Brazil court suspends Amazon reserve mining
Environmentalists hail decision to block president’s controversial move to allow exploitation of an area the size of Switzerland
ABrazilian court has suspended a government decree that would open a huge Amazon reserve to commercial mining, after the initial decision sparked outrage from environmental groups, the Catholic Church and celebrities.
The federal court in the capital Brasilia said in a statement it had “partially granted an injunction to immediately suspend any administrative act” aimed at scrapping the Switzerland-sized reserve, known as Renca.
The order from Judge Rolando Spanholo “suspends possible administrative acts based on the decree” signed by President Michel Temer last week.
Spanholo said that the government had failed to consult Congress, as required under the Constitution, and that the decree would “put at risk the environmental pro- tection (of Renca) and the protection of local indigenous communities.”
The government’s lawyer immediately said it would appeal the decision.
The Renca reserve in the eastern Amazon is home to the indigenous Aparai, Wayana and Wajapi tribes and vast swathes of untouched forest, covering more than 17,800 square miles (46,000 square kilometres).
Temer says that opening up the gold and mineral-rich area to mining is part of his programme to boost Brazil’s stuttering economy. The government insists that vital areas within the reserve, including where indigenous people live, will remain off limits.
However, Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund, as well as Brazil’s influential Catholic hierarchy, have pushed back in an unusually broadbased campaign for Latin America’s biggest country.
“Pressure is working. We mustn’t stop,” Greenpeace said after the court ruling.
Temer, who controversially came topowe raye aragoaftertheim pe achm en tofh is predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, is attempting to enact austerity cuts and market reforms aimedat lo os en ingupBrazil’ s moribund economy. The Renca decision dovetailed with the announcement of sweeping privatisations of state-owned companies, ranging from an airport in São Paulo to the national mint, which makes bank notes and passports.
Temer’s aggressive push has been widely interpreted, in part, as payback to industrial groups that backed him during a corruption scandal which came close to bringing him down at the start of August. However, the Renca decree was immediately controversial.