One of President Donald Trump’s top officials has warned European allies hesitant about working with Elon Musk’s satellite Internet company that they needed to choose between US and Chinese technology Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr told the Financial Times that “allied western democracies” needed to “focus on the real long-term bogey: the rise of the Chinese Communist party.” His comments come as European governments and some European companies consider whether Starlink—which is owned by Musk’s SpaceX and provides satellite broadband and limited mobile services—is a reliable partner after Washington threatened to switch off its services in Ukraine a longtime ally of Musk who Trump tapped to run the agency after his re-election as president said it was “unfortunate” that politics appeared to be influencing long-term decisions UK telecoms companies BT and Virgin Media 02 are among the companies trialling Starlink’s technology for mobile or broadband services—although neither has yet signed a full agreement with the provider Carr has previously argued in favor of Musk’s businesses in the US claiming they had been targets of “regulatory harassment” ever since the billionaire took over Twitter in 2022 He has also repeatedly suggested that Joe Biden’s administration discriminated against Starlink by denying it US government subsidies for rural broadband Carr told the FT that he believed Europe was “caught” between Washington and Beijing and warned of a “great divide” opening up between “CCP-aligned countries and others” in artificial intelligence and satellite technology The FCC chair—who authored a chapter of Project 2025 the conservative blueprint for a Republican presidency published by the rightwing Heritage Foundation—said European regulators had a “bias” against US technological companies He also accused the European Commission of “protectionism” and an “anti-American” attitude “If Europe has its own satellite constellation then great I think Europe is caught a little bit between the US and China And it’s sort of time for choosing,” he said The European Commission said it had “always enforced and would continue to enforce laws fairly and without discrimination to all companies operating in the EU Shares in European satellite providers such as Eutelsat and SES soared in recent weeks despite the companies’ heavy debts in response to the commission saying that Brussels “should fund Ukrainian [military] access to services that can be provided by EU-based commercial providers.” Industry experts warned that despite the positivity no single European network could yet compete with Starlink’s offering Carr said that European telecoms companies Nokia and Ericsson should move more of their manufacturing to the US as both face being hit with Trump’s import tariffs The two companies are the largest vendors of mobile network infrastructure equipment in the US Carr said there had been a historic “mistake” in US industrial policy which meant there was no significant American company competing in the telecom vendor market “I don’t love that current situation we’re in,” he said Carr added that he would “look at” granting the companies faster regulatory clearances on new technology if they moved to the US Ericsson chief executive Börje Ekholm told the FT the company would consider expanding manufacturing in the US depending on how potential tariffs affected it The Swedish telecoms equipment maker first opened an American factory in Lewisville “We’ve been ramping up [production in the US] already Nokia said that the US was the company’s “second home.” “Around 90 percent of all US communications utilizes Nokia equipment at some point We have five manufacturing sites and five R&D hubs in the US including Nokia Bell Labs,” they added © 2025 The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be redistributed, copied, or modified in any way. declared an emergency on 22 April after days of flooding Flooding first struck around 19 April 2021 after the Trombetas river broke its banks the municipal government said flooding approximately 14,020 people are directly affected An estimated 3,000 homes were flooded and affected in some way public buildings and infrastructure also suffered damage Surrounding rural areas along the river also experienced flooding The municipal government said dozens of communities were affected Last month authorities declared an emergency situation after flooding in the municipality of Rio Maria in Pará Richard Davies is the founder of floodlist.com and reports on flooding news Cookies | Privacy | Contacts © Copyright 2025 FloodList Situated in one of the world’s largest blocks of protected rainforest the remaining Quilombola communities of Oriximiná are seen as a model of sustainable development for the Brazilian Amazon with a bioeconomy based on non-timber products The activities are centered on the extraction and sale of Brazil nuts and cobaípa oil — which are used as food or as raw material for medicine Those goods generate income and keep the trees standing a business model in tune with the traditional knowledge that makes these Quilombolas guardians of the Amazon Rainforest In 2022, a report published in the newspaper Valor Econômico showed how a system of cooperatives set up by the communities with the support of a nonprofit civil organization drives socioeconomic progress turning this Oriximiná’s area into a bioeconomic “paradise,” where thousands of Quilombolas guarantee their livelihood by keeping the forest preserved But a contract signed by a local association with a timber company affronts old customs and puts the sustainable development model at risk The Mãe Domingas Association represents six communities of Alto Trombetas 1 one of the eight Quilombola territories in Oriximiná and signed an agreement with a logging company called Benevides Madeiras to explore timber in the area especially after the logging company employees accessed the territory to evaluate the forest’s potential “It is not in our culture to cut down trees,” said Aluízio Silvério dos Santos a leader of the Tapagem Quilombola community he was one of the locals fighting the deal The loggers activity in the reserve was authorized by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) on March 7 at the request of Ari Carlos Printes coordinator of the Mãe Domingas Association the Pará State Prosecutor’s Office recommended the interruption of any action aimed at timber management in the Quilombola area until there is a “prior free and informed consultation with all the communities.” The prosecutors are looking into the accusation that the Mãe Domingas Association agreed with Benevides Madeiras without consulting the Quilombolas through changes in their statute and irregularities in the attendance list of the assembly that approved the partnership with the lumber company The meeting documents showed only 65 people favored the management plan — not enough votes to define the territory’s direction The meeting minutes show only 65 people in the Quilombola territory favor the management plan “We have a battle against harassment from loggers,” Silvio Rocha another resident of the territory who fights against the project “The association had already debated this kind of project when the residents decided that they didn’t want wood management Logging goes against our principles and customs not to mention the environmental impact,” Rocha said And that will happen when the machines arrive in the territory We are afraid that the situation will generate violence,” he said ICMBio said the permission was only for loggers’ traffic through the Trombetas River Biological Reserve and that logging was not authorized in the Quilombola land The agency said in an email statement that it complied with the recommendation suspending the access of new people to the forest until the situation is pacified But the Mãe Domingas Association does not intend to suspend the work with Benevides Madeiras “All the negotiations were done within the law,” Mário Luiz Guimarães Printes “The Federal Constitution supports this option for a management project in a Quilombola area This is not the function of the Public Prosecutor’s Office We will continue with the work because no lawsuit prohibits it,” he said project coordinator for Benevides Madeiras said the company intended to clear up the doubts of the Public Prosecutor’s Office before proceeding with the management project in the territory “We don’t want to bring discord to the communities,” he told Mongabay by phone The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) authorized the entrance of loggers into the territory The Quilombola land Alto Trombetas 1 has been partially titled since 2013 in the name of the Association Mãe Domingas which brings together the communities Abuí The territory streches between the Saracá-Taquera National Forest and the Trombetas River Biological Reserve between the Amazon River and the border with Suriname and Guyana This part of the Amazon Rainforest is known for the mosaic of areas protected by conservation units The Quilombolas of Oriximiná live in 37 communities of eight territories and are descendants of enslaved Africans who overcame the waterfalls of the Trombetas River in the 19th century to escape capture by cattle and cocoa farm owners The thick forest became a refuge where they could live freely through hunting growing small crops and harvesting nuts and other forest resources This deep connection with nature explains why many Quilombolas reject development plans based on cutting down trees Timber management is one of the sustainable models in the Amazon Rainforest because it generates jobs and money for the communities respecting the limits set by environmental agencies it supplies the timber market and helps curb illegal deforestation the partnership between communities and logging companies requires a certain degree of maturity and social organization for the contract to result in benefits “These are isolated communities that are only now getting to know the different possibilities of sustainable development often without the conditions to evaluate proposals embrace projects and manage resources for the benefit of the population,” said Marco Lentini an organization that works with sustainable management projects in the Amazon including in Quilombola communities in Oriximiná He said it was necessary to develop a support network for these communities especially in the more central areas of the Brazilian Amazon showing that the catalog of forestry projects was quite broad “We have to show the communities that they are not alone when the logger knocks on the association door to offer a partnership,” he told Mongabay by phone There is still no approved forest management plan for the territory of the Mãe Domingas Association the contract puts the management project’s preparation in Benevides Madeiras’s hands The role of the Quilombolas is to guarantee access to the territory while the loggers work “We have an agreement with the lumber company The contract evaluates the project’s viability if there is fine wood and if there is a way to transport the logs We still don’t know if we will do it or not,” Carlos Printes said The first contract signed by the association puts the management project’s preparation in Benevides Madeiras’ hands the association coordinator guaranteed the partnership with the lumber company would benefit the six communities we don’t have the resources to finance the health structure having to travel several hours by boat in search of care We have the right to do a management project within the territory.” who acts on behalf of the Oriximiná Quilombolas warned that the resources from a project with a lumber company didn’t guarantee improvement because it was essential to create suitable mechanisms to manage this money for the benefit of the communities the simple division of the money among the families breaks traditional activities changes the habits of the residents and opens the way for problems like alcoholism and domestic violence It is necessary to accurately assess the environmental economic and social vulnerabilities before signing an agreement without leaving a blank check for the logging company to operate in the region,” Ávila told Mongabay by phone Banner image:To reach the Terra Quilombola Alto Trombetas 1 it’s a trip up the Trombetas River from the city of Oriximiná FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the author of this post In central Brazil, mining company ignores Quilombola concerns over gold project The “fortress conservation” model is under pressure in East Africa as protected areas become battlegrounds over history and global efforts to halt biodiversity loss Mongabay’s Special Issue goes beyond the region’s world-renowned safaris to examine how rural communities and governments are reckoning with conservation’s colonial origins and trying to forge a path forward […] The dates displayed for an article provide information on when various publication milestones were reached at the journal that has published the article activities on preceding journals at which the article was previously under consideration are not shown (for instance submission All content on this site: Copyright © 2025 Elsevier B.V. Für eine widerstandsfähige elektrische Zukunft EconiQ™ Consulting unterstützt Kunden bei der Erfüllung ihrer individuellen Anforderungen an die Umweltleistung Service ist unser Einsatz für die weltweit größte bestehende installierte Basis und die Zukunft des Energiesystems Unsere Technologien ermöglichen eine effiziente sauberere Elektrifizierung auf die zuverlässigste und verantwortungsvollste Weise Beschleunigung einer sauberen Energiewende mit einer Reihe von Lösungen für Solar- Entdecken Sie die Menschen und Technologien die hinter den verschiedenen Möglichkeiten hin zu einer klimaneutralen Zukunft stehen Unser Versprechen für eine klimaneutrale Zukunft Förderung einer nachhaltigen Energiezukunft für alle Gemeinsam mit Kunden und Partnern schaffen wir globale und lokale Lösungen zum Nutzen der Gesellschaft Get in-depth insights on topics and trends in the energy sector from industry thought leaders Begleiten Sie unseren Stromguru Electron in dieser Animationsserie über die Welt der Elektrizität Diversität und Inklusion sind Kern unseres Erfolgs The panels will be equipped with Hitachi Energy’s Relion® 670 series protection and control IEDs (intelligent electronic devices) These units provide maximum flexibility and performance and meet a range of requirements in generation and transmission protection systems The telecommunications equipment for the project will include products from Hitachi Energy’s Fox family of solutions will enable multiple analogue signals or digital data streams to be combined and transmitted as a single signal making the best possible use of the available bandwidth The combination of Hitachi Energy’s experience global support network and portfolio of complete solutions enables close cooperation with customers at every stage of the project from planning through delivery to commissioning and after-sales service In addition to negative impact on the rain forest and human populations in the area Linhão planners also considered the benefits of bringing hydropower to the near 3 million local residents Offsetting the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions gained by replacing an estimated 1,000 MW of thermal generation against the rise in emissions caused by suppression of plant growth in the transmission corridor the project is expected to avoid the emission of 1,460,000 tCO2e per year The project is part of a Brazilian government scheme to connect the Amazon region in north-eastern Brazil to the power system serving the rest of the country This is one of the largest transmission projects to be carried out in Brazil in recent years or “Big Line” project will ultimately connect the cities of Manaus Brazil’s second largest hydroelectric plant which has a generation capacity of 8,370 MW The new line will help to reduce local dependence on thermal power plants and diesel-powered generators in 27 of the towns and cities along the left bank of the Amazon River This story was produced with support from the Rainforest Journalism Fund/Pulitzer Center Brazil — Raimunda de Souza is 62 years old in a vast region of rainforest fed by pristine lakes and streams “A paradise” is how she defines the place where she grandparents and great-grandparents first opened their eyes covers 107,603 square kilometres (41,546 square miles) It was in this vast expanse of forest that Raimunda’s daughters and her grandchildren were also born one of four villages located on Lake Maria Pixi But paradise is on the cusp of disappearing according to Lake Maria Pixi area residents because of events that began to unfold in 2018 that they were totally ignored by Mineração Rio do Norte (MRN) as it wrote up an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for a new mine the company was planning on the Aramã Plateau in proximity to the four communities (São Tomé EIAs — required as part of Brazil’s federal environmental licensing process —assess the likely environmental and social impacts of new mines and lists necessary mitigating and compensatory measures the EIA was written as if the four villages didn’t exist at all A study commissioned later by the São Paulo Pro-Indian Commission (CPI) analyzed MRN’s licensing process and the NGO stated that the mining firm’s EIA falsely claimed that “in the area of the project there are no communities reviewed the EIA and gave the mining company an operating licence at the end of 2018 The outraged communities say they were “invisibilized.” In fact they say they knew nothing in advance of MRN’s plan and only found out it was opening a mine near their homes when residents heard the noise of machines ripping down the forest “We were not consulted at all,” says Jesi Ferreira de Castro coordinator of the São Francisco community the citizens of the four communities asked MRN to stop work on the mine until the firm had consulted them MRN had opened communications with the communities after their complaint as an expression of good will work on the new Aramã mine continued apace with mining considered an “essential activity” by the government of then Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and thus excluded from the nation’s pandemic lockdown Satellite images released by CPI show that between May 2020 and October 2021 the 345-hectare (852-acre) Aramã Plateau was entirely deforested bringing severe impacts to community livelihoods and quality of life Though the damage had largely been done by the time Mongabay arrived in the region the communities say they hope their full cooperation with Mongabay would get their story told and help others avoid what has happened to them describes the serious food security problems caused by the deforestation and noise stemming from the new bauxite mine: “Today we are suffering because in the past We waited for the animals under the piquiá [tree] But now there are almost no animals left.” The piquiá tree species long played a key role in local hunting On the edge of the Aramã Plateau stood a centuries-old piquiá tree and countless other trees used by animals and the communities if you spend a night in the [nearby] woods trying to hunt you’ll go home empty-handed,” says Iderval Cavalcante Forest fruits and nuts collected for family consumption or to generate income — including Brazil nuts and the fruits of the patauá and bacaba palm trees — have also become scarce Raimunda de Souza laments the changes: “It’s very sad for us to see our forests We have lost the abundance we once had and the old peace too Before it was transparent but now it is different it’s red,” tainted by disruptions due to the mining residents say that jaguars have started killing the pigs they raise to eat They are coming because hunger is striking them The part of the forest where they used to hunt has been cut down,” says community coordinator Diego Gato While the families suffered, MRN thrived, and in 2022 even received an international certificate from the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) Mongabay contacted MRN several times in 2022 and 2023 to discuss the Aramã mine Legislation exists in Brazil to protect traditional communities but authorities often have interpreted the law in favor of the companies and against local communities The Lago Maria Pixi residents point to what happened to them as an example The four communities impacted by the Aramã mine are located inside one of Brazil’s Agro-Extractive Settlement Projects (PAEs) an agrarian reform unit designation that gives traditional populations the exclusive right to use the land Called the Sapucuá-Trombetas Agro-Extractive Settlement Project this PAE shares its northern boundary with a FLONA — a federal conservation unit where sustainable exploitation of forest resources is permitted and it was superimposed atop several riverine and Quilombola communities (settlements originally established by runaway enslaved people and still inhabited by their descendants) owned by MRN and in operation since the 1970s While the decree creating the FLONA banned the communities from the area and the Pará Land Institute created the Sapucuá-Trombetas PAE to recognize the right of the neglected communities to part of the territory they traditionally occupied While the communities’ houses and some of their gardens were located within the PAE cultivate gardens and collect forest products were not called ‘work points,’ play a fundamental role in the life of the riverine people,” explains geographer Hugo Gravina who is studying the dynamics of riverine occupation in the region For 30 years the riverine communities went on using these work points Officials from the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity (ICMBio) came to the region in March 2021 to monitor the families’ activities ICMBio fined the families for opening small patches of land within the FLONA to subsistence agriculture and pasture and also fined them for artisanal centers that produced manioc flour who was fined $40,000 reais ($7,937) for planting 4 hectares (10 acres) within the FLONA He says that police and ICMBio officials “arrived at our house and surrounded the entire area another from the side with his hand on the trigger of his rifle.” At the time this resident attests that he was unarmed and making manioc flour with his wife and daughter Other citizens claim they’ve been deprived of all their rights “It seems we have become an alien people to them how will we live?” asks Humberto de Castro ICMBio did not respond to Mongabay’s attempts to contact them in 2021 and 2022 after the change in Brazilian presidential administrations it states that those fined “are not traditional residents of the Saracá-Taquera FLONA” and “are not authorized to fell forest.” But all the residents interviewed by Mongabay say they were born in the Lago Maria Pixi communities Gravina’s research shows that the areas of the FLONA used by the families are often the same ones used by their grandfathers and great-grandfathers the four communities won a partial victory when IBAMA requested a study from MRN identifying the impacts of the Aramã mine did not find “a causal relationship between mining activities on the Aramã Plateau and the complaints by the Lake Maria Pixi communities.” Based on this study IBAMA decided in August 2022 not to change MRN’s operating licence The communities achieved no redress of their grievances The apparent reason why IBAMA can dismiss the communities’ repeated demands for a proper in-depth consultation is that its legal office does not consider the riverine communities to be covered by the ILO’s definition of “tribal peoples.” But the Public Federal Ministry (MPF), a group of independent public litigators within the government, does not concur. In a declaration issued in 2014 “Traditional communities are included in the concept of tribal peoples in Convention No 169 of the International Labour Organization.” In a recent article he explains that “the term ‘tribal peoples,’ used in Convention 169 should be understood in the same sense as the term ‘non-indigenous traditional populations groups or communities’ is used in Brazilian laws.” He argues that Brazilian regulations that include only Indigenous peoples and Quilombolas cannot override the wider definition found in Convention 169 which is equivalent to an international human rights treaty signed by Brazil IBAMA paves the way for other government agencies to ignore the socioenvironmental impacts of mines and other projects on long-established riverine populations MRN was certified by the international Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) The ASI seal acts as a guarantee for large consumers — such as car manufacturers — that their suppliers operate with high levels of social and environmental responsibility Among the criteria used in the evaluation is respect for individual and collective human rights its auditors had spoken to the Lago Maria Pixi communities She replied that the Aramā mine had not been discussed in the report In a public letter to ASI in February 2022 the international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) recommended that the ASI develop “across its human rights standard criteria focused on the outcomes suffered by affected communities rather than on management systems and processes that companies have in place.” HRW was alerted to this issue when mining companies in Guinea in West Africa were ASI certified even though those mining firms’ activities had committed serious human rights violations against local communities HRW’s recommendation applies to the Aramã mine as well Brazil’s policies regarding protections for traditional communities may change under the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva IBAMA finally responded to Mongabay’s request for an interview in 2023 after the change in federal government IBAMA states that the institute’s current management “intends to seek closer ties with traditional communities to better understand the impacts of projects on their way of life and demand measures from businesses to adequately reduce or compensate for these impacts.” this could mean that other communities will be spared the disdain shown to the Lago Maria Pixi communities But much is at stake in that region and time is of the essence: MRN has drawn up a “New Mines Project” to clear and excavate 6,446 hectares (15,928 acres) of native forests between 2026 and 2042 impacting scores of traditional communities is calling for studies into the cumulative impact of MRN’s 40 years of mining in the Oriximiná region “A study of this nature would help us understand the real magnitude of the impact of mining on local communities and the environment,” she says the Lago Maria Pixi communities continue struggling to have their voices heard “The mining company has a lot of money and power whereas we only have words,” says Jesi Ferreira talks to Mongabay about the power imbalance that allows community rights to be systematically violated whereas we only have our words,” he says University of Strathclyde and British Academy-funded project “Unauthorised biographies of commodity chains.” Related reading: MRN bauxite mine leaves legacy of pollution, poverty in Brazilian Amazon FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the author of this post Intensive care units in 17 of the country’s 26 states were near capacity while six states and the capital had run out of ICU beds Health experts and lawmakers have warned Brazil is steaming into the darkest days of its coronavirus catastrophe as fatalities soared to new heights and one prominent politician compared the crisis to an atomic bomb Politicians from across the spectrum voiced anger and exasperation at the deteriorating situation on Monday, after Brazil’s weekly average of Covid deaths hit its highest level since the epidemic began last February and hospitals around the country reported being swamped According to the newspaper O Globo, intensive care units in 17 of Brazil’s 26 states were near capacity, while six states and the capital Brasília had run out of intensive care beds altogether. “We are living through one of the worst moments in our history,” said Tasso Jereissati, an influential centre-right politician who is among a group of senators demanding a congressional investigation into President Jair Bolsonaro’s globally condemned handling of the pandemic. Read moreRenato Casagrande, the leftwing governor of Espírito Santo state, told the news website UOL he believed Bolsonaro’s irresponsible behaviour had cost Brazilian lives “We’ve lost the war … It’s as if an atomic bomb has landed on Brazil,” Casagrande said pointing to Brazil’s soaring death toll which is the world’s second highest after the US Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who was Bolsonaro’s health minister until he was fired last April, told O Globo that Brazil’s failure to launch a rapid vaccination scheme meant the average daily death toll could soon rise to over 2,000 “I don’t know where this will end … The country is running the risk of becoming one big Manaus,” Mandetta warned in reference to the Amazonian capital which made international headlines in January after hospitals ran out of oxygen because of a Covid surge It has now been just over a year since Brazil registered its first official Covid case Brazil’s first death was recorded in mid-March Mandetta, who was fired after challenging Bolsonaro over Covid has claimed that before leaving government he warned the president the death toll could reach 180,000 before a vaccine was found who has trivialized Covid as “a bit of a cold” continues to undermine lockdown efforts by disparaging masks and promoting crowded public events In December Bolsonaro falsely claimed his country had reached “the tail end of the pandemic” That appearance sparked outrage among political opponents and fuelled calls for an inquiry into Bolsonaro’s actions said Bolsonaro’s “reckless” undermining of containment measures “bordered on insanity” what he did here was a crime against public health,” he said “It was one of the most irresponsible acts that I’ve ever seen from a Brazilian president We experienced a tough period of military rule here but I’ve never seen anything so irresponsible and foolish as what happened here in Ceará.” Jereissati added: “The president seems to believe that he can behave however he likes without facing any kind of consequences himself we hope to show the president that he must be held legally responsible for his actions … These actions have consequences – and they need to have consequences for him too.” said an inquiry could prevent the death toll soaring further “There is still time to save lives and to pressure the government into changing its behaviour so it doesn’t keep clinging to certain positions just because of dogmatism or pseudo-ideology,” Prates said Bolsonaro’s political standing was bolstered last month after candidates he had backed were elected to the presidencies of the senate and lower house Analysts believe that is likely to free Bolsonaro from the threat of impeachment the far-right populist is facing mounting public anger over the soaring death toll and its spluttering vaccination drive So far just 3.8% of Brazil’s population has been vaccinated with state capitals such as Rio Porto Alegre and Florianópolis among the cities forced to temporarily suspend immunisation for lack of shots Calls for the impeachment of a man critics call “Bozo” can be seen graffitied on to walls across major cities while propaganda hoardings promoting the far-right populist have been vandalised with red paint Both left- and rightwing detractors have taken to the streets in protest in recent weeks The outlook appeared bleak in many of Brazil’s states on Monday as an association of state health secretaries called for an immediate nationwide curfew from 8pm until 6am to curb infections with the worst president for this moment,” said Jereissati “It didn’t need [to be like this] at all – on the contrary.” This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page This story is the second in a series reporting on the legacy current status and likely future of bauxite mining in the Trombetas river basin and Amazon delta Journalist Sue Branford and filmmaker Thaís Borges journeyed there in February Their investigation of aluminum production is especially relevant now as Brazil’s Bolsonaro administration pushes to open the Amazon’s indigenous reserves and other protected areas to large-scale industrial mining Brazil — When our Mongabay reporting team visited the Amazon riverine communities of Boa Nova and Saracá one theme predominated: “My children’s future is here,” said one resident “I don’t want to leave this land,” declared another “I’m only leaving here to go to the cemetery,” a third emphatically stated But this determination to remain on their land is interwoven with another darker refrain: the people’s expressed unease at living in the shadow of numerous large tailings dams some less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) from their homes all constructed and owned by Mineração Rio do Norte (MRN) the world’s fourth largest bauxite producer This concern was first sparked in 2015 by an unprecedented environmental disaster occurring a thousand miles away in the town of Mariana in Minas Gerais state There a tailings dam holding back iron mining waste belonging to Samarco — a joint venture between two international mining companies Brazil’s Vale and the UK’s BHP Billiton — collapsed A mud tsunami obliterated the town of Bento Rodrigues and polluting 500-miles of river to the Atlantic Ocean meaning that the municipality of Oriximiná includes more dams within its boundaries than any other district in Pará state But before the Mariana disaster almost nobody local knew much about the bauxite waste lagoons and the dams holding them back “I got scared when I saw the large number of dams and the size of them,” remembered Fátima Viana Lopes describing her first visit to MRN’s mining waste disposal operation The lagoons are “so huge that they’ve even got boats sailing on them,” she said The largest covers 110 hectares (270 acres); the dams holding back the waste are typically 17 meters (40 feet) high The entire system for managing waste encompasses 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) I don’t think we’d be able to go on living here,” Lopes said a lecturer at Rio de Janeiro’s Universidade Federal Fluminense criticizes the inequity of international geopolitics and of corporations that reward the developed world with immense mineral wealth while transferring the bulk of socio-environmental risks for large-scale mining to the developing world “It’s above all in the poorer countries where the largest number of [tailings] dams are located and where environmental damage and deaths occur,” he wrote in a recent research paper barely three years after the Mariana tragedy “In both cases the companies told the population that the dam was safe the chaos created would be far greater than the company suggests “Not only Boa Nova and Saracá would be affected 3,000 people would be driven out.” Rabelo is referring to the densely occupied traditional communities around Sapucuá Lake a large waterbody west of the town of Oriximiná (see map) The mining company assures the communities that risks are minimal and that the dams are safe explained that the company’s waste impoundments were not built using the flawed technique employed at both Mariana and Brumadinho along with the flat terrain and lower height of the dams A National Agency of Mining (ANM) assessment of MRN’s dams is not so reassuring One dam has been rated “high risk” by the ANM because some of its features “can influence in the probability of an accident.” Another 14 possess “a high potential of associated risk,” the assessment says if waste falls into a creek flowing round the Saracá Plateau [where the dams are located] the water will become cloudier and more fish will die,” the MRN representative explained But Lopes questions this optimistic evaluation She notes that while no immediate deaths might result serious environmental damage could have a huge negative impact on traditional communities in the long run “I don’t think we’d be killed outright in an accident She wonders if such a spill could turn them into enviro-refugees: “Imagine us moving into towns Our biggest concern is that we have nothing on paper saying what would happen to us” in case of disaster Perceived problems in the development of the giant bauxite mine and its waste disposal system since the 1970s has raised multiple doubts Luiz Jardim points out that in the 21 different licensing procedures that MRN went through with IBAMA the Brazilian government’s environmental agency the mining company was never required to fully analyze the environmental impact of the waste disposal system nor to present a set of proposals for mitigating its impact on the local communities and for compensating them the director of the Comissão Pró-índio de São Paulo says that one of the problems is that dam monitoring by ANM lacks transparency The mining agency’s reports are not made public supposedly to protect the company’s industrial property rights but leaving local people without access to the agency’s safety assessments possesses a vast repertoire of interesting anecdotes Born into one of the intrepid pioneer peasant families who moved into the region early on his mother told him he was nearly carried off by a hawk as a baby He recalls a very happy childhood: “It was a paradise here He remembers the communal “puxiruns,” organized by neighbors to help each other plant subsistence crops with a host providing a celebratory lunch when work was done “I remember going down to the river and catching 86 tambaqui to feed the 80 or so people who helped.”  Then came MRN “Today I would be lucky to catch far fewer than that so we can no longer carry out ‘puxiruns.’” Daca declared that the only thing marring his happiness today is seeing the environmental damage brought by MRN He remembers the once crystal-clear water in the river channels and creeks near the hamlet which he says are now reddish in color and murky “Children here have almost died from sickness and diarrhea,” recalls Daca “That’s why I said to the president of the mining company when he didn’t want to install a system for providing clean water because it was expensive if one of my grandchildren died or even one of us grownups Responding to this and other contamination complaints MRN built artesian wells and other systems to deliver better quality water to Saracá and Boa Nova Residents are still not convinced it’s safe to drink the water “The mining company’s employees bring mineral water when they visit and don’t touch our water,” reported José Domingos Rabelo Boa Nova resident Domingos Gomes told Mongabay that the new system installed in his house was problematic for a long while and people had to let the sediment settle to make it drinkable “I was even reluctant to put that water on plants,” he says Gomes believes that MRN sorted out the problem because of the negative publicity generated by an alarming photo published by Comissão Pró-Índio de São Paulo MRN was “ashamed when everyone in the world could see that the water was clearly not fit to drink,” he said MRN analyzes hundreds of water samples taken from different places along area rivers and streams “Our results suggest that the company’s activities have not created a problem of water contamination,” MRN Sustainability Director Vladimir Moreira told Mongabay the water in the rivers and creeks is within the legal quality limits set by Brazilian legislation why did they install the new systems?” asks Rabelo “The company’s capital comes from a series of multinationals — the big multinationals in the aluminium chain,” Moreira said in addition to “the controls required by Brazilian legislation we apply all the controls demanded by Canadian Lúcia Andrade says that the communities’ reports about the problems they face in the creeks and even in the artesian wells suggest that the monitoring carried out by the company isn’t sufficient to diagnose the wide-ranging impact of the mining on water resources  And she also wonders whether there should be different drinking water standards for the Amazon region where people consume water directly from rivers and creeks: “The [government] criteria were established thinking of water in towns where it will be purified before it is consumed,” she explains a research body linked to the ministry of health emphasizes current uncertainties: “What is murkiness It means that there are a lot of particles in the water,” he says Lima has seen no results from local water analyses as yet but regularly carries out tests on water potentially contaminated by mining and has found that it can “contain elements like lead toxic elements naturally exist in the “geological origin” of bauxite and no one knows whether these toxic elements might be reaching local populations in Oriximina or if they are “bioavailable,” that is in a form that can be absorbed and harm people Riverine community residents are reluctant to accept the company’s reassurances “The problem is that the water analyses are carried out by people paid by the company,” explains José Maranhão carried out by people reporting to the community.” This may happen soon one of their technical teams has taken samples of the water around the mine and the results should be available shortly says he is is a keen observer and feels sure local water quality has changed over the years MRN’s mining activities result in great clouds of dust with a fine reddish powder covering vegetation in the forest the water takes it all into the stream,” he adds He has also noted a fall in water volume in recent years: “Saracá Creek used to be deeper but the level’s fallen because the company pumps out water to wash the bauxite,” he said His observation is partly corroborated by MRN while in the rainy season it can supply all of the water it needs from its dams the firm needs 30% of Saracá Creek’s water during the dry season It’s scarcely surprising then that there’s been a decline in the number and variety of fish species in the creek “There used to be a lot of pirarucu [a large Amazon fish] here Outsiders are surprised to learn that all of MRN’s bauxite mines and tailings dams in Oriximina are located within a protected area the Saracá-Taquera National Forest (FLONA) the firm was authorized to carry on with its operations the riverine families struggled to get their age-old sustainable hunting and gathering occupations regularized by officialdom Their livelihoods were finally recognized in 2010 with the creation of the Agro-Extractive Settlement of Sapucuá-Trombetas while that designation includes the immediate settlement and its houses it does not include the forests where the people hunt and collect forest products there are continuing conflicts between MRN and the traditional communities because areas where the company has been authorized to mine are often superimposed atop areas used by the communities for their livelihoods the opening of the Almeidas mine led to the destruction of a huge Brazil nut plantation leading to a 70% reduction in the harvest by local families creating economic hardship; locals rely on Brazil nut sales as an important cash source MRN created a program that buys seeds of various native species collected in the forest to be used later in the reforestation of exhausted mines But that program isn’t popular: “It’s dangerous as you have to collect seeds from the ground and you run the risk of being bitten by poisonous animals,” in the forest This happened to Ilson dos Santos just before the Mongabay team arrived in Saracá Ilson was bent over collecting seeds when he felt a sharp pain in his back — a venomous caterpillar The poison it released gave him a painful bruise and fever He commented ruefully: “All this to earn just over 300 reais (US$60) a month!” “If they gave us the true value of the plantation they destroyed But to get us to gather seeds and sell them to the company That isn’t compensation,” José Domingos Rabelo complained Rabelo referred to his indigenous and quilombola Afro-Brazilian heritage as a source for his dogged resistance “I have the blood of fighters in my veins!” Raimundo Daca employs his musical talent to tell outsiders why the people are fighting what they see as exploitation Banner image: One of the MRN tailings system lagoons where bauxite mining waste is stored Journal of EthnopharmacologyCitation Excerpt :As a multipurpose plant etc) have been used in traditional medicine for a long time (Thomas et al. curcas was considered with high cultural importance in Oriximiná edema and cough in Cameroon and Benin (Sawadogo et al. The Starlink bug that locked some users out of their accounts last week was caused by overzealous fraud detection that falsely flagged legitimate accounts as fraudulent Affected users yesterday received an email titled "False Positive Fraud Account Correction," but not everyone has been able to get back into their accounts yet "We had an account issue that led us to falsely flag your account as fraud We are working to make this right and fix any account modifications over the last week," the email from the SpaceX-owned ISP said "Please allow until the end of the week to see any account changes be reverted before filing a ticket sign in to your account below to contact Customer Support." As we previously reported some customers received an email on November 9 saying their accounts had been reset and that "all pending orders and deposits have been refunded." The bug affected some new users who had ordered Starlink service but had not yet set up their dishes making it hard for them to start the Internet service Starlink's limited customer support options made things especially difficult. An account-recovery page that lets users request password resets with an email address or phone number didn't work in this case as the page returned error messages like "User not found." Users said they could not submit support tickets because they were locked out of their accounts. Starlink has no support phone number, and users get mixed results from contacting Starlink through the customer support email address starlinkresolutions@spacex.com There were numerous Reddit threads in which users complained they could not contact Starlink to get the account resets fixed a Starlink customer in Alabama who preferred that we not publish his last name received last week's account-reset email and yesterday's "False Positive Fraud Account Correction" update Adam had already gotten back into his account before yesterday's update but he had to try several methods of contacting Starlink to pull it off Adam told us that filling out an account-recovery form on Starlink's website didn't help He also found someone else with Starlink service who submitted a support ticket on his behalf but the method that actually resulted in a reply from Starlink was emailing the starlinkresolutions address Adam said he sent a message to that email address on Friday and received a response on Sunday allowing him to get back into his account that day With most of the complaints we've seen, Starlink broadband service was not disrupted as long as customers set it up before the account-reset bug hit. But one user on Reddit reported yesterday that "Starlink went down completely," around the same time the user received the "False Positive Fraud Account Correction" email The problem apparently forced users to choose an option to "resume" their service assuming they could get into their accounts "You should see something on your Starlink account page to click on that says 'Resume Service.' That's what I had to do," one person replied in the thread the original poster who started the thread said they were still unable to log in A user writing in another Reddit thread yesterday also apparently had a service interruption that coincided with the account lockout "I'm still locked out," the user wrote yesterday Brazil — As the number of Coronavirus infections soars in Brazil Afro-Brazilian descendants of runaway slaves in the Amazon basin lacking modern sanitation and health facilities located a mere half mile from Porto Trombetas the bustling company town of Mineração Rio do Norte (MRN) Porto Trombetas (population 6,500) confirmed its first three COVID-19 cases on 22 April. An MRN employee and two members of his family tested positive for the virus while in isolation after returning from a holiday in Manaus, where the Coronavirus has taken a terrible toll and been called an “utter disaster.” The close proximity of Porto Trombetas to Boa Vista isn’t the only source of quilombola concern The municipality of Oriximiná includes one the nation’s most extensive areas of titled quilombo lands covering 361,800 hectares (89,400 acres) in the Amazon rainforest Yet the municipal government’s public health system which serves all 73,000 people in the district has only one respirator and no intensive care unit People [from our quilombo] continue to go every day to Porto Trombetas to work,” reports Carlene Printes even as many ships and planes continue arriving in Porto Trombetas from around the world notes Boa Vista Coordinator Amarildo de Jesus “We are very exposed here,” worries de Jesus executive coordinator of the Comissão Pro-Indio São Paulo an NGO which has been working in the Trombetas region since the 1990s An edict from the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy has allowed MRN to continue operating its mine and port but the company says it is taking prevention measures It reports that people arriving from outside are isolated for two weeks and then thoroughly checked before being allowed to leave quarantine Questioned about what measures it takes to protect outsourced workers MRN said that “to prevent people working [who] can carry out their jobs safely and [who are] duly oriented as to protection measures against COVID-19 … could lead to additional difficulties in earning their living It seemed that the company was not considering furloughing the workers saying it was considering providing support for workers thought to be at risk De Jesus thinks this may be insufficient to protect the Boa Vista outsourced workers The company had earlier asked them to clean a quarantine facility used by new arrivals and they had refused “We are thinking of stopping work altogether,” he said as the company is more interested in profit than people.” Da Silva says that the quilombola communities established by runaway slaves in the 18th and 19th centuries mainly in Amazonia and Brazil’s Northeast have never had the backing they need from authorities — social educational and health assistance has largely been lacking as has the provision of community land deeds basic sanitation and transportation infrastructure “We have been saying ever since CONAQ was created [in 1996] with a partial or total — and in some cases it is total — absence of public policies The pandemic just aggravates a situation that was already very bad,” Gilvânia asserts According to figures released on 24 April 2020 by the government’s IBGE (the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute) there are nearly 6,000 quilombola communities in Brazil CONAQ reports that many are without basic infrastructure making it very hard for people to take basic preventive measures against COVID-19 Partly because they lack electricity and computers quilombo residents find it difficult to receive the emergency basic income — R$600 (US$104) per month — that the government is paying workers in the informal economy during the pandemic while feeling abandoned by their government The company annexed much of their community land in the 1970s; polluted surrounding waterways destroying the fishery; and contracted a Boa Vista cooperative to carry out many menial tasks effectively outsourcing this work and reducing the company’s responsibility for those doing these badly paid jobs MRN is seeking to overcome the community’s mistrust, particularly acute at the moment, by pointing to pandemic precautions it is taking with traditional and indigenous communities in Pará. These measures include COVID-19 educational outreach and visits to rural communities the purchase and distribution of 900 rapid tests the purchase of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for the region’s hospitals and the distribution of more than 5,000 food baskets to quilombola indigenous and traditional riverine communities so people don’t have to travel often to Oriximiná.* Along with dozens of quilombola and riverine communities there are three indigenous territories — Kaxuyana-Tunayana Nhamundá-Mapuera and Trombetas-Mapuera — in the region It takes 12 hours for the most distant citizens to travel by boat for the nearest medical assistance ARQMO (the Association of the Remaining Quilombo Communities in the Municipality of Oriximiná) created in 1989 to support local quilombos the flow of people to towns to sell forest products We’re very worried because neither the hospital system in Oriximiná nor the hospital run by the mining company has the capacity to deal with this pandemic,” Colé told Mongabay MRN has just six intensive care beds equipped with respirators (two for children) those beds would go first to mine employees Under-reporting may be a particularly serious in quilombos, many of which are located in isolated regions. CONAQ has received reliable reports of the virus killing 26 quilombolas a figure not included in Brazil’s official death rate CONAQ strongly believes that some of the problems quilombolas continue to face stem from what it calls “institutional racism,” alleging that authorities are not giving the same priority to poor, black communities as to richer, white communities. In a statement CONAQ wrote: “The inequality in the way Coronavirus is being tackled will have an overwhelming impact in rural black communities if the illness expands there with the same speed and mortality.” recalls a song by a quilombola composer that laments the long history of prejudice He remembers the lyrics: “Mimi Viana says we are no longer beaten by wooden sticks Banner image: The 155 families of Boa Vista like poor underserved communities around the globe live in dread of COVID-19 entering their community 2020 to reflect the efforts MRN is making to combat COVID-19 in rural traditional and indigenous communities in Pará state initiated a controversial new mining project in the Amazon region without notifying or consulting four traditional riverine communities that have thrived there for generations These villages report significant disruptions to their way of life due to the mining activities MRN asserts that their operations will not have a substantial impact current regulations only recognize Indigenous and Quilombola populations as legitimate traditional groups entitled to prior informed consultation—a right enshrined in international law Critics argue that other traditional riverine communities are being unjustly excluded from these protections They are urging President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration to direct IBAMA to take action that would mitigate the adverse effects of mining on these vulnerable populations A decisive ruling from IBAMA could safeguard the livelihoods of hundreds of riverine residents facing the repercussions of MRN’s expanding mining activities it could set a crucial precedent for other traditional communities seeking recognition and consultation rights in the face of industrial development Mongabay’s Video Team wants to cover questions and topics that matter to YOU. Are there any inspiring people, urgent issues, or local stories that you’d like us to cover? We want to hear from you. Be a part of our reporting process—get in touch with us here! “The mining company has a lot of money and power Paradise lost? Brazil’s biggest bauxite mining firm denies riverine rights This story is the first in a series reporting on the legacy as Brazil’s Bolsonaro administration pushes hard to open the Amazon’s indigenous reserves and other protected areas to large-scale industrial mining a loud jarring industrial bang shatters the silence of the Amazon rainforest “She’s always frightened when she hears that racket no one in the community can get back to sleep,” explains Amarildo de Jesus and one of dozens of quilombola communities established in Pará more than 140 years ago by runaway slaves The “racket” that so startles Amanda can erupt at any moment day or night; it happens every time a gigantic transatlantic ore carrier drops anchor in the busy Trombetas River port just half a mile away The explosive sound is a recurring reminder that the little community’s forest setting is a rural relic of the past now surrounded on nearly all sides by a highly disruptive and dirty industry The oceangoing ships are coming up the Amazon and Trombetas rivers to collect ore from Mineração Rio do Norte (MRN) the world’s fourth largest producer of bauxite That ore is then shipped downriver to processing mills in Barcarena in Pará or on the Atlantic coast in São Luís in Maranhão state The finished aluminium is then destined for Brazilian manufacturing plants where the ubiquitous metal — absolutely vital to the modern world — is shaped into beer and soda cans While MRN officials argue that Boa Vista today is a beneficiary of bauxite mining — the industry does provide jobs — most residents say the social and environmental harms experienced over decades far outweigh the good Mineração Rio do Norte arrived in the Trombetas basin in the 1970s Like most traditional Amazon riverine communities So MRN annexed much of the community’s land and built the company’s town the bustling port town has a population of 6,500 mostly employed in bauxite mining and shipping They [the mining company] said: ‘Take this a lecturer at the Federal University of Pará the little community could no longer grow crops and all the industrial commotion drove away many of the animals the people used to hunt The people also lost access to Brazil nut trees The intense shipping traffic reduced the fish population in the river and lake waters where they had fished were quickly polluted by mine tailings We even have to buy manioc flour [an Amazon staple] because we can’t make it anymore,” says Amarildo with those traditional livelihoods destroyed about 70% of the working age population is directly or indirectly employed by MRN A few work for the company in management or in the mine But most are employed by the Boa Vista Cooperative which has a contract with MRN to dole out poorly-paid menial jobs — sweeping and cleaning and collecting garbage in Porto Trombetas Life, which has been hard since MRN arrived, is particularly tense now, because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The first three confirmed local cases They’d been held in isolation by the company in Porto Trombetas since their return from a holiday in Manaus COVID-19 had reached Porto Trombetas on a larger scale was in the “community transmission” stage with people told to stay at home and only leave in an emergency or to go to work There have yet been no reported deaths in Porto Trombetas it will be a disaster,” says Lúcia Andrade the executive coordinator of the Comissão Pró-Índio in São Paulo an NGO working with quilombola communities since the 1990s Boa Vista has no basic sanitation and the way quilombolas live MRN has said that they will treat Boa Vista residents in their well-equipped hospital but the quilombolas are afraid that the hospital will give priority to MRN employees It takes six hours in a boat to reach the nearest public hospital in Oriximiná which has only one intensive care bed Many clashes have erupted over the years between MRN and Boa Vista But Amarildo recalls with particularly intense emotion the struggle to keep control of Água Fria Creek which today divides Boa Vista from Porto Trombetas did a lot to stop the company taking over the creek and got his friends to cut the barbed wire [MRN erected] He did this countless times [until] finally the company gave up.” During the summer the creek is still well used by the community for recreation the clean part of the creek is so pretty,” he says But the lower stretches of Água Fria are no longer pretty remembers putting out pots and pans to dry on a wooden platform after being washed in the creek only to find them soon covered in a fine red powder blowing in from the mine “We suffered a lot from bauxite dust pollution,” he recalls Batata Lake today has become a symbol of Amazon ecosystem destruction born of largescale mining projects “Even though mining companies have been building dams [to hold] waste since the 1950s the project drawn up by [MRN] the mining company in Oriximiná arranged for [mine waste] residues to be discharged directly into the rivers and streams,” explained Luiz Jardim a geographer and lecturer at the Universidade Federal Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro who has been carrying out research for more than 15 years in the region “It’s the biggest industrial disaster ever in Amazônia,” Jardim told Mongabay.  “Almost twice the volume  of tailings was discharged in Batata Lake compared with the Brumadinho disaster.” It was only in 1989 that MRN built its first mining waste storage dam and stopped direct discharges into Batata Lake “The mining company is accused of carrying out an environmental crime,” says Vladimir Moreira “I want to be clear that to behave like this today is unacceptable from any point of view it was allowed.” Moreira points out that before 1981 big mining projects in Brazil didn’t require an environmental licence Although Lake Batata may appear cleaner today people living beside it complain of a lack of fish and also suffer from itchy skin and allergies when water levels drop and the red sludge deposits become visible you’d have seen caiman and turtles stuck in the mud They can’t get out and they die,” reveals Isaías Oliveira Vladimir Moreira lists the socio-environmental measures taken by the company to mitigate the mine’s impacts These include income generation schemes and better health and education services “Perhaps the thing I’m proudest of is the fact that children from the quilombola communities go to the same school as the children of mine employees,” he says as the quilombola communities don’t have secondary schools But many locals attending the mine’s school are ambivalent says her earlier school years were “the most difficult period in my life.” Printes was the target of racist jokes as adolescents whose parents worked for the mine scoffed at the shape of her nose and kinky hair “What was most painful of all was that the teachers and coordinators made out that I was making a fuss about nothing I wonder if the price we paid for this quality education was too great,” she says I don’t know how to grow vegetables or hunt because the company took all this away from us And we don’t have enough land to do any of this As many in the community depend today on jobs linked to MRN is worried about what will happen when the mineral reserves run out “MRN is [presently] carrying out a series of socio-environmental programs with the [local] population but I don’t see a consistent discussion or measures that answer this question: what will the future of the community be like when these jobs disappear?” existing mines won’t be exhausted until 2025 at which point five more already licensed bauxite sites can take over producing for two decades; after which other new areas could be opened Though all of this optimism hinges on a global community hungry for aluminum demand that could steeply decline if COVID-19 triggers a global economic depression Boa Vista was also the first quilombola community in the country to obtain a collective land title a right established by the progressive 1988 Constitution five quilombola territories in Oriximiná municipality have won definitive land rights many experts are concerned over possible setbacks by the Jair Bolsonaro government The quilombola story is remarkable: starting in the middle of the 18th century runaway slaves began settling along the Trombetas River as part of a region-wide movement that was fracturing the slave-based structure in Pará state “My grandparents and great-grandparents were slaves,” says José dos Santos “They fled from plantations in Santarém [an Amazon River port] and came up the Trombetas River to hide.” According to historian Eurípedes Funes the runaways began to feel safe once they crossed a stretch of river known for its impassable rapids which acted as a natural barrier to the punitive expeditions sent to recapture them former slaves learned to coexist with indigenous groups acquiring from them essential knowledge about living in the forest and utilizing natural wealth to live sustainably the runaways’ descendants began moving downstream to more navigable stretches of the river particularly during the military dictatorship (1964-1985) when the government encouraged mining companies The quilombos were simply ignored and community lands taken over Porto Trombetas and Boa Vista are two very different worlds Boa Vista is made up of rough wooden houses often crammed together and built beside dirt tracks; the village lacks basic sanitation Running water was only installed last year Mongabay’s two-hour interview with coordinator dos Santos was frequently interrupted by people complaining of no electricity because the community generator had broken down “We’ve been suffering for 40 years and they still haven’t bothered to extend the electricity system from Porto Trombetas to here said that the community complaints weren’t the mining company’s responsibility “The real question is: how do we get public powers involved Mongabay tried repeatedly to talk to Oriximiná’s mayor received almost R$37 million (US$6.5 million) in Financial Compensation for Mineral Resource Exploitation (CFEM) Even though Oriximiná has been receiving these payments since 1992 it continues to suffer from a low level of development according to the last official census in 2010 While the nation had an average per capita income of US$136 then people in Oriximiná earned an average of just US$56* — less than half Brazil’s average Waiting for the much-promised progress that never seems to arrive Amarildo studies a huge ocean-going ore ship docked at the port he expresses his fears: “I look at my young son and I think ‘soon I’ll pass on and what will you do with destroyed land and a destroyed river?’ It’s painful for me to see that the Boa Vista community hasn’t a lake where it can fish and it’s being invaded on all sides by the company.” Banner image: Local residents who live near once pristine Correction on June 8: *The original story reported in error using the current 2020 reais / US dollar exchange rate: “While the nation had an average per capita income of US$435 then people in Oriximiná earned an average of just US$186 — less than half Brazil’s average.” Those figures have now been corrected to reflect the 2010 exchange rate to read: “per capita income of US$136” and “just US$56,” respectively Brazil is one of the world’s biggest producers of bauxite More than 80% of aluminum ores in the country are extracted in Serra do Oriximiná in the state of Pará which has the highest mineral concentration in Brazil The annual production of ore is around 17.4 million tons Brazil is the third largest producer globally Brazilian exports of bauxite and aluminum reached US$ 2.9 billion Brazil is also proud to be a world leader in aluminum recycling 97% of aluminum consumed in our country is recycled.