On July 22, Amazon Watch, Brazilian civil society organizations, and social movements united in defense of territorial rights published a Technical Note (essentially an investigative report) entitled “Rights and Priorities: Can Mining Override Agrarian Reform?” analyzing and denouncing Executive Ordinance 112/2021 (IN 112).Â
Executive Ordinance 112 was passed during the Bolsonaro administration in 2021 by Brazil’s Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA). The ordinance established new rules for the use of settlement areas by mining, energy, and infrastructure projects. Despite years of scrutiny and media outcry, IN 112 continues to pose risks to environmental protection and to violate the territorial rights of local communities by facilitating the allocation of rural settlement areas – which should be destined to food production, food sovereignty, and environmental defense – to mining companies and other industrial projects.
To pressure the federal government to repeal IN 112 and to enable effective civil society participation on the topic, Amazon Watch allied with a coalition of researchers, civil society organizations, and social movements to prepare the Technical Note pointing to the legal, technical, and political shortcomings of the current regulation.
“Rights and Priorities: Can Mining Override Agrarian Reform?” was organized by Amazon Watch, the Brazilian Association of Agrarian Reform (ABRA), the Regional Association of Agroecological Producers (ARPA), the Collective for Environmental Inequality Research, Economics, and Politics, the Committee in Defense of Territories against Mining (CDTM), Alternative Technology Center of the Guaporé Valley – CTA; FASE – Solidariedade e Educação; the Federation of Residents’ Associations of the Agroextractivist Settlement Project of Gleba Lago Grande (FEAGLE), Movement for Popular Sovereignty in Mining (MAM), Landless Workers’ Movement (MST), Center for Politics, Economics, Mining, Environment, and Society (PoEMAS), Brazilian Network for Environmental Justice (RBJA), and International Rivers.
The Technical Note was launched on the first day of the seminar, “Land Policy and Struggles for Land and Territory,” which was held from July 22 to 24 in BrasĂlia. Amazon Watch Brazil Campaign Advisor Gabriela Sarmet participated in the event and worked together with allies and partners to pressure the Brazilian government by holding advocacy meetings with the INCRA president and advisors and the General Secretary of the Presidency. Unfortunately, INCRA did not meet with our coalition. Instead, the institution merely indicated that there would be a public seminar and consultation to discuss the contentious policy, which will include various stakeholders, including mining corporations. This is unacceptable and deeply troubling, especially considering the current government’s commitment to sincere dialogue with civil society.
Our demands are not unreasonable. We are simply emphasizing the dangers of allowing mining to override the constitutional duty of the Brazilian government to ensure agrarian reform, social justice, and environmental protection. Agrarian reform is a policy of reparation for people who have been historically deprived of access to land due to a racist and elitist colonial past.
Considering President Lula’s primary commitment to fighting hunger, it is urgent for the government to revisit the Bolsonaro-era policy, suspend it immediately, and promote a comprehensive debate with civil society. We must develop alternative regulations that do not jeopardize agrarian reform rights and food production, nor threaten food sovereignty or Amazon protection in favor of mining interests.Â
Repeal of the ordinance is particularly urgent given that this policy is being exploited widely in the Amazon region, including by the Canadian mining company Belo Sun Mining Corporation to enable the notorious Volta Grande mega-mine on the banks of the Xingu River.
Despite this setback with INCRA, our coalition had a productive meeting with the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic and the new Mining Dialogue Table, a recently established body within the federal government. This entity, akin to a ministry, has committed to facilitating an open and honest dialogue between civil society and INCRA, as well as other influential bodies. This is a positive step toward ensuring that the right to agrarian reform and food sovereignty in Brazil is not undermined by mining interests.
The risks of IN 112
IN 112 poses significant risks to rural settlements in Brazil, particularly those in the Amazon region. Unlike existing procedures that address conflicts of interest over land use, IN 112 permits the coexistence of mining, infrastructure, and energy projects with lands designated for family farming. This is despite substantial evidence showing the negative impacts of such large economic projects on these agricultural areas.
IN 112 lacks clear procedures or criteria for INCRA to determine when these projects are incompatible with agrarian reform settlements. It does not specify whether INCRA should reject the project or relocate the settlement in such cases. Instead, the policy effectively streamlines the approval process, limiting INCRA’s role to calculating damages and compensations for settlers and the state.
The analysis presented in our Technical Note further reveals that while IN 112 claims that its compensations, indemnities, and conditions aim to harmonize industrial projects with settlement continuity, some of these very same conditions contradict the National Agrarian Reform Plan. These include the possibility of resettling or relocating affected families.
Another major concern is the lack of mechanisms to ensure the consultation and participation of rural settlers in INCRA’s approval process. Apart from hearings during the licensing process, there are no provisions for convening, listening to, or notifying settlers. The norm also fails to mention free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), as mandated by International Labour Organization Convention 169, posing significant concerns, which is especially crucial for communities with traditional ties to environmentally sensitive areas like the Amazon rainforest.
According to data from the National Mining Agency, as of January 2022 there were 20,000 active mining requests affecting land reform settlements . Among the 8,372 settlements nationwide, 3,309 (39%) are subject to mining requests,
We recommend that INCRA immediately suspend IN 112 and replace it with a policy that better regulates the historical uneven relationship between large private enterprises and small farmers in rural settlements. This new policy should respect the rights of these rural settlers, address the growing demand for food production, and strengthen Brazil’s agrarian reform policy, and it must do so in a way that recognizes the role that small farmers, riverine people, and rural settlements have in the protection of the environment and the Amazon rainforest and other biomes.
President Lula and its new administration, upon taking office, made clear commitments to socio-environmental causes, and we must urge them to follow through on these promises. As a continuation of our coalition work, we’ll be closely following the development and discussions to repeal IN 112.
