“It’s such a simple phrase: stay alive! The other side is necropolitics.” This appeal was made by philosopher and prominent Indigenous leader Ailton Krenak to Brazilians to reelect President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva over far-right candidate, senator Flávio Bolsonaro. Flávio’s statement that he will not demarcate any Indigenous lands “reveals his malicious intent to do everything in his power to prevent Indigenous peoples from surviving,” Krenak said, drawing parallels with Flávio’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019–2022). Indigenous people have mobilized on social media and in the streets, warning of threats to their rights and the environment in the event of a victory by Flávio Bolsonaro, who, like his father, supports agricultural expansion and mining on Indigenous lands. “Fight with Lula,” posted the Arariboia Indigenous Territory profile on Instagram, stating that the defense of Indigenous peoples “must be reflected in public policies.” “Indigenous Peoples with Lula! Vote in the runoff election for the demarcation of Indigenous Lands!” posted the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib) in a call for a national mobilization on Oct. 18, which brought together thousands of Indigenous people. Another mobilization is planned for Oct. 21. Artists held a rally in Rio de Janeiro that drew more than 50,000 people and Lula supporters mobilized in 22 other state capitals. This pro-Lula movement intensified after Lula narrowly lost the first round of elections on Oct. 4, contrary to the election polls that showed him leading. “We cannot accept setbacks that endanger our territories, our lives, and…This article was originally published on Mongabay

“With a single stroke of a pen, he can undo all the achievements we have accomplished in these almost four years,” said the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Eloy Terena, regarding a possible victory of the far-right candidate, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, for Brazil’s Presidency. “We are very concerned.” With 47.03% of the vote, Flávio topped the first round of the presidential election on Oct. 4, despite voting polls showing current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as the favorite for reelection. “If elected, one of the first ministries that will be abolished is the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples,” Terena told Mongabay by phone. “For us, this is a given, because it’s a government that has no commitment to Indigenous peoples.” The candidates face a runoff on Sunday, Oct. 25. The unprecedented Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI) was created by Lula in January 2023, fulfilling a promise to native peoples who supported his candidacy. Sonia Guajajara was appointed minister, the first time an Indigenous person led a ministry. “The creation of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples has a very great symbolic, but also effective, power, because it is a government that comes precisely after a period in which Indigenous peoples were extremely attacked during Bolsonaro’s administration,” said Terena, who took office in March when Sonia left the ministry to run for reelection as a federal deputy for São Paulo. The unprecedented Ministry of Indigenous Peoples was created by President Lula in January 2023. Sonia Guajajara was appointed minister, marking the first time…This article was originally published on Mongabay

LAGO DO PURUZINHO/KARIPUNA INDIGENOUS TERRITORY/CALAMA, Brazil — The Lake Puruzinho community sits on a clear, fish-rich lake in the Brazilian Amazon, an area that, at first glance, resembles paradise. Just 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the city of Humaitá in Amazonas state, the community is soundtracked by two contrasting noises: the song of birds like the crested oropendola as it flies in search of fruit, and the thunderous engines of vessels plying the Madeira River. For decades, the approximately 170 residents of the riverside community ate fish from the lake, but that changed when they learned about mercury — and discovered that large quantities of the heavy metal were being dumped into the Madeira by illegal gold mining. The river, which feeds Lake Puruzinho and is a tributary of the Amazon, receives an estimated 10-50 metric tons of mercury from dredges used in gold mining. “There was a lot of mercury in our hair [because] of the fish, the tucunaré, which we eat a lot,” says Maria Rogelina Soares da Silva dos Santos, a fisher and homemaker, at the door of her house, located on the shore of Lake Puruzinho. “It was a huge scare.” She’s referring to studies by researchers at the Federal University of Rondônia (UNIR), in which she has participated for 26 years. The research examines how mercury contamination affects fish and, ultimately, human health, focusing on pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and children in communities along the Madeira River. The studies revealed, in recent years, the presence…This article was originally published on Mongabay

A traditional food source for Amazonian communities, freshwater turtles have been included in Brazil’s list of fauna threatened with extinction for the first time. The cágado-iaçá, or six-tubercled Amazon River turtle, had its risk elevated from near threatened to endangered in a new national list recently released by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. Known in the Amazon as tracajás, freshwater turtles have been classified as nearly threatened for a long time, but it’s the first time that one of its species was classified as endangered, said Marília Marini, general coordinator of conservation strategies at ICMBio, the Brazilian agency in charge of conservation units. “For the Amazon, the main highlight is the inclusion of the tracajá,” Marini told Mongabay by phone. “That is a more delicate situation, because it also involves [traditional] communities that use them [for subsistence]. So, great care is needed regarding communication and how to direct actions — ensuring they don’t negatively affect those communities that have historically coexisted with the area.” Despite protection programs and conservation efforts, cágado-iaçá’s (Podocnemis sextuberculata) populations over the past 36 years — equivalent to three generations — declined by more than 50% in Amazonas and western Pará states, which accounts for approximately 70% of the species’ total distribution, leading to an endangered classification, according to ICMBio’s Biodiversity Extinction Risk Assessment System (SALVE). Six-tubercled Amazon River turtle (Podocnemis sextoberculata). Image by © Rafael Bernhard via iNaturalist. CC BY 4.0. Six-tubercled Amazon River turtle (Podocnemis sextoberculata). Image by © Andrés Camilo Montes-Correa…This article was originally published on Mongabay