Deforestation due to mining dropped 95% in the Yanomami TI – 05/18/2023 – Environment

The Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, presented data showing a 95% drop in deforestation due to mining in Yanomami territory and a 38% drop in the Legal Amazon.

According to the minister, the data is issued by a platform coordinated by the Federal Police that works based on alert systems derived from satellite images. The information was given at a press conference this Thursday (18).

The data indicate that, in the Yanomami territory, in April 2022, 444 alerts were issued for deforestation due to mining in 2.10 km² of the territory. In April 2023, there were 19 alerts (a drop of 95.72%) in 0.07 km².

In the entire Legal Amazon, present in nine Brazilian states, the reduction was 38.31% from January to April 2023, compared to the same period in 2022. There were 13,872 alerts in an area of ​​80.36 km² in 2022 , and 8,557 alerts this year, in an area of ​​50.52 km².

“It is a reduction far below what we need and desire, but in four months it is a visible, tangible, concrete reduction, not merely speculative”, said the minister.

The Yanomami Indigenous Land was demarcated by decree of May 25, 1992, under the management of then President Fernando Collor de Mello, and has an area of ​​9,664,975.48 hectares and a perimeter of 3,370 km, making it the largest indigenous reserve in Brazil.

It is located in the municipalities of Boa Vista, Alto Alegre, Mucajaí and Caracaraí, in the northwest of Roraima, and Santa Izabel do Rio Negro, Barcelos and São Gabriel da Cachoeira, in the north of Amazonas.

The minister said that he had met with the president of the BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development), Aloizio Mercadante, to present the proposals for implementing the Amazônia Plan: Security and Sovereignty, prepared in partnership with the Ministry of Defense.

The plan provides for reinforcement of the security forces, modernization of technological tools and programs for valuing and training agents who work in the area, in addition to the implementation, in the region, of the National Program for Public Security with Citizenship, Pronasci.

The intention is for the bank to make R$ 1 billion available to the region. It is also foreseen the commitment of around BRL 800 million of the folder’s own resources.

“The Amazon Fund is the recipient of our request. The Amazon Fund can provide resources for the axis called command and control and that was the reason for the technical meeting at the BNDES today”, said Dino.