As vehicle electrification, renewable energy and digitalization are pushed to ensure the ecological transition, the extraction of minerals like lithium becomes essential to fuel demand growth. But at what cost for the populations of the Global South? Indigenous populations see their way of life, even their survival, threatened by the establishment or expansion of sites that encroach and destroy their territory. At the end of September, South American activists fighting against mining projects were in Paris, at CCFD-Terre solidaire, as part of a European “caravan” intended to alert us to the dangers of a race for extraction. . Testimonials.
Decarbonizing our industries, our Western lifestyles and drastically reducing our greenhouse gas emissions is not an option. But this should not be done in just any social conditions. However, in Bolivia, Peru, Brazil and elsewhere, the extraction of minerals that we use for the batteries of our electric vehicles, our cell phones or wind turbines dangerously affects the lives of indigenous populations. In 2023 alone, 276 cases of invasions, illegal exploitation of natural resources and various material damage were recorded in at least 202 indigenous territories in 22 Brazilian states, reports a study by CIMI (Missionary Council for Peoples). indigenous).
Indigenous populations and territories threatened by mining activity
In Brazil, in the region of Minas Gerais, speeches on a “green industrialization” nourished by the “lithium valley” have a bitter taste. In the country’s largest biome, rivers are polluted by mining activity. “We are obliged to be supplied with drinking water because the water in our territory is now unclean. And we barely have any left. While we have been experiencing a drought for 8 months, water is pumped by a mining company which consumes 108 million liters of water per month. This is the equivalent of supplying thousands of families”says Ytaxaha Braz Pankararu, whose village is located 8 kilometers from the mine. “To this must be added explosions and incessant noise caused by the exploitation of the mine”she specifies. “What is the cost of this development policy? For us it is a violation of our bodies, of our autonomy, of our future”she warns.
Thousands of kilometers away, in Peru, the same pattern is reproduced in Quechua territory. Vito Caldéron explains that of the 13 rivers that reach Lake Titicaca, 9 are now polluted by the mining industry, one of the most economically important in the country. “Of the region’s million inhabitants, 58% are exposed to heavy metals from a very young age: heavy metals have been found in the urine of children aged 3 to 5 years old,” he reports. And the activist fears “environmental disaster” in the coming years. Because the fragile ecosystem of the region is threatened. Since 2017, a significant deposit of lithium and uranium discovered in the Andean region of Puno, near Bolivia, by Macusani Yellowcake, a subsidiary of a Canadian company, has aroused desire. However, it threatens Quelccaya, the largest tropical glacier in the world, considered a “global warming thermometer”and the sources of the Inambari, Urubamba and Azángaro basins, which would threaten the populations’ right to water.
In the report “The face of lithium and uranium in Puno: culture, health, community rights and the environment in danger” published in 2023, the NGOs EarthRights International (ERI) and Human Rights and Environment ( DHUMA) warn of the multiple risks of these projects weighing on indigenous communities. From a health point of view, firstly, they are threatened by exposure to high levels of radioactivity. Then cultural threats since the new projects endanger a vast area where there are rock paintings and the preservation of the archaeological site of Corani and Macusani, declared cultural heritage of the nation in 2005.
The rights of indigenous populations violated
Each time, however, the populations report a glaring lack of consultation. In the North of Brazil, in the state of Maranhão, railways are multiplying as the region’s industrialization progresses without the affected indigenous and quilombola populations being associated with the projects. “This is the third railway project in 10 years that has passed through our territory, this translates very concretely into deforestation and the loss of our land for farming and hunting. 89% of our territory will soon be occupied. We don’t care about being rich, what we want is to keep our forests. Indigenous lands are almost the only ones where forest remains now. But no one cares, reports Railson Guajajara, the leader of the Caru indigenous land in the Maranhão region.
In fact, many indigenous territories are still not recognized as such in Brazil. “This makes them invisible in terms of law, public policy or justice,” such as respecting Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) on consultation with indigenous peoples, explains Christian Crevel of the CIMI.
The demonstrations are increasingly repressed and defused. In an action against the Vale mining company for which the railways are built, “Eviction orders have been sent before we even get there« , souligne Railson Guajajara. “Under the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, I was imprisoned for fighting against gold mining. Others died, murdered, for fighting for their land”he testifies. In Brazil, as elsewhere in Latin America, it is not good to be an environmental activist. Murders against them are increasing, as shown by reports from the NGO Global Witness. And when it doesn’t go that far, “we are threatened, discredited, made invisible. We are called liars but it is the CSR and compensation speeches that are lies”assure Ytaxaha Braz Pankararu.
So when companies, governments or Brussels talk to them about “energy transition” or “green and responsible industry”the activists laugh. “Our southern territories are just being exploited to ensure large-scale natural resources for your transition to the North. This doesn’t make sense. It is neither sustainable nor sustainable, I assure you,” claims Vito Calderon.
Illustration: Community of Quelccaya in Peru (Puno)
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