MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th August, 2021) Brazil's intensive gold extraction threatens over 6.2 million hectares (15 million acres) of national reserves in Amazonia, a study, conducted by Instituto Escolhas, a Sao Paulo-based non-governmental organization promoting sustainable development, found.
"Over the last five years, the devastation of Amazonia forests increased five times solely due to mining activities," Larissa Rodrigues, a project manager with Instituto Escolhas, stated on Wednesday.
In 2020, Brazil exported 110.6 tonnes of gold to about 20 countries, with 17.2% of the gold mined and exported illegally. Illicit mining is one of principal causes of deforestation in Amazonia, which lost 850,000 hectares, according to official data.
On August 4, Brazil's Congress passed a law on appropriation of Amazon lands, occupied by businesses, opening the areas, inhabited by indigenous people, for mining and other extractive activities. The move was met with caustic criticism from green and human rights activists.
