997 and 2019–2022. While industrial mining sites occupied ~ 360 km2 in 1985 but increased to 1800 km2 in 2022, a 5-fold increase, garimpo mining area increased by ~ 1200%, from ~ 218 km2 in 1985 to ~ 2627 km2 in 2022. More than 91% of this activity is concentrated in the Amazon. Where almost 40% of the sites are five years old or younger, this proportion increases to 62% within Indigenous lands (ILs). Regarding the legal aspect, at least 77% of the 2022 extraction sites showed explicit signs of illegality. Particular attention must be given to the Kayapo, Munduruku, and Yanomami ILs. Together, they concentrate over 90% of the garimpo across ILs.

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VL - 15

JO - Nature communications

JF - Nature communications

IS - 1

M1 - 9847

ER -

Uncontrolled illegal mining and Garimpo in the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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