By Ricardo Brito
BRASILIA (Reuters) – The Brazilian state of Pará, which will host the COP30 global climate talks next year in the Amazon, is defending local regulations that encourage illegal gold mining, according to documents in the case before the Supreme Court seen by Reuters.
Brazil’s Green Party has challenged the regulations allowing municipal authorities to license gold prospects of up to 500 hectares. The Green Party argues the rules encourage wildcat mining in the state where most illegal gold is produced.
The federal government through the environmental protection agency Ibama, its solicitor general and the country’s top public prosecutor are backing the lawsuit calling for the abolition of Pará’s mining rules.
A Federal Police forensic report added to the case said wildcat miners use chemicals that are poisoning rivers that are vital for Indigenous communities. For instance, mercury is used to separate gold from ore and cyanide is used in gold leeching.
The state government said the regulations have been in force for a decade and predate the administration of Governor Helder Barbalho, which told Reuters in May it was studying a revision of the rules.
The Pará government currently opposes the lawsuit in the Supreme Court. A request for comment from Reuters went unanswered.
Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asked to host COP30 in Pará’s state capital Belem, at the mouth of the Amazon River, to showcase his efforts to stop deforestation of the rainforest, which acts as one of the world’s largest carbon sinks to slow global warming. He has also pledged to end illegal gold mining, much of which takes place on protected Indigenous lands.
The police report said water samples gathered by inspectors showed mercury contamination on the Tapajos River was “above tolerable limits” in areas inhabited by Munduruku Indigenous people and riverine communities.
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito, writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by David Gregorio)
