Boa Vista, Brazil: The Yanomami people of Brazil's Amazon rainforest are being wiped out by severe malnutrition and illness, particularly malaria, and on January 20, the federal government declared a public health emergency. However, those who are familiar with the Yanomami's circumstances, who have been issuing warnings for several years, weren't surprised by the catastrophe, and many in Brazil were left wondering how the catastrophe could manifest seemingly overnight.

Who are the YANOMAMI?

In the northwest of Brazil's Amazon, across the states of Roraima and Amazonas, is the largest indigenous territory in the country, home to an estimated 30,000 Yanomami people. This territory spans an area roughly the size of Portugal. South Venezuela is home to some as well. They hunt, gather, fish, and grow crops in sizable gardens made possible by the clearing of the forest in order to feed themselves. The Yanomami relocate from one location to another every few years, allowing the soil to repopulate.

What is causing the crisis?

In Yanomami territory, illegal gold miners first appeared in the 1980s before being largely driven out. Recent years have seen a large influx of them return, drawn in by rising gold prices and encouraged by former President Jair Bolsonaro. During Bolsonaro's presidency, estimates from environmental and indigenous rights organizations put their numbers at 20,000.

Miners occupy fertile land that the Yanomami use for farming and destroy the habitat of the animals that the Yanomami hunt. The Yanomami rely on the rivers for fish, but the miners also process ore with mercury, poisoning the rivers. Mining produces stagnant water pools where disease-carrying mosquitoes can breed. And because they have little exposure to outsiders, the native population has low immunity, which is spread by miners moving to new areas to exploit them.

Geographer and researcher Estêvo Senra of the environmental and Indigenous rights non-profit Instituto Socioambiental said, "The impacts accumulate." If (the Yanomami) are ill, they miss the ideal opportunity to establish a new farming area, endangering their future.

Source: AP News