{"id":97531,"date":"2017-08-28T12:01:40","date_gmt":"2017-08-28T11:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=97531"},"modified":"2017-09-04T12:35:23","modified_gmt":"2017-09-04T11:35:23","slug":"brazil-abolishes-huge-amazon-reserve-in-biggest-attack-in-50-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/08\/brazil-abolishes-huge-amazon-reserve-in-biggest-attack-in-50-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazil Abolishes Huge Amazon Reserve in ‘Biggest Attack’ in 50 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brazilian president has dissolved Renca to attract investment in region thought to contain gold, with critics warning of irreversible damage.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Critics fear the Renca reserve could suffer a similar fate as this land near the Parque Nacional Motanhas do Tumucumaque, Brazil, now home to a gold and iron mine.
Photograph: Daniel Beltra for Greenpeace<\/p><\/div>\n

24 Aug 2017 – <\/em>The Brazilian president Michel Temer has abolished an Amazonian reserve the size of Denmark, prompting concerns of an influx of mineral companies, road-builders and workers into the species-rich forest.<\/p>\n

The dissolution of the Renca reserve \u2013 which spans 46,000 sq km on the border of the Amapa and Para states \u2013 was described by one opposition senator Randolfe Rodrigues of the Sustainability Network party, as the \u201cbiggest attack on the Amazon of the last 50 years\u201d.<\/p>\n

Conservationists said it will open the door for mining companies to enter Renca \u2013 the Portuguese acronym for the National Reserve of Copper and Associates \u2013 which was set up in 1984 and encompasses nine protected areas.<\/p>\n

More than 20 domestic and multinational firms have expressed an interest in the region which is thought to contain deposits of gold, copper, tantalum, iron ore, nickel and manganese.<\/p>\n

The government said<\/a> the reserve is being abolished to attract foreign investment, improve exports and boost an economy that has been struggling to emerge from its deepest recession in decades.<\/p>\n

It claimed the change of status would not affect conservation areas and indigenous territories in the region, but Amazon activists warned commercial exploitation by big companies in the past has been followed by illegal land grabbers, artisanal miners and road builders.<\/p>\n

Christian Poirier of Amazon Watch said Temer\u2019s decision had to be seen in the context of wider efforts by his government to erode protected areas, weaken environmental licensing, and diminish indigenous rights in the interests of wealthy supporters in the extractive industries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe abolition of Renca will wreak havoc on the forest and indigenous communities in the interests of the small group of economically powerful groups who are keeping Temer in power,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is the largest assault so far in a package of threats.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA gold rush in the region will create irreversible damage to local cultures,\u201d warned Mauricio Voivodic, executive director of WWF-Brazil. \u201cIn addition to demographic exploitation, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and water resources, this could lead to an intensification of land conflicts and threats to indigenous peoples and traditional populations.\u201d<\/p>\n

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VERGONHA!Est\u00e3o leiloando nossa Amaz\u00f4nia! N\u00e3o podemos destruir nossas \u00e1reas protegidas em prol de interesses privados https:\/\/t.co\/WvtHdaKYYX<\/a><\/p>\n

— Gisele B\u00fcndchen (@giseleofficial) August 24, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n