47 SP - ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME IN THE AMAZON BASIN: Instituto Igarapé

Page created by Raul Mcbride
 
CONTINUE READING
47 SP - ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME IN THE AMAZON BASIN: Instituto Igarapé
IGARAPÉ INSTITUTE
                        a think and do tank

SP
47
   STRATEGIC PAPER 47
   AUGUST 2020

ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME
IN THE AMAZON BASIN:
A Typology for Research, Policy and Action
Adriana Abdenur, Brodie Ferguson, Ilona Szabo de Carvalho, Melina Risso and Robert Muggah
47 SP - ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME IN THE AMAZON BASIN: Instituto Igarapé
Index
           Abstract ���������������������������������������������������������� 1

           Introduction������������������������������������������������������ 2

           Threats to the Amazon Basin���������������������������� 3

           Typology of environmental crime����������������������� 9

           Conclusions���������������������������������������������������� 16

           References����������������������������������������������������� 17

           Annex 1: Dimensions of Illegality��������������������� 17

Cover photo: Wilson Dias/Agência Brasil
IGARAPÉ INSTITUTE | STRATEGIC PAPER 47 | AUGUST 2020

ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME
IN THE AMAZON BASIN:
A Typology for Research, Policy and Action

            Igarape Institute1

            Abstract
            There is considerable conceptual and practical ambiguity around the
            dimensions and drivers of environmental crime in the Amazon Basin.
            Some issues, such as deforestation, have featured prominently in
            the news media as well as in academic and policy research. Yet, the
            literature is less developed in relation to other environmental crimes
            such as land invasion, small-scale clearance for agriculture and
            ranching, illegal mining, illegal wildlife trafficking, and the construction of
            informal roads and infrastructure that support these and other unlawful
            activities. Drawing on a multi-disciplinary review of the literature and
            key informant interviews, this paper introduces a preliminary typology
            intended to account for the diverse categories of environmental crime
            and their extensive impacts across the countries of the Amazon basin.
            The aim is to provide a general framework that helps advance future
            research on these issues, while simultaneously providing greater clarity
            to policy makers, law enforcement agencies, civil society actors, and
            companies interested in curbing environmental crime.

            1 The contributors to this paper include Adriana Abdenur, Brodie Ferguson, Ilona Szabo de Carvalho,
            Melina Risso, and Robert Muggah. Credit is also due to several expert reviewers including Camilla Aguiar,
            Daniel Rico, Izabella Teixeira, Gabriela Cabral, Natalie Unterstell, Rafael Benke, Steven Dudley, and Stewart
            Davyth.

                                                                                                                            1
ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME IN THE AMAZON BASIN: A Typology for Research, Policy and Action

     Introduction                                                               Still missing from the debate on environmental
                                                                                crime is a general framework or typology
                                                                                that accommodates the vast array of
                                                                                human activities causing extensive socio
     The Amazon basin is at risk. In Brazil, after                              environmental harm. Such a framework
     nearly a decade of decelerating deforestation                              is important not only in guiding future
     during the mid-2000s and early 2010s, the                                  research on this topic, but also in providing
     rate of forest clearance and degradation has                               conceptual clarity to policy makers, law
     surged once again. The Brazilian National                                  enforcement agencies, civil society actors,
     Institute of Space Studies (INPE) reported an                              and private groups committed to curbing the
     85 percent increase in deforestation in the                                environmental and societal harms underway
     Amazon from 2018 to 2019, and by mid-                                      in the Amazon basin. By clarifying discrete
     2020, deforestation had already risen a further                            categories of environmental crime, scholars,
     34 percent over 2019 levels. Government                                    policy-makers and practitioners can better
     authorities in countries such as Brazil, Bolivia,                          distinguish the differences, similarities, and
     Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname                                  interconnections between activities and actors
     and Venezuela often explain the phenomenon                                 contributing to widespread damage in the
     as resulting from individuals and small-                                   region. In turn, such an exercise can help
     scale actors pursuing livelihood strategies.                               advance applied research and the design
     However, extensive research by environmental                               of more effective responses for curbing and
     campaigners2 has shown that environmental                                  preventing environmental crime.
     degradation in the region is more often the
     result of well-organized activities carried out by
     a wide variety of actors, both legal and illegal,                          This paper proposes a preliminary framework
     at multiple scales.                                                        to understand the scope and scale of
                                                                                environmental crime in the Amazon basin. First,
                                                                                it provides a review of the state of deforestation
     There are several ways in which different types                            across the Amazon basin including the
     of illegal or illicit human activities lead to vast                        principle drivers and key responses from a
     socio-environmental harm in the Amazon.                                    wide range of actors. Second, the paper
     Yet despite decades of study, the knowledge                                proposes a typology of the main categories
     base is fragmented and dispersed. For the                                  of environmental crime that contribute to
     most part, research has focused on specific                                widespread socio-environmental damage in
     modalities such as land invasion, clearing                                 the region. Finally, the paper reviews several
     of forest for agriculture and ranching, illegal                            potential applications for the typology, both
     mining, illegal wildlife trafficking in isolation of                       for research purposes and for enhancing
     one another. There has been no clear effort                                environmental law enforcement in the Amazon.
     to adopt a comprehensive approach that                                     The typology will be used to guide a multi-year
     accounts for multiple forms of environmental                               environment crime mapping project overseen
     crime. As a result, knowledge about the                                    by the Igarape Institute and partners such as
     drivers, the dynamics, and the impacts of the                              Interpol and InSight Crime.
     activities driving deforestation in the Amazon
     across multiple domains remains fragmented
     and often unavailable to researchers and
     decision-makers.

     2   See, for example, https://imazon.org.br/en/slide/environmental-laws/ and Rajao et al (2020).

2
IGARAPÉ INSTITUTE | STRATEGIC PAPER 47 | AUGUST 2020

Threats to the                                     overseas territory of France. Although parts of
                                                   the basin remain heavily forested, the region
                                                   also includes major cities as well as smaller

Amazon Basin                                       towns and scattered settlements. Overall, the
                                                   basin has an estimated population of 34 million
                                                   (WWF 2020).
Despite having been populated by indigenous
communities for thousands of years --              However, the Amazon is also the site of
communities that deeply affected the rainforest    unmatched deforestation and degradation.
ecology -- the Amazon Basin has historically       According to some estimates, more than a
been viewed by government leaders and              quarter of the Amazon biome will be without
policymakers as a vast, empty space whose          trees by 2030 if the current rate of deforestation
development requires encouraging people            persists (WWF 2020). This scenario is alarming
to settle the land, and clearing it of original    not only due to the vast socio-environmental
vegetation (Becker 1991). As a result, there       impact caused by deforestation, but also
is a long history of systematic environmental      because of the resulting greenhouse gas
destruction in the region -- as well as            emissions from deforestation and associated
socioeconomic harm -- that dates back              activities, such as forest fires. In 2019, satellites
to the colonial era. This legacy extended          that detect heat signatures in Brazil issued
to the establishment of political borders          more than 109,000 fire alerts in the single
in the nineteenth century and the rubber           week from August 13-20, representing a
boom of the 1900s, and multiple waves of           nearly two-fold increase in fires over the prior
urbanization. More systematic occupation           year. Such wildfires released an estimated 392
and forest clearing intensified starting in the    million metric tons of carbon dioxide in Brazil
mid-twentieth century with the construction        in 2019 alone (Davidson 2020). Activities such
of major infrastructure projects, such as          as urbanization and waste generation are
roads, bridges, and hydropower dams. Over          likewise important drivers of observed methane
the past twenty years, the expansion of the        emissions in the Amazon. As a result, the
agribusiness frontier into the Amazon has          rainforest is now believed to be releasing more
created new pressures on the environment and       carbon than it absorbs.
local communities.
                                                   Although Amazon deforestation rates
Deforestation and forest                           decreased over the past decade, there
                                                   has been an especially sharp uptick in
degradation                                        deforestation rates in recent years, with
                                                   sharp increases in both 2019 and 2020. With
Covering over 670 million hectares, the            the largest share of the basin in its territory,
Amazon basin encompasses the largest               Brazil is responsible for approximately half of
rainforest in the world -- more than 40% of all    the deforestation in the region. In 2019, for
such vegetation -- and is the source of 20%        example, Brazil lost at least 770,000 hectares
of the global water supply. It supports multiple   (the equivalent of 12,187 square kilometers) of
ecosystems and houses at least 10% of the          native vegetation in the Amazon (MapBiomas
planet’s known biodiversity. It is also one of     2020). Andean countries -- especially Bolivia
the biggest carbon sinks; some 90-140 billion      and Peru -- have also registered a significant
metric tons of carbon are stored in Amazon         rise in their rates of deforestation, especially in
rainforests. The region encompasses parts          their forested Amazonian regions.
of eight countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia,
Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and
Venezuela, plus French Guyana, which is an

                                                                                                              3
ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME IN THE AMAZON BASIN: A Typology for Research, Policy and Action

     Deforestation continues to be a major concern                      Socio-environmental
     elsewhere in the region. Colombia experienced a
     surge in deforestation following the signing of the                impacts of human activity
     2016 peace agreement between the Colombian
     government and the Revolutionary Armed                             The destruction of the Amazon biome has
     Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla. Specialists                   widespread consequences, not only for local
     have argued that, during the conflict, the FARC                    communities but also -- due to the importance
     controlled many of the country’s protected areas,                  of the rainforest to the climate system -- more
     and that their presence in those places served                     broadly for South America and beyond (see
     as a deterrent to deforestation -- a barrier to                    Makhijani 2019, Salles and Esteves 2019).
     natural resource extraction that was lifted once                   Deforestation causes changes to the region’s
     the peace deal was struck (Prem, Saavedra and                      water cycle in ways that are associated
     Vargas 2020). Peru experienced record levels of                    with increased floods and droughts (Souza
     deforestation with the expansion of illegal gold                   et al 2019). In addition to greenhouse gas
     mining in its Amazon provinces (MAAP 2019).                        emissions, deforestation can lead to loss
     Illegal extraction is also believed to be driving                  of nutrients in the soil that derive from the
     deforestation in Venezuela, although reliable data                 breakdown of tree leaves, as well as increased
     are not consistently available (Romero 2019).                      flooding due to inadequate water absorption
                                                                        by trees. Biodiversity is also affected in
                                                                        significant ways. The number of species
     Most deforestation hotspots in the Amazon
                                                                        drops precipitously, and the entire ecosystem
     basin cluster in places where infrastructure is
                                                                        is affected. According to one study, the
     built, especially near large transport corridors
                                                                        combined effects of climate and deforestation
     (such as the massive BR-230, known as
                                                                        could cause a drop of up to 58% in Amazon
     Transamazônica, which was inaugurated in the
                                                                        tree species richness (Gomes, Vieira, Salomão
     1970s) that allow access into areas that were
                                                                        and Steege 2019). Even “selective logging,”
     previously off-limits due to dense vegetation and
                                                                        through which a relatively small number of
     remoteness. Deforestation is also rife around
                                                                        trees is felled, negatively impacts a broad
     major energy projects such as hydroelectric
                                                                        gamut of Amazon species, including insects
     dams and reservoirs (Barber et al 2014). There
                                                                        (França et al 2017).
     are literally hundreds of dams across Brazil,
     including 80 large structures developed over
     the past half century. Especially since the early                  The economic costs of this destruction
     2000s, however, as Brazil’s agribusiness frontier                  are considerable. According to a study by
     shifted north, the Amazon basin has seen a rise                    economists and agricultural engineers, Amazon
     in deforestation related to cattle ranching and                    deforestation would lead to a fall in rainwater
     agriculture (IBGE 2015).                                           and agricultural losses of USD$422 million,
                                                                        as well as other social and economic losses
                                                                        resulting in as much as a USD$3.5 trillion loss
     Recent reports indicate that deforestation rates
                                                                        over thirty years. Conversely, the economic
     in the Amazon basin are increasing within the
                                                                        benefit of leaving the Amazon rainforest in its
     context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as groups
                                                                        2019 state would be USD$8.2 billion annually
     and criminal networks feel emboldened by the
                                                                        (Strand et al 2018). These figures indicate that
     lack of state attention and official discourses
                                                                        long-term costs far outweigh the short-term
     promoting land invasions in the Amazon
                                                                        benefits that may accrue from deforestation.
     (Kimbrough, 2019). In turn, deforestation
                                                                        There is, in fact, very little medium to long-term
     facilitates the spread of the pandemic in the
                                                                        economic benefit from continued deforestation.
     region as more groups move deeper into forested
     areas, some of them carrying the disease and
     exposing vulnerable local populations, including
     indigenous communities and other traditional
     forest peoples (ISA 2020).

4
IGARAPÉ INSTITUTE | STRATEGIC PAPER 47 | AUGUST 2020

Amazon deforestation affects livelihoods                The environmental criminals
and income-generation activities, especially
for traditional peoples of the forest, such as
                                                        While not all environmentally harmful activities,
indigenous, quilombola (Afro-descendant),
                                                        including deforestation, are illegal, the vast
and fishing communities along the rivers of
                                                        majority of the tree-cutting taking place in
the basin. Tree felling negatively impacts soil
                                                        the Amazon is carried out illegally. A 2020
nutrition, damaging local agricultural practices,
                                                        report indicates that as much as 99 percent
and pollution and contamination affect fishing
                                                        of deforestation in Brazil results from illegal
catches, also enhancing food insecurity (Tregidgo
                                                        activities (MapBiomas 2020). The legal status
et al 2020). Deforestation causes negative
                                                        of a particular activity depends on the legal
health impacts, including the emergence and
                                                        definitions of what constitutes environmental
re-emergence of human infectious diseases,
                                                        crime, and this varies across countries. In
such as malaria, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow
                                                        Colombia, for instance, land grabbing is
fever, even as increased malnutrition makes local
                                                        considered an environmental crime, whereas
populations less resilient to disease (Ellwanger,
                                                        in Brazil it is a crime against property, albeit
2020). In illegal mining hotspots, mercury levels
                                                        one that typically entails environmental crimes
are extremely high not only among fish and
                                                        such as illegal deforestation (Orozco 2015).
other animal species, but also within the human
                                                        This means, among other things, that penalties
population (Gonzalez, Arain and Fernandez 2019).
                                                        range from small fines to imprisonment. Yet
Where explosives, machinery and dredging boats
                                                        owing to weak enforcement, the vast majority
are used for illegal mining, these activities cause
                                                        of penalties are ignored (Insight Crime 2020).
lasting damage to riverbeds, with consequences
for the health and livelihoods of communities even
hundreds of kilometers downriver (RAISG 2014).          The legal status of human activities in the
                                                        Amazon basin can also change over time.
                                                        An activity that was legal five years ago can
Human activities entailing widespread
                                                        become an illegal activity when a law or decree
environmental destruction in the Amazon also
                                                        is passed, and vice versa. This is the case with
generate social tension, crime and violence.
                                                        land grabbing in Brazil, which is often practiced
Many environmental crimes fuel other types of
                                                        with a sense of impunity owing to the repeated
criminal activities, such as arms trafficking, people
                                                        amnesties that have been granted to offenders
smuggling, child slavery, and sexual exploitation
                                                        (Brito and Barreto 2020). In some places, there
and forced prostitution (Watts 2017). There is also
                                                        is also great ambiguity in the legal status of
a strong association of violent crime, including
                                                        certain activities, some of which are deemed
homicides, with areas where environmental
                                                        to be “irregular” (for instance, a legalized gold
crimes and deforestation are rampant. Many of
                                                        digging cooperative whose license has expired)
the most violent cities in Latin America, including
                                                        -- a legal limbo that reflects the sometimes fluid
Altamira and Novo Progresso (both in the
                                                        categorization of such activities in the region.
Brazilian state of Pará, a major environmental
                                                        Disputes over these legal boundaries are at the
crime hotspot), are economies largely based
                                                        heart of many major political struggles in and
on environmental crime. These activities are
                                                        over the Amazon, including recent efforts by
also strongly associated with violent attacks on
                                                        the government of Jair Bolsonaro to legalize
environmental defenders (Human Rights Watch
                                                        gold digging (Fernandes and Uribe 2020).
2019, Muggah and Franciotti 2019, Global
Witness 2018). Disputes over natural resources
may also fuel armed conflict in the Amazon, such        There are also distinctions in the legality of
those involving Colombian guerrilla groups or           actors involved in these activities, and complex
Venezuelan networks (Rendon 2020).                      ways in which legal and illegal actors are
                                                        intertwined. In many areas of the Amazon,
                                                        criminal networks -- groups of individuals

                                                                                                                  5
ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME IN THE AMAZON BASIN: A Typology for Research, Policy and Action

     who organize themselves and specialize in                         glaring in border areas, small towns and
     one or more of these activities -- finance,                       settlements in the interior, as well as in the
     organize, and execute actions that lead to                        marginalized peripheries of large Amazon cities.
     widespread socio-environmental damage.                            However, the extent of socio-environmental
     They are frequently financed with resources                       damage across much of the Amazon in
     generated through legal businesses, and their                     recent decades is not simply the result of the
     actions are facilitated by corrupt government                     historically weak presence of the state. In fact,
     officials, including law enforcement actors,                      much deforestation in the Amazon has been
     notary clerks, and politicians (Human Rights                      proactively encouraged by the state in order to
     Watch 2019). The proceedings from these                           incorporate forested areas, and their inhabitants,
     activities are typically laundered, whether                       into the extractivist economic model. This vision
     locally or abroad, through a variety of methods                   of the Amazon as a vast empty land that must
     that range from purchase of farms to mixing                       be occupied in order to be developed, and that
     of illegally sourced gold with legally extracted                  posits a hard dichotomy between development
     gold that is exported as far as India and UAE.                    and preservation of the forest, dates back to
     These groups also adopt the use of new                            at least the mid-20th century but has found
     technologies, from social networks and crypto                     continuity among governments of different
     currencies to drones and satellite technologies,                  political orientations. The failure of Amazon
     so as to facilitate their activities and evade law                states to develop sustainable and inclusive
     enforcement.                                                      visions for their rainforests, based on the valuing
                                                                       of local knowledge, has fuelled criminal activity
     However, otherwise legal actors are also                          and contributed towards socio environmental
     involved in activities that cause widespread                      harm in the region (Abramovay 2019).
     deforestation and other socio-environmental
     impacts. Economic sectors such as energy                          External actors also shape human activities
     and infrastructure contribute towards                             in the Amazon. Especially since the 2000s,
     deforestation both directly and indirectly.                       rising demand -- both nationally and from
     The need to open up space for installations,                      abroad -- has encouraged economic
     transportation and logistics leads to loss of                     activities whose perverse dimensions result
     forest cover, and there are frequent examples                     in the destruction of the Amazon biome and
     of environmental crimes committed by major                        harm to its populations, such as extensive
     infrastructure projects. For instance, the region’s               agriculture and ranching. Growing demand
     largest hydroelectric dam project, Belo Monte                     for beef, particularly from China, increases
     (in the Brazilian state of Pará) stands accused                   the incentives for actors based in the Amazon
     of causing far more environmental damage                          basin to destroy tree cover in order to
     than was originally foreseen, and authorized, in                  open up land for beef, soybeans and other
     its development plans; environmental experts                      grains (Faleiros 2019). Recent increases in
     have also noted that environmental impact                         the global price of gold, especially against
     assessments are crucial yet inadequate (Ritter et                 the backdrop of local currency declines in
     al 2017, Muggah 2015). At the same time, such                     many of the Amazon countries, have been
     large-scale initiatives may cause further socio-                  shown to fuel a “new gold rush” in the region
     environmental damage insofar as they attract                      (Salomon 2020). The range of actors involved
     large numbers of migrants, who may be left                        in socio-environmentally harmful activities
     without adequate sources of income once short-                    in the Amazon thus varies in terms of legal
     term employment dries up (Kolhepp 2002).                          status, type of activity, mode of organization,
                                                                       geographic reach, and size.
     The lack of a continuous and constructive
     state role, especially with respect to the
     provision of public services, is especially

6
IGARAPÉ INSTITUTE | STRATEGIC PAPER 47 | AUGUST 2020

Responses from state and                              Notwithstanding measures to curb illegal
                                                      deforestation, some political, economic, and
non-state actors                                      criminal actors adapted to the policy changes,
                                                      exploiting loopholes to circumvent monitoring
Despite the incentives introduced and sustained       -- especially as state oversight receded from
by some political and economic interests to           2016 onward. The reversal in deforestation is also
ramp-up deforestation and degradation in              associated with rollbacks in the role of the state
the Amazon, there are several examples of             and the dismantling of governance structures
interventions that have yielded positive results      and agencies responsible for monitoring and
to limit environmental destruction. Even Brazil,      responding to climate change, environmental
where deforestation and forest fires reached          protection, and the well-being of traditional forest
record levels in 2019 and 2020, was once              populations, especially indigenous peoples
touted as a “success story” in fighting illegal       (Vick 2020). In order to drive deforestation rates
deforestation in the mid-2010s. In a comparison       downward, scientists and activists have called
of the data from 2013 to the average for              for additional measures, such as the collection
the period 1996-2005, a group of scientists           of a rural tax; the closure of markets to illegally
detected a 70% drop in Brazil’s deforestation         produced beef; limiting credit to law-abiding
rates, along with a reduction of over two-thirds      actors; innovation through the adoption of new
of the emissions resulting from deforestation         technologies and more effective operations by
(Correa 2014).                                        law enforcement; and the adoption of sustainable
                                                      methods that incorporate knowledge of the
At least three developments led to the significant    forest (Calixto 2016, Abramovay 2019, Zero
decrease in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon     Deforestation Working Group 2017).
in the 2000s and 2010s. First, a series of new
protected areas were created starting in the mid-     Yet environmental crimes are still relegated to
1999s, including indigenous lands and sustainable     secondary status by the Amazon basin’s states
use units, which were then expanded in the            and other stakeholders. Law enforcement,
2000s. The Federal Prosecution Service (MPF)          criminal justice and military institutions across
adopted a more assertive posture, filing suits that   the region basin focus heavily on illegal drug
reinforced the execution of laws and strengthened     trafficking, which reinforces the widespread
forest monitoring systems. Second, the private        impunity in environmental crimes. Environmental
sector implemented a number of innovations            task forces are few and far between, and when
against illegal deforestation. Starting in 2006,      they do exist, they tend to focus narrowly on
signatories of the Soy Moratorium committed           one or two types of environmental crime, such
to refrain from purchasing grains produced in         as illegal logging and wildlife trafficking, at the
recently deforested areas of the Amazon. The          expense of other activities. When cases are
beef sector followed suit, starting in 2009. Third,   prosecuted -- which is rare -- convicted offenders
as payment for ecosystem services programs            are let off with small fines. This impunity helps to
(e.g. carbon markets) gained traction globally,       fuel the cycle of land invasions, forest clearing,
subnational governments became more proactive.        and the establishment of activities that further
Amazon state and city governments promoted            pollute and contaminate the biome (Human
new ways to curb tree clearing and called on          Rights Watch 2019).
the federal government to be more proactive.
These factors were reinforced by international
                                                      As a result, law enforcement actions against
cooperation agreements, such as that between
                                                      environmental crimes in the Amazon are
Brazil and Norway, that created new incentives for
                                                      inconsistent and reactive instead of preventive.
developing countries to curb emissions through
                                                      In some parts of the region, such as border
innovative financing (Calixto 2016).
                                                      posts featuring a more permanent presence
                                                      of military or police forces, operations may be

                                                                                                                7
ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME IN THE AMAZON BASIN: A Typology for Research, Policy and Action

     more effectively carried out. In general, however,                 agencies and in partnership with private and
     investigative capacity and coordination among                      non-state partners. Even at the domestic level,
     public entities is weak, and operations tend                       government bodies seldom collaborate effectively
     to focus on the individual or groups hired to                      in addressing environmental crimes. Despite
     carry out activities rather than the networks of                   some innovations, such as the creation of an
     actors involved. Despite recommendations by                        Amazon Task Force in Brazil (Ministério Público
     international organizations such as UNODC and                      Federal 2020b), weak political will to boost forest
     Interpol to focus on flows of illicit financing for such           conservation efforts in the Amazon has impeded
     activities (Interpol 2015), law enforcement in the                 more effective joint action among prosecutors
     Amazon basin tends to criminalize the individuals                  and other actors in law enforcement. There is also
     executing the plans rather than those that                         insufficient collaboration between government
     orchestrate them. Finally, legal changes can render                bodies and non-governmental bodies, even as
     such operations moot, for instance when agencies                   the number of organizations based in the Amazon
     such as Brazil’s IBAMA are forbidden to destroy                    states engaged in the effort to curb deforestation
     gold diggers’ equipment, which leads to the                        has grown.
     immediate resumption of illegal activities as soon
     as law enforcement leaves the area of operation                    At the international level, the resurgence of the
     (Ministério Público Federal 2020).                                 discourse of national sovereignty, which has
                                                                        historically been strong in the region, has meant
     Throughout the countries of the Amazon basin,                      that regional initiatives such as the Amazon
     legal safeguards exist to ensure that private                      Treaty Cooperation Organization (ATCO) exist
     sector actors properly assess, account for,                        mostly on paper. With the exception of periodic
     and mitigate the socio-environmental impacts                       regional meetings, there are still comparatively few
     of their operations. A good example of this                        dedicated efforts to promote joint efforts to tackle
     is the requirement that companies carry out                        environmental crime. For its part, the Organization
     environmental impact assessments, though                           of American States (OAS) has a mission in
     enforcement remains weak. There is also a wide                     Colombia to support the peace process and has
     range of voluntary efforts by public, private, and                 worked on specific issues such as sustainable
     civil society organizations to promote transparency                transboundary water management (OAS 2005),
     in supply chains involving Amazon-sourced                          but does not address security or environmental
     products, though there is little evidence that                     issues in the Amazon systematically.
     such initiatives are having their intended impacts.
     A report by Imazon analysed the overlay of                         Some international organizations have focused on
     meat-packing plants of large companies with                        building the capacity of regional law enforcement,
     incidents of deforestation, risk of deforestation                  criminal justice systems and customs agencies.
     and embargos, and identified significant risks that                For example, Interpol has an office in Buenos
     are not being mitigated (Imazon 2018). In the last                 Aires, but its small staff working on environmental
     year alone, some 251 global investors with $17.7                   crimes (especially forestry issues) that provide
     trillion in assets have called on companies to                     support to the region’s states on law enforcement
     meet their commodity supply chain deforestation                    yet cannot cover the entire region, nor address
     commitments or risk losing access to international                 in detail all types of activities leading to large-
     markets (Kimbrough 2020).                                          scale deforestation. UN entities such as UNODC,
                                                                        despite important advances in strengthening
     A recurring challenge relates to coordinating                      customs capacity3, have come under criticism
     environment crime prevention measures and                          from far-right nationalist politicians and pundits.
     maximising cooperation between government                          Joint operations across international borders,

     3  See, for example, the LEAP Programme, a recent collaborative initiative between UNODC, INTERPOL and
     RHIPTO to support law enforcement in reducing tropical deforestation.

8
IGARAPÉ INSTITUTE | STRATEGIC PAPER 47 | AUGUST 2020

and even across national borders, are exceptions       states seek new leading roles in addressing
rather than the rule. Given the transnational nature   sustainability -- represents another hurdle in
of many environmental crimes, these gaps in            cooperation for climate action in the Amazon.
coordination and cooperation undermine the             Ultimately, the fragmented nature of responses
effectiveness of most responses.                       to environmental crime across the Amazon
                                                       basin is exacerbated by a lack of conceptual
These gaps and weaknesses have been laid               clarity about what constitutes such crimes
bare by a broader crisis of multilateralism,           to begin with. Greater conceptual clarity is
including attempts to weaken or undermine              needed not only so that research on these
the Paris Climate Agreement and other                  activities, their drivers and their impacts can
international regimes to protect the                   advance, but also so that stakeholders may
environment, such as biodiversity treaties.            overcome the “silo effect” and shape more
Non-compliance by national governments,                effective collaboration.
including Brazil -- even as subnational

Typology of
environmental crime
In this section, we present a typology of              An activity such as small-scale gold mining, for
activities which, though not illegal in and            example, is commonly associated with multiple
of themselves, are commonly associated                 social and environmental impacts, including
with multiple dimensions of illegality and             loss of biomass, contamination of soils and
socio-environmental harm in the Amazon                 waterways, interpersonal violence, and land
basin. Activities are categorized according            tenure violations. Such mining may be legal or
to economic sectors based on the primary               illegal in a given jurisdiction based on existing
economic motive for participating in the activity.     legislation, whether the miner has obtained
To facilitate more standardized comparisons            proper permits, and whether any negative
by sector and activity, we include the activities’     impacts have been properly assessed and
corresponding codes in the North American              mitigated. We use the framework presented
Industry Classification System (NAICS) as              in Annex 1 to examine the various dimensions
well as the Brazilian National Classification of       of illegality around any given activity in Table 1.
Economic Activities (CNAE) (IBGE 2007, US              The illegality framework builds upon elements
Office of Management and Budget 2017).                 presented in Forest Trends’ (2018) assessment
Likewise, we assess impacts on natural                 of illegal forest conversion globally, as well as a
capital and ecosystem services according               desk review of existing environmental legislation
to the Common International Classification             in the countries of the Amazon basin.
of Ecosystem Services (CICES) and social
impacts within the framework of the United
Nations Sustainable Development Goals
(Haines-Young and Potschin 2018, United
Nations 2015).

                                                                                                                  9
ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME IN THE AMAZON BASIN: A Typology for Research, Policy and Action

                    Sector                                                                                          Societal
                              Economic                                                        Ecosystem
     Category       (NAICS/                      Example(s) of Illegality       Actor(s)                            Impacts     Potential Indicator(s)
                              Activity                                                        Impacts (CICES)
                    CNAE)                                                                                           (SDGs)
                                                                                              Loss of biomass,
                                                 Illegitimately occupying or                                                    Number of new land title
                                                                                              climate regulation,   SDG 5.2,
                                                 settling rural land in order                                                   requests; number of new
     Rural          53.1 /    Land                                                            air quality           SDG 16.1,
                                                 to demonstrate tenure,         Individual                                      CAR registrations; number
     Property       681       speculation                                                     regulation, water     SDG 1.4,
                                                 acquire title, or secure                                                       of overlapping or conflicting
                                                                                              regulation,           SDG 1.5
                                                 other rights or benefits                                                       CAR registrations
                                                                                              biodiversity loss
                                                 Selective extraction of                                                        Proportion of forested area
                                                                                Individual;   Loss of biomass,      SDG 5.2,
                                                 trees, including protected                                                     harvested on protected
                    11.3 /    Selective                                         industrial;   genetic resources,    SDG 16.1,
                                                 or endangered species,                                                         areas; hectares of protected/
                    022       logging                                           organized     climate regulation,   SDG 1.4,
                                                 in prohibited areas and/or                                                     unauthorized area subjected
                                                                                crime         water regulation      SDG 1.5
                                                 without proper permits                                                         to selective logging
                                                 Cutting and burning of                       Loss of biomass,
                                                 native vegetation for                        climate regulation,   SDG 5.2,    Number of hectares
                    11.21 /                      livestock farming beyond       Individual;   air quality           SDG 16.1,   dedicated to ranching;
                              Cattle ranching
                    014                          legal limits or within         industrial    regulation, water     SDG 1.4,    number of new hectares
                                                 prohibited areas and/or                      regulation,           SDG 1.5     dedicated to ranching
                                                 lacking proper tenure                        biodiversity loss
                                                                                              Loss of biomass,
                                                 Large-scale, intensive                                             SDG 5.2,
                                                                                              climate regulation,               Number of hectares
                                                 production of crops on                                             SDG 16.1,
                    11.1 /    Industrial                                                      air quality                       dedicated to agriculture;
                                                 areas beyond legal limits      Industrial                          SDG 1.4,
                    011       agriculture                                                     regulation, water                 number of new hectares
     Agriculture,                                and/or using improper                                              SDG 1.5,
                                                                                              regulation,                       dedicated to agriculture
     Livestock                                   methods                                                            SDG 3.9
                                                                                              biodiversity loss
     and Forestry
                                                 Small-scale cutting
                                                                                              Loss of biomass,
                                                 and burning of native                                              SDG 5.2,
                                                                                              climate regulation,               Number of reported fire
                                                 vegetation for cultivation     Individual;                         SDG 16.1,
                    11.1 /    Small-scale                                                     air quality                       incidents; number of
                                                 beyond legal limits or         organized                           SDG 1.4,
                    011       agriculture                                                     regulation, water                 hectares of protected/
                                                 within prohibited areas        crime                               SDG 1.5,
                                                                                              regulation,                       unauthorized area burned
                                                 and/or lacking proper                                              SDG 3.9
                                                                                              biodiversity loss
                                                 tenure
                                                                                              Loss of biomass,
                                                                                                                                Number of new hectares
                                                 Cultivation of plants                        climate regulation,
                                                                                                                    SDG 5.2,    cleared within protected
                                                 like coca, marijuana,                        air quality
                                                                                Individual;                         SDG 16.1,   areas; number of new
                    11.1 /                       and other intoxicants                        regulation, water
                              Drug cultivation                                  organized                           SDG 1.4,    hectares cleared on public
                    0128                         or hallucinogens often                       regulation,
                                                                                crime                               SDG 1.5,    lands; number of new
                                                 classified as controlled                     biodiversity loss,
                                                                                                                    SDG 3.9     hectares cleared on private
                                                 substances                                   contamination
                                                                                                                                lands
                                                                                              of soil
                                                 Trafficking in plants and                    Loss of food,                     Reported incidents of
                                                 animals taken from the                       genetic resources,    SDG 5.2,    wildlife trafficking; number
                                                                                Individual;
                    11.4 /                       natural environment or                       ornamental            SDG 16.1,   of convictions of wildlife
                              Wildlife trade                                    organized
                    023                          raised under controlled                      resources, cultural   SDG 1.4,    trafficking; people’s
                                                                                crime
                                                 conditions in undesignated                   resources;            SDG 1.5     perception of the prevalence
                                                 areas or without permits                     biodiversity loss                 and impact of wildlife trade
                                                                                              Loss of food,
                                                                                              genetic resources,                Reported incidents of
                                                 Overhunting, or hunting of
                                                                                              biochemical and       SDG 5.2,    hunting activity; number
                                                 protected or endangered        Individual;
                    11.4 /                                                                    natural medicines,    SDG 16.1,   of convictions for illegal
     Wildlife                 Hunting            species, in undesignated       organized
                    017                                                                       ornamental            SDG 1.4,    hunting; people’s perception
                                                 areas or above established     crime
                                                                                              resources,            SDG 1.5     of the prevalence and
                                                 limits
                                                                                              cultural resources,               impact of hunting activities
                                                                                              biodiversity loss
                                                                                              Loss of food,                     Reported incidents of
                                                 Overfishing, or fishing of
                                                                                              genetic resources,                fishing activity; number of
                                                 protected or endangered        Individual;
                    11.4 /                                                                    ornamental            SDG 1.4,    convictions for illegal fishing;
                              Fishing            species, in undesignated       organized
                    031                                                                       resources, cultural   SDG 1.5     people’s perception of the
                                                 areas or above established     crime
                                                                                              resources,                        prevalence and impact of
                                                 limits
                                                                                              biodiversity loss                 fishing activities

10
IGARAPÉ INSTITUTE | STRATEGIC PAPER 47 | AUGUST 2020

               Sector                                                                                        Societal
                         Economic                                                      Ecosystem
Category       (NAICS/                    Example(s) of Illegality       Actor(s)                            Impacts     Potential Indicator(s)
                         Activity                                                      Impacts (CICES)
               CNAE)                                                                                         (SDGs)

                                                                                                                         Number of existing mines;
                                          Small-scale extraction,                      Contamination                     number of new mines;
                                                                                                             SDG 5.2,
                                          processing and trading                       of soil, air, water               hectares of existing and
                                                                         Individual;                         SDG 16.1,
               21.1 /    Small-scale      of minerals without                          and food, loss                    new mines; social and
                                                                         organized                           SDG 1.4,
               072       mining           appropriate permissions                      of biomass,                       conventional media
                                                                         crime                               SDG 1.5,
                                          and/or mitigation                            destruction of                    mentions; proximity to
                                                                                                             SDG 3.9
                                          measures                                     riverbeds                         indigenous territories and
                                                                                                                         vulnerable communities
                                                                                                                         Number of existing permits;
                                          Industrial extraction,                       Contamination                     number of new permits
                                                                                                             SDG 5.2,
                                          processing and trading                       of soil, air, water               requested or issued ;
                                                                                                             SDG 16.1,
               21.1 /    Industrial       of minerals without                          and food, loss                    number of new mines
Energy and                                                               Industrial                          SDG 1.4,
               072       mining           appropriate permissions                      of biomass,                       detected; proximity to
Mining                                                                                                       SDG 1.5,
                                          and/or mitigation                            destruction of                    indigenous territories and
                                                                                                             SDG 3.9
                                          measures                                     riverbeds                         vulnerable communities;
                                                                                                                         volume of legal gold exports
                                                                                                                         Number of existing oil & gas
                                                                                                                         projects; number of new
                                          Extraction, processing,                                                        oil & gas projects; number
                                                                                       Contamination
                                          and trade of oil and natural                                       SDG 1.4,    of hectares converted for
               21.2 /                                                                  of soil, air, water
                         Oil and gas      gas without appropriate        Industrial                          SDG 1.5,    to oil & gas; proximity to
               06                                                                      and food; loss of
                                          permissions and/or                                                 SDG 3.9     indigenous territories and
                                                                                       biomass
                                          mitigation measures                                                            vulnerable communities;
                                                                                                                         social and conventional
                                                                                                                         media mentions
                                                                                                                         Number of existing
                                                                                                                         renewable energy projects;
                                                                                                                         number of new renewable
                                          Development of energy                                                          energy projects; number
                                                                                       Contamination
                                          infrastructure projects                                            SDG 1.4,    of hectares dedicated to
               22.1 /                                                                  of soil, air, water
Utilities                Utilities        without appropriate            Industrial                          SDG 1.5,    renewable energy; number
               35                                                                      and food, loss of
                                          permissions and/or                                                 SDG 3.9     of hectares converted;
                                                                                       biomass
                                          mitigation measures                                                            proximity to indigenous
                                                                                                                         territories; social and
                                                                                                                         conventional media
                                                                                                                         mentions
                                          Construction and                             Loss of biomass,
                                                                                                                         Number of existing hectares
                                          maintenance of                               climate regulation,
                                                                         Industrial;                         SDG 1.4,    dedicated to transportation
               23.7 /    Transportation   installations to facilitate                  air quality
                                                                         organized                           SDG 1.5,    infrastructure; number of
               421       infrastructure   the movement of people                       regulation, water
                                                                         crime                               SDG 3.9     new hectares attributable to
                                          and goods throughout a                       regulation,
                                                                                                                         transportation infrastructure
                                          territory                                    biodiversity loss
                                          Unauthorized and/                            Loss of biomass,
                                          or unmitigated urban                         climate regulation,               Number of existing hectares
                                                                                                             SDG 1.4,
Roads and      23.6 /    Housing and      and rural construction         Individual;   air quality                       dedicated to residential use;
                                                                                                             SDG 1.5,
Construction   4121      urban growth     to provide shelter and         industrial    regulation, water                 number of new hectares
                                                                                                             SDG 3.9
                                          services to local or                         regulation,                       attributable to residential use
                                          temporary populations                        biodiversity loss
                                                                                       Loss of biomass,
                                          Unauthorized and/or                                                            Number of existing hectares
                                                                                       climate regulation,
                         Commercial       unmitigated real estate                                            SDG 1.4,    dedicated to commercial/
               23.6 /                                                                  air quality
                         and industrial   development to provide         Industrial                          SDG 1.5,    industrial use; number of
               4122                                                                    regulation, water
                         development      products or services for                                           SDG 3.9     new hectares attributable to
                                                                                       regulation,
                                          commerce or business                                                           commercial/industrial use
                                                                                       biodiversity loss

                                                                                                                                                           11
ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME IN THE AMAZON BASIN: A Typology for Research, Policy and Action

      The combined framework thus goes beyond                            in the state of Rondônia were financed by
      the concept of “environmental crime” to                            residents of Santa Catarina, in the south of the
      encompass a broad range of organized human                         country (Madeiro 2019).
      activities that are changing the landscape,
      societies, and climate of the Amazon basin.                        In some cases, land invaders then sell
      Some of these activities take place primarily in                   extraction rights to illegal loggers, using the
      rural areas, whereas others are more common                        revenues to fund the conversion of forest into
      in urban or peri-urban areas. The participants                     pasture and agricultural fields. The low cost
      involved can range from isolated individual                        of legalizing medium and large properties
      actors to highly organized legal and illegal                       in Brazil, many of them created through
      organizations at different geographical scales.                    land invasions, creates further incentives for
      Activities are organized according to several                      subsequent land invasions (Imazon 2018).
      broad categories detailed below.                                   Insecure property rights are among the main
                                                                         challenges in curbing deforestation caused
      Land speculation                                                   by land invasions (Oliveira 2008). The land
                                                                         legalization process across much of the
                                                                         Amazon is rife with fraudulent documents
      The first category refers to modes of
                                                                         and false registrations. This is especially true
      occupation of rural land, including illegal
                                                                         of indigenous and other protected lands,
      land grabbing -- which often takes place in
                                                                         as well as “undesignated” lands (areas that
      public or collectively owned land, such as
                                                                         lack formal legal designation). According to
      protected areas, indigenous reserves, and
                                                                         one study, 23% of the Brazilian Amazon is
      community held lands. Across much of the
                                                                         composed of public lands that have been
      Amazon, current systems of land ownership
                                                                         illegally registered as private (Azevedo-Ramos
      are extremely complex, often characterized
                                                                         and Moutinho 2018). There is also evidence of
      by conflicting interests over land tenure and
                                                                         widespread collusion between land grabbers,
      land use. When land is invaded by individuals
                                                                         notaries, politicians and actors within the state
      or small groups of squatters in search of a
                                                                         (Ministério Público Federal 2018). Political
      subsistence livelihood, these invasions tend to
                                                                         groups in the capital cities actively lobby to
      have limited impact and scale, typically under
                                                                         provide amnesty for land invaders in the region.
      three hectares (Madeiro 2019). In contrast,
                                                                         Those who lead land invasions often end up
      large-scale land invasions are often carried
                                                                         becoming powerful political actors, capable
      out in highly organized fashion and require
                                                                         of influencing mayors and congressmen, and
      equipment such as chainsaws, fertilizers and
                                                                         sometimes are able to pressure monitoring
      seeds, all of which in turn demand substantial
                                                                         agencies to appoint their allies to key posts
      resources. The organized criminal groups that
                                                                         in order to guarantee the impunity of these
      specialize in land invasions generally feature
                                                                         crimes (Madeiro 2019).
      local leaders, but financing for these activities
      is not necessarily local. In many cases, the
      funding comes from individuals and businesses                      While part of the land that is invaded becomes
      based in metropolitan areas inside and outside                     the site of income-generating activities, such
      a given country. In 2019, Operation Ojuara, led                    as ranching or agriculture, land also has a
      by the Brazilian Federal Police against large                      symbolic value, conferring social status to
      organized land invasions in the northern state                     property owners. This is reflected in the fact
      of Acre, found that one illegal group received                     much of the land in the Amazon that is invaded
      funding from a prominent businessman in                            is then allowed to lie fallow for many years,
      Minas Gerais, in the Southeast of Brazil.                          indicating widespread land speculation that is
      Another operation, Operação Máfia da Tora,                         often independent of other income-generating
      carried out in 2017, discovered that groups                        activities, and that may be led by people who

12
IGARAPÉ INSTITUTE | STRATEGIC PAPER 47 | AUGUST 2020

do not even reside in the Amazon region.            meat companies fail to properly ensure that
According to one survey, almost a quarter of        they are not buying cattle from farms involved
all land deforested between 1988 and 2014 in        in illegal deforestation.
the Brazilian Amazon was simply abandoned
(MapBiomas 2020). Sometimes the invasion of
a plot of land is carried out by one person or      Wildlife hunting and trade
by a group, while the trees are cut down by a
different group. Elsewhere, the land becomes        Wildlife activities in the Amazon include trade
the object of speculation and is often sold to      in protected or endangered species as well
individuals who do not reside in the Amazon.        as traditional hunting and fishing, and they are
                                                    carried out by a broad gamut of actors and
                                                    involve a variety of species. Wildlife trafficking
Agriculture, livestock and                          has become a multi-billion dollar industry;
forestry                                            according to one estimate, this type of illegal
                                                    trade extracts 38 million animals (excluding
The agriculture, livestock and forestry category    fish and invertebrates) annually in Brazil alone
encompasses agriculture (both industrial and        (Schleeter 2015). Many trafficking groups are
small-scale), ranching, logging, and drug           European, North American and Asian and
cultivation -- activities that are common in        collaborate with local suppliers. Some of the
invaded lands that do not remain fallow. Except     key species being trafficked within and from
for logging, these activities frequently follow     the Amazon are birds, reptiles, and mammals.
forest fires that are set in the invaded land to
clear space for these activities. They are driven   In parts of the Amazon basin, wild species
by unsustainable consumption, both from             are often trapped by indigenous people, who
within the Amazon states and from outside the       are then encouraged to sell the animals or
region. Over the past decade, as demand for         their parts. The wildlife is then transferred
Amazon commodities such as beef and soy             to brokers, via boatmen, farmers and truck
has grown (especially from Asia and Europe),        drivers, who pass it on to traffickers with
transnational agribusiness conglomerates            connections to major groups operating both
based in South America and outside the region       within the region and internationally. Some of
have invested more heavily in Amazon land,          this wildlife is exported to Europe, Asia, and
sometimes without appropriate monitoring of         North America -- where high profits are made
supply chains. The cultivation of soybeans --       -- through key harbors and airports, while
now the top export for both Brazil and Bolivia      some is consumed locally. There are reports
-- has expanded rapidly, especially as the          of wildlife trafficking being masked as scientific
opening of roads in the Amazon, such as BR-         or conservation efforts, with falsification of
163, cheapens transportation of the grains.         certificates attesting that the animals were
                                                    born in captivity, which permits them to be
Cattle ranchers in Brazil and Bolivia have been     imported or exported. Wildlife trafficking can
razing forest to meet beef demand in China          have far-reaching environmental and societal
(Faleiros 2019). A 2019 report showed that          ripple effects, potentially leading to ecosystem
Brazil’s annual beef exports, estimated at 1.4      collapse (Ibid.).
million tonnes, generate 65,000 to 75,000
hectares of deforestation each year, most of
it (52%) in the Amazon. Of this total, 22,000
hectares were attributed to exports to China
(Trase 2019). Despite pressure to make the
supply chains more transparent, practices
such as “cattle laundering” have spread as

                                                                                                              13
ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME IN THE AMAZON BASIN: A Typology for Research, Policy and Action

      Energy and mining                                                  for large-scale projects as part of broader
                                                                         development schemes. These projects can
                                                                         extrapolate limits set through environmental
      The Amazon features sizeable potential for
                                                                         laws, causing widespread illegal deforestation
      mineral assets, namely iron ore, gold, copper,
                                                                         and contamination. In Peru, for example,
      tin, nickel, bauxite, and manganese (Santos
                                                                         several companies have been investigated by
      2002). Mining has taken place in the region for
                                                                         the country’s national justice system for their
      centuries at different scales using a variety of
                                                                         links to illegal mining in Madre de Dios, Cusco
      extraction methods, but rising metals prices
                                                                         and Puno; for crimes such as the purchase
      have led to epidemic levels of illegal extraction
                                                                         of gold of illegal origin; the use of shell
      in the Amazon basin. The activity is carried out
                                                                         companies; questionable financial transactions;
      by several different types of actors, operating
                                                                         and laundering of money and assets.
      at different scales and with very different
      impacts. These are by and large separate
      productive chains, although in some areas                          In addition to causing deforestation, illegal
      there are overlaps between the categories                          mining can be highly contaminating and
      (Abdenur et al. 2019).                                             polluting, particularly when mercury is used
                                                                         to separate the mineral from the soil. Mercury
                                                                         and other toxic materials have a strong effect
      The rapid expansion of gold digging seen
                                                                         on the quality of food supply and on human
      in the Amazon during the 2010s is in part
                                                                         health, since it accumulates throughout the
      a result of the rise in global gold prices. In
                                                                         food chain. In Colombia, alarming levels of
      November 2019, for example, one ounce of
                                                                         mercury used in illegal mining has been found
      the mineral sold for USD$1,464, around six
                                                                         in water sources used for human consumption
      times the price of the previous decade. Soaring
                                                                         (Díaz-Arriada 2014). At the same time, money
      gold prices create additional incentives for
                                                                         laundering for illegal gold mining has become
      gold prospecting and mining in the Amazon,
                                                                         more sophisticated. Monitoring of gold’s origins
      especially through methods that can rapidly
                                                                         is difficult, and outdated legislation (including
      expand extraction. According to official
                                                                         allowing hand-written receipts) makes it easy
      estimates, 30 tonnes of gold per year are
                                                                         to cheat the system. Another increasing trend
      produced in the Tapajós River basin alone,
                                                                         is the involvement of illegal armed groups,
      generating R$4.5 billion in non-declared gains
                                                                         especially guerrillas and paramilitary groups
      -- financial returns that are six times the size
                                                                         based in Colombia and Venezuela, in illegal
      of those obtained through legal gold mining
                                                                         gold mining. In the last few years, illegally
      in the same region (Ministério Público Federal
                                                                         mined gold has displaced cocaine trafficking
      2019). In some places, gold diggers form
                                                                         as a key funding source for some of these
      cooperatives that often operate within a grey
                                                                         groups (Global Initiative Against Transnational
      area between formal and informal, sometimes
                                                                         Organized Crime 2016).
      transitioning between these broad legal
      categories as permits are granted or expire
      (Coelho et al 2017). In contrast, organized                        Utilities
      illegal mining is carried out by highly structured
      and hierarchical groups, with extensive
                                                                         The category refers to the development of
      planning and division of labor.
                                                                         energy infrastructure projects, which often
                                                                         takes place without appropriate permissions
      There is also large-scale industrial mining                        and/or mitigation strategies. The abundance of
      carried out by major companies, some of                            water in the Amazon has made it an attractive
      which may act illegally. The profitability of                      region for major electric power generation
      Amazon mining means that the region’s                              projects, and some of the region’s states
      governments often provide major tax incentives                     depend heavily on hydropower. For instance,

14
IGARAPÉ INSTITUTE | STRATEGIC PAPER 47 | AUGUST 2020

it provides around two-thirds of Brazil’s           of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon
electricity; around 31.6% of the hydropower         occurred on land less than 5 kilometers from
generated in 2019 went to the industrial            a road or navigable river. Some roads may
sector, including major mining operations in the    be constructed entirely illegally, for example,
Amazon and elsewhere (another 4.7% went to          in order to access areas for illegal logging,
agribusiness).                                      while others may be properly planned
                                                    and authorized, yet fail to mitigate socio-
Amazon states have historically opted to build      environmental impacts. While roads cause
large-scale energy infrastructure projects in       deforestation directly through the opening
the Amazon, in part due to the simplistic view      up of space, their most significant impact
of the rainforest as a vast “empty” space.          results from making forested areas accessible
Such dams destroy rainforest and inundate           to settling and economic activity. More than
forested areas with river water, changing river     50,000 kilometers (30,000) miles of roads
courses and making them less navigable. They        were built in the Amazon in just three years
alter water chemistry and affect fish passage,      (Ahmed, Souza Jr, Ribeiro and Ewers 2013). A
also endangering species whose habitats             study of 75 planned road projects found that
are vulnerable to fragmentation. Numerous           those planned roads -- which would add up
dams are under construction in the Amazon           to 12,000 kilometers of roadway in Colombia,
Basin. The largest is the Belo Monte dam in         Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Brazil -- have not
the Brazilian state of Pará, the third largest      been assessed for environmental or economic
in the world, which has greatly surpassed its       impacts. Seventeen of those projects are
expected environmental impact in the Xingu          in violation of environmental regulations or
River region.                                       indigenous rights (Vilela et al 2020).

The Belo Monte dam, which cost USD$9.5              At the same time, urbanization continues at a
billion to build and became fully operational       rapid pace in many parts of the Amazon. Of
in 2019, has experienced reduced seasonal           the 19 Brazilian cities that the latest census
flows in the Xingu River due to climate change      indicates have doubled in population from
and upstream deforestation. Thousands of            2000-2010, 10 are in the Amazon. Altogether,
indigenous and other traditional communities        the region’s population climbed 23 percent
were forced to abandon their homes and              from 2000 to 2010, while Brazil as a whole
lifestyles, with fishing no longer a viable means   grew just 12 percent (Romero 2012). New
of subsistence. Other large dams are under          immigrants typically settle on the outskirts of
construction, and yet more are planned (for         cities where they may clear forested land in
instance at Jirau, in the Brazilian state of        order to build their dwellings. The emergence
Rondonia), with dozens more planned in the          and rapid expansion of small and medium
Andes, especially in Ecuador and Peru. The          sized cities, as well as the mushrooming of
Brazilian government is planning to build more      small settlements -- especially along rivers
than 60 large dams in the Amazon over the           and roads -- frequently entails environmental
next 20 years.                                      damage and societal impacts (Sathler, Monte-
                                                    Mór and Carvalho 2009).

Roads and construction
Roads and other forms of infrastructure
development have a long history of enabling
environmental degradation in what had been
previously inaccessible regions of the Amazon.
Barber et al. (2014) found that 95 percent

                                                                                                              15
You can also read