WBO debates concerns about international action in the Amazon in the U.S. Congress
WBO Press Release
May 9 2024
The Washington Brazil Office (WBO) is promoting an event in the US Congress on May 14 called “Brazilian Amazon: Bilateral Cooperation in Times of Crisis.”
The session runs at the Congressional Auditorium & Atrium Capitol Visitor Center (CVC 200) from 2 pm to 3:30 pm (local time) and includes the screening of a short film and a space for questions and answers with participation open to congressional representatives, senators, aides, and technical teams, as well as the press and the public. Congressional Auditorium & Atrium at the
The intention of the event is to reflect on the role that the US Congress can have in formulating and enforcing U.S. legislation regarding the possible relations between private companies in that country and the mining industry involved in the exploitation of resources that causes harmful consequences for Brazilian Indigenous peoples.
“World leaders and legislators must strive to find forms of interparliamentary cooperation to ensure the proper preparation and implementation of their environmental and trade legislation within the framework of the global climate crisis,” says Juliana de Moraes Pinheiro, the WBO coordinator of the Socio-Environmental and Just Transition Program, that was responsible for conceiving and helping organize the session in the U.S. Congress.
She will also coordinate a debate that will feature the participation of Célia Xakriabá (by video), anthropologist and Indigenous activist from the Xakriabá community in Minas Gerais, Brazil, who made history in 2022 by becoming the first indigenous woman to be elected congresswoman representing Minas Gerais, winning 101,078 votes; Txai Surui (by video), a Brazilian indigenous environmental activist, winner of the Primetime Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Cinema for the film O Território (The Territory), about the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau Indigenous people in Brazil; Caetano Scannavino (in person), social entrepreneur and coordinator of the NGO Projeto Saúde & Alegria; and Daniel Brindis (in person), a forestry activist who serves as deputy campaign director for Canopy Planet. Technical advisors for the Natural Resources Commission and the Brazilian Caucus of the US Congress will also be attending the event.
At the heart of the issue is the situation of the Yanomami territory, an area of 9.6 million hectares, which corresponds to twice the size of Switzerland, constituting the largest Indigenous territory in tropical forests anywhere in the world, where 16,000 Indigenous people live. Since 2018, the region has been recording alarming mortality rates, linked to illegal mining. Moreover, in 2022, at least 99 Yanomami children died from preventable diseases and annual cases of malaria more than doubled.
“We need to know whether U.S. private corporations play a role in the illegal mining chain in the Amazon and what can be done so that the US government expands legislation to effectively cooperate with sustainable practices and regulations around the world”, said Juliana de Moraes Pinheiro.
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