The True Cost of Mining in a Changing Climate: The Global Health Crisis in South America’s Yanomami Territory

BY DEBBIE MOJEKWU

“We want to live, we want our peace back and our territory,” says Júnior Hekurari, health leader of the Yanomami people in Roraima state, Brazil.¹

Mining has been a culturally accepted practice since prehistoric times, with people seeking invaluable resources, such as gold, in the deepest cores of the earth. However, what separates early man from current miners is the evolution of technology. We have since replaced basic hand-held pickaxes with bulldozers and mercury amalgamation techniques.² This technological advancement in mining has transformed a means of seeking natural resources for societal development in terms of weaponry and infrastructure purposes into an individual pursuit driven by greed and economic prosperity.³ A current manifestation of this individualistic industry is embedded deep in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil and Venezuela, rich in resources and home to “the people of the forest”: the Yanomami tribe. ⁴

Since the 1980s, gold miners, or “garimpeiros”, have invaded the Yanomami Indigenous Territory and put this South American tribe under constant threat with heavy mining machinery, contributing to deforestation and mercury pollution of the tribe’s water sources, soil, and food supply.^5,6 Though not the only contributor to deforestation, mining’s contributions do play a role in the overall reduction of biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest, higher carbon emissions, reduction in rainfall, and an increase in fire occurrence, further reducing the Amazon’s ability to act as a carbon sink–—an occurrence that is quite unusual for a place once known as the “lungs of the world”.^7,8,9,10 Even in attempts to undo some of the harm done to the trees by illegal mining, we have found that forest regeneration efforts in the Amazon amount to over 21,000 tons of carbon emissions per year.¹¹ Ultimately, the carbon emissions from illegal mining are not a small or short-term occurrence, as they carry long-term implications and further exacerbate climate change, making whole ecosystems and communities susceptible to environmental harm. 

The mercury contaminants are only further destroying the Amazon, as they are invading predominant food and water sources for the Yanomami–—whose diet predominantly relies on fishing, hunting, and gathering–—causing food insecurity, with UNICEF reporting 80% of children suffering from malnutrition at the point in which 20,000 illegal miners inhabited the Yanomami Reserve in 2022.⁷ The extent to which mercury contamination invades this community cannot be underscored enough, as it’s often retained in their bodies from eating contaminated fish.¹² Upon collection of hair samples from members of a village within the Yanomami community, researchers found that around 84% of the Yanomami tested had a contamination level of 2 or more per gram, with 10% of this group exceeding 6 micrograms per gram—levels associated with several health risks, such as physical and mental disability and compromised development for children.^2,13 

Beyond the pollution of the environment seeping into the Yanomami’s way of life, there is another looming threat associated with the invasion of newcomers to this isolated tribe’s land–—malaria incidence. The maintenance of isolation for this Indigenous population since its origin has resulted in a lack of immunity to many viruses like malaria–—a parasitic disease that attacks red blood cells infecting organs such as the liver, brain, and immune system. In turn, when miners visit the area in pursuit of gold, they expose the Yanomami to novel diseases that their bodies aren’t equipped to fight off, leading to even more mortality and morbidity on top of the present environmental hazards. During President Bolsonaro’s term from 2016 to 2022, mining in some of Brazil’s most protected Indigenous regions increased tremendously as a result of policies expanding land use and deforestation in the Amazon—an increase linked to a 300% upsurge in malaria cases.¹⁴ Furthermore, studies have found that when illegal mining rises by 1%, malaria rates increase by 31%.¹⁴ As a result, the Yanomami tribe, which makes up 0.013% of the Brazilian population, now represents 9.3% of malaria cases in Brazil.¹⁵ These increases can be attributed to a multitude of factors within the deforested regions in the Amazon that contribute to the rise in malaria vectors like Nyssorhynchus darlingi. These factors include creating more breeding sites for vectors with artificial pools of water, increasing modes of transmission by the movement of miners, and consumption of mercury, which alters immune responses and is connected with severe malnutrition, reducing the body’s ability to fight off infection.¹⁴ On the one hand, the environmental destruction of the forest is increasing the disease burden for the Yanomami people, who lack immunity and access to innovative healthcare systems. On the other hand, those responsible for its spread are less susceptible, as malaria is highly preventable for the general public with access to vaccines and stronger immunity. Fostering a climate in which the most systemically vulnerable are dying as a result of environmental degradation, disease burden, government neglect, and a shortage of food sources—all of which could be viewed as a form of genocide for a population so small that any loss of life is devastating. 

The striking parallels between the infamous Gold Rush in America and the ongoing harm to the Yanomami people demonstrate the cyclical nature of greed, which drives environmental ruin, preventable mortality, and long-term damage to the self-sustaining systems that these communities have traditionally established. Taking into account the forced displacement of Native Americans from the state of California during the Gold Rush in the 1800s, we can see how much value we place on gold over human life. After the Gold Rush, the influx of miners seeking potential riches led to the forceful acquisition of native land, the release of 7,600 tons of mercury into Northern Californian lakes and rivers, and the massacre of  30% of the population with the introduction of new diseases like measles.¹⁶ In both instances, these respective Indigenous groups found themselves being systemically displaced through the spread of disease, environmental destruction, and starvation led by gold miners with individual economic prosperity in mind.¹⁷ Evidently, the ethical considerations for gold mining are often overlooked, with the disregard for the safety and livelihood of native local inhabitants representing the true cost of mining—human life. Unfortunately, these miners have had their actions backed by the political powers in place that paved the way for their continued mistreatment of the environment and those who depend on it for their individual right to life. 

Fortunately, there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel for the people of the forest. Despite the magnitude of environmental degradation in their relatively small community, their resilience and strong-headed will to survive remain strong. With community leaders like Shaman Davi Kopenawa advocating for his people’s right to life and educating the wider public about their way of life, the Yanomami people are getting their struggles globally recognized.⁴ His work demonstrates the persistence of the Yanomami people in the face of adversity, but also showcases the lack of care of politicians and Brazilian leaders, as those with the power to make change fail to do so. Beyond leaders like former president Bolsonaro who reduced Indigenous protections in Brazil, there are figures like current President Lula who promise to implement policies that advance autonomy and protection for Indigenous people but often fall short. When President Lula was running for presidency, his campaign emphasized his commitment to officially demarcate 14 Indigenous lands within his first 100 days in office. However, as of December 2024, after nearly two years in office, only 13 have gotten the federal protections he promised—leaving dozens of Indigenous territories vulnerable to threats associated with deforestation and mining.^18,19

Despite the shortcomings of his promises, in 2023 President Lula managed to remove illegal miners from 80% of the forest areas they had taken over — a step in the right direction for tribes like the Yanomami’s protection²⁰. With their malnutrition and infant mortality rates steadily going down, the Yanomami people under President Lula’s leadership are finally receiving the help they deserve in attaining their right to life. However, the fight is far from over, with illegal mining on the rise again after his policy implementations.²¹ With the pushback from illegal miners on Indigenous protection policies and the uncertainty of the 2026 Brazilian presidential election, it is evident that reforms need to also fixate on long-term self-sustaining systems. While the current policies are proving to be the most effective at this time, they’re also very temporary and can change based on the country’s person in power. What could be more impactful is international support such as that from NGOs to ensure Indigenous Rights are protected, pressure from the Paris Agreement to uphold standards that reduce climate change’s advancement, and more political figureheads advocating for Indigenous freedoms. The havoc wrought by illegal miners on the Yanomami territory is one that cannot occur again for fear of the complete decimation of an entire people and way of life. To leave their lives in the balance of a national political leader has proven to be risky and potentially fatal. As Davi Kopenawa emphasizes “We have to protect the forest because we depend on the forest. Our children and grandchildren and future generations need the forest.”⁴ The Yanomami people embody the principle of taking only what is needed to survive.²² Disrupting this balance of nature through the unnecessary extraction of resources in a relentless pursuit of profit is driving climate change at an alarming rate, with consequences that will be detrimental to us all. All over the world, we have shown time and time again that greed comes at the cost of unnecessary death and destruction, especially for minority populations whose livelihoods are constantly overlooked and undervalued. Without the Amazon Rainforest intact, the Yanomami tribe will no longer be, along with whole ecosystems and irreplaceable cultural legacies. Biodiversity and life are priceless, something gold is not. Indigenous communities all around the world need protection from the environmental risks that threaten their very existence in this increasingly unstable climate.

Debbie Mojekwu is a sophomore in Ezra Stiles College.

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References

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