New technologies and new generations for forest protection against illegal mining in Yanomami land

General

This project aims to promote the exchange of strategies and technologies to tackle illegal mining in indigenous lands, and thereby the deforestation it produces, between the Yanomami, Ye'kuana and Munduruku peoples. It will ensure a qualified group of Munduruku indigenous young leaders will train Yanomami and Ye’kuana young leaders on the use of drones and tablets to capture high resolution imagery of the deforestation caused in the Uraricoera macro-region. These images will then be used to inform advocacy reports and official public denouncements to local, state and national authorities to immediately remove these illegal invaders, and enforce the monitoring and protection of TIY, raising public awareness and advocating for action in the judiciary. It intends to tackle two problems simultaneously: 1) the lack of qualified information to publicly report illegal mining, put pressure on the relevant authorities to remove these invaders and monitor Yanomami Indigenous Territory (TIY), and raise public awareness; and 2) the lack of alternative activities beyond the lure of being co-opted into illegal gold mining for young Yanomami and Ye’kuana people, with the aim of bringing them closer to the political struggle to protect TIY and its forests for future generations. This project aims to address the main drivers of deforestation by tackling its root cause in TIY: illegal gold mining. Illegal wildcat gold mining is the main threat to the physical and cultural integrity of the Yanomami and Ye'kuana indigenous people, and the tropical forest that they protect, located in Yanomami Indigenous Territory (TIY) in the state of Roraima, Brazil. By 2021 the total cumulative area destroyed by illegal gold mining in TIY exceeded 3,000 hectares. It is estimated that there are currently about 20,000 goldminers operating in TIY.