In the mid-twentieth century, the world witnessed disasters caused by mercury pollution. The indiscriminate dumping of industrial waste into Minamata Bay (Japan) has given rise to one of the greatest tragedies of our time: thousands of people (nearly 3,000 have been identified so far) have suffered from painful symptoms of poisoning and birth defects, almost always resulting from the consumption of fish poisoned by this metal.
In recent days, I had the opportunity to participate in Geneva at the sixth Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention, the instrument created by the United Nations to reduce the effects and use of mercury, named after the notorious Japanese city. There I was able to deliver the message that we, the indigenous communities and governments of the Amazon region, have been repeating so persistently: we are in danger, and mercury pollution threatens not only our people, but also our ecosystems and their biodiversity. The use of mercury in gold extraction has unleashed an emergency in the Amazon that is impossible to ignore.
A few days ago, at the COP30 on climate change – the largest COP on the planet – held in Belém do Pará, it was important to reiterate that the effects of mercury use are not only reflected in specific cases such as Colombia, where recent measurements carried out by the University of Cartagena in our lands in the Amazon revealed pollution up to 15 times greater than the safe margin set by the World Health Organization; Or in Brazil itself, where, as reported by the Escolhas Institute, 92% of members of the Yanomami community, in the Upper Tabago region, show very high concentrations of mercury in their bodies. No, the problem is everyone’s when we know that illegal gold mining has transformed more than 13,000 square kilometers in the Amazon region since 2018, releasing thousands of tons of mercury. The forest is one and the rivers know no boundaries.
The effect is not limited to the body only. In different societies we have warnings about which fish it is better not to eat, and it is particularly difficult to explain why the knowledge systems of our ancestors have changed because the water is now polluted, fish carry the metal in their organisms and our bodies cannot metabolize it. Moreover, the social impacts extend throughout the territory: mining has fueled violence against environmental defenders, and conflicts over control of the illegal gold market surround entire communities in the jungles of Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Brazil.
Today the Amazon is the region in the world that emits the largest amount of mercury, and despite progress made under agreements such as Minamata, our participation in decision-making as indigenous peoples remains woefully inadequate. We are certain that our role does not adequately reflect the impact we are experiencing. This is why it is essential that indigenous peoples receive direct funding to implement our conservation initiatives and that monitoring of our health is consistent in areas. It is also important that the representation of Amazonian peoples be more visible and substantive in organizations that address the mercury problem and their international regulations. We announced this in Geneva.
In the Greater Urubari Jaguar Region, which I have the honor of representing as Secretary-General and which is one of the best protected areas in the Amazon biome, we know that there is no wealth more sacred than that of the territory. Gold shines where the river dies, and we cannot wait for another great tragedy to continue to take shape, while the world, dazzled like King Midas, loses sight of its destruction.