The Amazon rainforest is home to at least 10% of the world’s biodiversity and is increasingly under threat from extractive industries such as mining and fossil fuels.
This year, the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) known as COP15 was held in Montreal, Canada. The country is known as a haven for mining corporations because of its policies and financial incentives that promote the proliferation of mining corporations across the Amazon – despite the environmental and human rights impacts. This history was the reason behind Amazon Watch accompanying a concerted delegation of Brazilian leaders who have faced or could face the impacts of mining in their territories.
Indigenous communities are uniquely qualified to speak on the intersections between mining and biodiversity: Indigenous lands make up around 20% of the Earth’s territory, containing 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity, requiring Indigenous peoples to be at the forefront of all decision-making regarding any global climate commitments.
“Standing in Belo Sun’s way is Amazon Watch, an Oakland, Calif.-based nonprofit with an established track record of pushing international miners out of Indigenous territory in South America by deploying a range of tactics.”
Financial Post
In the lead-up to COP15, we launched The Risks of Investing in Belo Sun, a new report exposing the Canadian company whose current Volta Grande Project (VGP) in the Brazilian Amazon threatens the already fragile Xingu River Basin, one of the areas with the greatest biodiversity on Earth. The project could have devastating effects on surrounding communities and climate stability not just in the Amazon region, but the entire planet.
Belo Sun declines comment to Financial Post on lack of consent process
“We didn’t realize they were here carrying out studies,” shared Bel Juruna, from the Juruna people whose territories overlap with Pará. “The environmental study is not a consultation process.” Bel said she doubts her community will be able to continue living in the region if Belo Sun goes through with the construction of the mine. “I ask you to be aware that Belo Sun would be a total extermination for my people, and we wouldn’t have a future,” Bel said. There is little doubt in Bel’s mind about what happens to her community if the mine is developed, which she probably would have shared with Belo Sun if it had asked.”
Amazon Watch was very successful at communicating the risks during COP15 to delegates, international press, and potential investors. In fact, Belo Sun’s share prices have dropped precipitously following protests and advocacy from activists and Indigenous leaders at the summit. Belo Sun’s stock price has fallen over 50% since the release of the risk assessment and reporting on Indigenous opposition, and currently sits at under USD$0.06 per share.
We’re leaving Montreal having succeeded in our goals to launch the second phase of a successful campaign against Belo Sun. The massive amount of positive feedback we got from Canadian civil society, Canadian press, and other allies in Montreal has amplified the threats of the mining company, sent a clear message to the entire industry, and also increased the profile of the Indigenous leaders we accompanied. Our efforts were extremely effective at informing COP15 delegates, and the press – Belo Sun is too risky an investment for investors due to the threats is poses to Indigenous peoples and biodiversity.” Our efforts sent a clear signal to those corporations hell bent on destroying the Amazon for profit – Indigenous peoples will continue to push back until their rights are respected and lands protected.
Biodiversity is under threat from a range of industrial activities such as the over-exploitation of extractive industries – like the case of the mining company Belo Sun. Nations that have signed the Paris Agreement came together to build a master text of goals and targets, known as the Global Framework for Biodiversity Post-2020 (GFB), which aims to address these threats and ensure that biodiversity is conserved and protected for future generations. It is an important agreement that serves as a checklist for accountability. While the world has taken baby steps to address climate change, none of the commitments from the last biodiversity text were accomplished.
Indigenous peoples are the best protectors and preservers of biodiversity. We cannot possibly talk about biodiversity without them – at least not successfully. However, the general perception inside COP15 was that Amazonian country delegates (such as representatives from Peru, Colombia, Brazil, and Ecuador) were not listening to the demands of Indigenous peoples. For that reason, we decided to advocate for more Indigenous participation in the internal discussions at COP15, as well as push for the inclusion of the respect and protection of Indigenous rights in the final text of the Global Framework for Biodiversity Post-2020.
The adoption of this Framework will provide four goals for 2050 and 22 targets for 2030. For the purpose of Amazon protection and the full recognition and respect of Indigenous rights we identified a few key moments as advocacy opportunities:
- Target 3, known as 30×30. This target refers to the protection of 30% of important areas by 2030. To date (December 13) there are two categories considered important areas: protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures. Indigenous representatives inside COP15 worked day and night to have Indigenous territories recognized as a separate category of equal importance.
- Target 15. This target is extremely important because, if approved, will encourage transnational companies and financial institutions to monitor, assess, and fully and transparently disclose their impacts on biodiversity along their operations, supply and value chains, and portfolios. While most of this text is currently under negotiation, it could be used in the future as an instrument for our Indigenous partners impacted by Canadian mining companies – such as Belo Sun – for the biodiversity impacts of their operations in countries such as Brazil.
During our time at COP15, we confronted the big lobbying of extractive industries, such as mining, oil companies, and agribusiness. Financial institutions and businesses were constantly approaching delegations to push their false solutions and carbon market profit schemes. One of them was a new public relations push known as “Nature Positive”– a term that has no goals or measures for accountability. We consider that our participation in these inside spaces was extremely timely and important to bring the Indigenous perspectives to the delegations and amplify their voices.
Since the negotiations will end on December 19, we call on states to include an explicit reference to the respect of Indigenous rights and the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples in each relevant target. We are still hopeful.
Several organizations have reached out to Amazon Watch over the last few days asking to follow up and collaborate long-term so that the panel and our presence in Montreal can reach beyond this Biodiversity COP. We’re leaving with new relationships and allies, full of opportunities. People are deeply interested in understanding more about how Canadian mining is threatening the Amazon, its biodiversity, and its guardians, and are very excited to keep connected in future campaigns to end mining in the Amazon.
Mining and extractive activities are incompatible with biodiversity protection in the Amazon, especially when they threaten Indigenous lives, livelihoods, and culture. The industries and governments complicit in the destruction of the Amazon are at a vital turning point. They must name Indigenous peoples throughout the goals for the next decade by the end of COP15 or we will all face the consequences. We leave this COP with this larger message and one specifically for Belo Sun: Your company’s stock might be dropping and maybe it’s the end of this version of Belo Sun, but we are just getting started! Together we will kick mining and its financiers out of the Amazon!
