Environmental Disaster of Mariana and the Indigenous Communities

The most significant environmental disaster in the history of Brazil happened in 2015; it was the bursting of the dam of the Samarco mining company, a joint venture between the British BHP Billiton and the Brazilian Vale in Mariana, in the state of Minas Gerais. This tragedy compromised the Rio Doce due to contamination by mining tailings, harming the inhabitants of the region's municipalities and, mainly, the indigenous peoples who live along the banks of its waters. Since Brazil's military dictatorship, exploiting natural resources by multinationals has been expected. The country's public policy is geared towards attracting these companies through tax exemption, making them very competitive in the international market.

These dams are home to tailings storage because the ore currently exploited in Brazil is low-grade, meaning that its extraction consumes a large amount of water. Bruno Milanez, professor at the Department of Production and Mechanical Engineering of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, explains that there are repeated and continuous exploration and extraction because the ores are rarely found in their pure form. Therefore, they need to undergo purification and the tailings are accumulated in dams:

The mines with the best metal content have already been exhausted, so today lower concentration dams are used and, with this, more tailings are generated and most dams will also be larger. The larger the dams are, the greater the chances that, if a failure occurs, that they will be in larger areas. (Milanez, 2016).

Figure 1: Krenak on the Rio Doce bank. Letícia Aleixo (CdH/UFMG).

The operation is accompanied by public power, besides its authorisation and activation deliberated by the State. However, this is different from the mining extraction we see in Brazil. European legislation and jurisprudence on mining tailings are incompatible with the actions of companies in Brazil. For example, the French company Imerys (which operates with the Norwegian company Norsk Hydro) has been functioning for ten years in Brazil with a license under a regime of analysis. According to professor and geologist Luiz Jardim Wanderley from the Fluminense Federal University (UFF), Norsk Hydro has already admitted to not operating its facilities abroad — under the Nordic country's environmental law — because then "it would lose competitiveness in the market" (Wanderley, 2020). Negligence generates unimaginable damage to the population due to pollution and environmental trails that will never be recovered.

The subject is also added to the concept of development from the perspective of indigenous populations. The idea to be kept in mind is how the concept of sustainable development fits in with how the indigenous people think about sustainability and how such a concept would apply to them. The tragic and devastating event is still producing its effects, according to Simone Ferreira, a professor at the Federal University of Espírito Santo, who explains that they affect the lives and the economy of the Krenak indigenous people, as well as the Tupiniquins and Guarani (Ferreira, 2016). In this sense, Brazilian lawyer Luiz Inácio Adams considers that, due to the general worsening of economic indices in the states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo, where these ethnic groups live, the challenges are incalculable (Adams, 2019).

Figure 2: Contamination of Rio Doce. Letícia Aleixo (CdH/UFMG).

The Krenák or Borun constitute the last Botocudos of the East, a name attributed by the Portuguese at the end of the 18th century to groups that used auricular and labial botoques. They are also known as Aimorés, a name given by the Tupi, and as their self-name, Grén or Krén. The so-called Botocudos were subdivided into small groups of 60 to 200 individuals. They had similar cultural characteristics, although the territorial delimitations were well-defined:

The Krenak were one of the Botocudo groups and occupied the Doce River valley. According to Soares (1992) and Paraíso (2002), the formation of the Krenak came about from a split within the Gutkrak group, in the region of the Pancas river, around 1918, on the occasion of the first contacts with the SPI. The organisation had an indigenous attraction post called "Posto Pancas", in the area where the city of Pancas in the state of Espírito Santo is now situated. The SPI's intention was to transform the Pancas Post into a place to which all the indigenous groups in the region should be attracted. (Corrêa, 2013).

Days after the tragic Fundão Dam break in Mariana, the Krenak decided to occupy a stretch of the Vitória-Minas Railroad in protest against the conditions in which they were living (lack of drinking water among the most serious), which was only closed in the afternoon of November 16, as reported on the site of the National Indian Foundation (Funai):

[...] the Krenak indigenous people decided to release the stretch of the Vitória-Minas Railroad that they had occupied since last Friday, in the municipality of Resplendor, Minas Gerais. Vale pledged emergency support to the 126 indigenous families affected by the contamination of the Rio Doce, with the supply of water for human and animal consumption immediately and uninterruptedly, food supplementation for animals, financial support for indigenous families, allocation of resources for health actions, and the acquisition of two small boats. (Funai, 2015).

Figure 3: Children from Krenak community. Ana Luisa Sampaio (CdH/UFMG).

According to the same news report, on the Friday before the meeting, the Krenak indigenous people occupied the tracks of a stretch of the Vitória-Minas Railroad located in the municipality of Resplendor. The movement was in response to the contamination of the river that runs through the indigenous area and, because of the accident, compromised the survival of 126 families (Funai, 2015). The text of Funai also reports that "Krenak leaders have tried exhaustively to negotiate with representatives of Vale and Samarco since the rupture of the dam in Mariana - MG but without success. The immediate need was a drinking water supply" (Funai, 2015).

Based on the news mentioned above and on data made available by the Socio-environmental Institute (ISA), it can be noticed the importance of the Doce River for the survival of the Krenak indigenous people and the initial disregard of those responsible for the disaster on that ethnically differentiated population (ISA, 2018). In addition to immediate physical survival, the Doce River represents the Krenak population as an essential cultural sign and a solid cosmological element. The body of water is known by its indigenous name Uatu and, as teacher Simone Ferreira states, there is a deep identification with the Rio Doce, which goes far beyond the supply of water or fish:

When asked about the quality of the water being supplied to the community by Samarco, one resident showed his indignation: "You don't understand. We are not here talking about the water, whether or not it is good for drinking. We are talking about the Rio Doce" (14/04/2016). For the Krenak people, the Rio Doce is Uatu, the oldest ancestor, a relative always present in everyone's life, who provided its waters for the ritual baptism of children, which is still the main reference for the demarcation of the territory of belonging and shelter. (Ferreira, 2016).

Figure 4: Drawing of a child from the Krenak community. Andressa Martins (CdH/UFMG).

The Doce River's soulful importance for the Krenak people ended by determining how the reparation has been handled through the Transaction and Adjustment of Conduct Agreement (TTAC). This agreement aims to legally model the complex process of river basin restoration and socioeconomic compensation of the affected region. Thus, the lawyer Luiz Inácio Adams recalls that it is more than 600 kilometres between the site of the accident and the last damaged area on the coast of Espírito Santo (Adams, 2019). Recent news by the Brazilian newspaper Brasilde Fato reports damage to the coral bank of the Abrolhos archipelago in Bahia, located 250 km from the mouth of the Rio Doce (Brasil de Fato, 2019).

Compensation for damages

Observed from the judicial point of view, Brazilian lawyer L. I. Adams explains that the Mariana disaster resulted in the filing of a large number of popular actions and individual actions, some proposed by private entities, all seeking to repair and compensate both material and moral harm, as well as the prevention of further damage (Adams, 2019). For the author and graduate of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Marine Mattos, the collapse of the Fundão tailings dam, owned by Samarco Mineração S/A, generated profound damage. Those harmful caused consequences such as the loss of human lives, the destruction of biodiversity, and the affective and material destructuring of families (Mattos, 2017). In the case of the Krenak indigenous people who were directly impacted, as well as the Tupiniquins in the state of Espírito Santo, the damage had an even more deleterious effect, as pointed out by the author Marine Mattos:

In the specific case of the Krenak Indians, the Samarco dam collapse in Mariana is still causing numerous harmful consequences for their culture. Until before the dam burst in November 2015, it was on the banks of the river that they performed their rituals and festivals, baptized their children and took herbs for medicines and material for handicrafts. After having been stained by the mud, they consider that the Doce has died, consequently their cultural manifestations end up being deeply compromised in such a way that they are unlikely to return to their origin. (Mattos, 2017).

Figure 5: Distribution of water to Krenak community. Ana Luisa Sampaio (CdH/UFMG).

The Rio Doce was then elected as a "planning unit" for the environmental damage recovery actions, which could not be restricted only to the water bodies. It was also proposed to eradicate dumps and finance sanitary sewage works (Adams, 2019). Based on reports and studies by Dr. Adams, it was concluded that objective liability belonged not only to Samarco S.A. but also to Vale S.A. because it was found that this company also dumped tailings into the Fundão dam. The lawsuit was filed against both companies on the grounds of strict liability and against Samarco S.A., the foreign company BHP Billiton, as indirectly responsible for the tragedy (Adams, 2019).

In Brazil, the agreement, instrumented through a Transaction and Conduct Adjustment Agreement (TTAC), was finalized in March 2016 — four months after the disaster. The adjustment led to the creation of the Renova Foundation, a non-profit legal entity under private law that aims to manage and operate the resources intended for the agreed reparations, compensations, mitigations, and indemnities. Furthermore, according to the rendering of accounts published by the Renova Foundation in December 2017, 1.233 indigenous families [there was no ethnicity distinction in the publication] were receiving emergency financial assistance, consisting of one minimum wage plus twenty percent per dependent and a basic food basket, totaling on average about R$1,200.00 (Adams, 2019).

Figure 6: Living near the banks of the Rio Doce, the Krenak Indians are among those most affected by the tragedy. Nicoló Lanfranchi, Greepeace.

Situation of indigenous communities

Despite attempts to assimilate and deny indigenous identities, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE, 2010), there are still around 800,000 indigenous people in the country, with their particular cultural, historical, territorial, and worldview. As explained by Antonio Urquiza, a professor at the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, those peoples received the Federal Constitution with hope because, for the first time, the State — while recognizing their diversity — pointed to the recognition of the fundamental rights to territory and development, to the extent that it distinguished the right of indigenous peoples to social organization and both physical and cultural reproduction (Aguilera Urquiza, 2016). Nowadays, ethnodevelopment is present: indigenous peoples are already being considered in the context of the Brazilian federal government's multi-year development plans. As we understand it, part of the tutelary heritage remains to the extent that the so-called development among indigenous peoples depends intrinsically on promoting public resources. The autonomous and self-managed initiatives that lack this expedient are rare.

In any case, it is necessary to consider how the concept and the economic practice referred to development affects and impacts indigenous peoples. Moreover, we must bear in mind the responsibility of companies — and the States in their regulatory, supervisory mission — towards the sustainability of business and production practices. The right to development is a third-generation human right, as argued by Vladimir Oliveira da Silveira, a postdoctoral fellow at the Federal University of Santa Catarina. In this sense, it is not challenging to harbour other ways of considering development than the one dictated by Western society and culture (Silveira and Sanches, 2017). In the case at hand, Renata Fernandes, a research fellow at CETEM/MCTIC, states that mining companies have a massive responsibility for the environmental heritage since it is an intense activity in Brazilian soil, being the country one of the largest producers and exporters of ores in the world (Fernandes, 2014).

Figure 7: The family of Dalva Luisa Viana, of the indigenous Krenak people, who lost the only source of water they had available and a river sacred to their culture. Todd Southgate, Greenpeace.

Conclusion

In the case of excavations, the adverse environmental effects of mineral extraction (excavation and mining prospecting) are associated with the various stages of the exploitation of mineral assets: from mining to transportation and ore processing. In this sense, Renata Fernandes states that the populations established in the mined area and its surroundings are expected to be affected by their way and quality of life (Fernandes, 2014). In the case of the Mariana disaster, the requirement that part of the profits from the business activity is used to meet long-term social rights is all the more justified, especially since it involves direct and indirect liability for damages effectively caused so that the redistribution of wealth among those affected and the human development of those populations should be considered as goals to respect human rights.

In the case of the indigenous peoples impacted, especially the Krenak, the responsibility of the mining companies goes beyond the simple reparatory aspect to become a case of the need to restore violated human rights, insofar as the contamination and the impracticability, even temporarily, of the Doce or Uatú River compromises the very physical and spiritual existence of that population. The reparation is imposed from any angle that may be observed, with particular concern that such companies begin to observe with more acuity the way of life of these populations to, inclusively, incorporate in their effective practices the vision of development these possess.

Bibliographical References

AGUILERA URQUIZA, A. H. Anthropology and history of indigenous peoples in Mato Grosso do Sul. Campo Grande: UFMS, 2016.

Adams, L. I. L.. Getting out of the mud: concerted inter-federal action as the best alternative for solving the problems arising from the Mariana disaster. Belo Horizonte: Fórum, 2019.

Ferreira, S. R. B. Marks of the coloniality of power in the conflict between Samarco, the native peoples and traditional communities of the Rio Doce, 2016.

Fernandes, F. R. C.; Alamino, R. C. J.; Araujo, E. (Eds.). Mineral resources and community: human, socio-environmental and economic impacts. Rio de Janeiro: CETEM/MCTI, 2014.

Funai – National Indian Foundation. Krenak people evacuate railroad from Vitória to Minas. News, 17 nov. 2015. Available at: https://www.gov.br/funai/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/2015/povo-krenak-desocupa-estrada-de-ferro-vitoria-a-minas

Instituto Socioambiental (ISA). Available at: https://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/Povo:Krenak

Samarco's toxic mud has contaminated corals in the Abrolhos archipelago, in Brazil, Bahia. Brasil de Fato, 20 feb 2019. Available at: https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2019/02/20/lama-toxica-da-samarco-contaminou-corais-do-arquipelago-de-abrolhos-litoral-da-bahia#:~:text=Para%20al%C3%A9m%20do%20Esp%C3%ADrito%20Santo,pelos%20rejeitos%20do%20cons%C3%B3rcio%20Samarco.

Mattos, M. L. O.; Mattos, N. O. Urbanization in indigenous lands: the impact of urban expansion in the Mid Rio Doce and Ethnic Genocide,, 2017, Belo Horizonte.

Milanez, B.; Losekann, C. (Orgs.) Disaster in the Rio Doce Valley: background, impacts and actions on the destruction. Rio de Janeiro, 2016.

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Wanderley, Luiz. Mining Conflicts in Brazil in 2020. Brasil, Agosto de 2021.

Visual Sources