A 10-year-old girl is shorter and thinner than her younger sister, 8. Another child, aged 12, has a crooked spine. A four-year-old boy who should already be walking lives on his mother's chest, still crawls and doesn't speak a word.
These are cases of children from the Munduruku ethnic group in the Sawré Muybu territory, near the municipality of Itaituba in Pará, Brazil, who present with serious developmental problems. The main cause, according to physicians, is the contamination of the soil, water, and fish by mercury used in illegal mining.
Since 2018, illegal mining in Munduruku Indigenous lands in the southwest of the state has exploded. According to a survey by Greenpeace Brazil, the area affected by mining grew from 1,399 hectares in 2018 to 7,095 by December 2023.
In addition to mining in Indigenous areas, which is prohibited, mining activity in "legal" areas also brings consequences to the population, as contamination of the river does not distinguish between Indigenous territories or other land.
The color of the Jamanxim River, one of the main tributaries on the right bank of the Tapajós River, resembles "coffee with milk," as the Indigenous people themselves classify it.
"I remember when I was little, the water was green. Now, it looks like milk," says Iris Saw Munduruku, 24, with a one-year-old toddler in her lap. She is the mother of two other children.
Read the full story.
This story was produced with support from Earth Journalism Network. It was first published in Folha de São Paulo on July 6, 2024. It has been translated lightly edited for length and clarity.
Banner image: Iris Saw Munduruku and her daughter Akay Buray Munduruku, from the Sawre Aboy village, in the Sawré Muybu Indigenous Land, of the Munduruku ethnic group, which is in the municipality of Trairão, in the southwest of Pará / Credit: Ana Bottallo.
Ana Bottallo Quadros
