The harm to health and the environment caused by mercury used in illegal gold mining in the Amazon was reported to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) with the presentation of a study by Brazil’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF). The autonomous international body is affiliated with the Organization of American States (OAS).

The document, presented last week, complements the report the Prosecutor’s Office submitted in March to the Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights (REDESCA), which is linked to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Ecosystem contamination

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The liquid substance is frequently used in illegal gold mining operations because it readily binds with gold particles, forming what is known as “amalgam.”

After this metallic alloy forms, it is heated with a blowtorch. As the temperature rises, the mercury evaporates, leaving only the gold behind.

The vaporized mercury spreads through the air and settles on soil and water, contaminating rivers, waterways, and fish - the staple food of indigenous and riverine communities - and can cause neurological problems.

In addition to mercury contamination, illegal mining causes ecosystem degradation through deforestation, intensive soil removal, and alterations to riverbeds.

The problem of illegal mining in the Amazon in Brazil and other countries is well known to the IACHR’s special rapporteur. Just over a month ago, REDESCA called for the guarantee of the “human right to water in the Americas,” particularly in the so-called “Guiana Shield,” comprising areas of Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname, Venezuela, and Brazil.

Defense

In a statement to Agência Brasil, the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) said it “has been directly involved in restricting the use of mercury in illegal mining operations.”

The institute noted that it established stricter criteria for access to legally imported mercury through a regulation created in 2024, in addition to “conducting ongoing environmental enforcement actions to curb the use of smuggled mercury in gold mining operations.”

The regulation requires “the licensing of individuals and legal entities that handle metallic mercury, as well as that they carry the Metallic Mercury Operations Document, which ensures that the import, sale, resale, and transfer of mercury occur only between previously licensed parties.”

The regulation, however, does not have the force of law, unlike the 1989 presidential decrees, which “remain in effect and prohibit, respectively, the use of mercury in gold mining, except in activities licensed by the environmental agency,” as noted by the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources.

Brazil’s Vice President, Geraldo Alckmin, participated in the launch of the Biodiesel Alliance, formed by the Brazilian Association of Biofuel Producers (Aprobio) and the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (Abiove). The ceremony was held in Brasília on Wednesday (Apr. 8).

The partner organizations bring together 16 biodiesel manufacturers operating 33 active plants. According to the member companies, this represents 63.7 percent of Brazil’s biodiesel production capacity.

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For Alckmin, biodiesel is strategic, especially at a time when international conflicts affect the fuel market.

“Instead of importing diesel, which is highly susceptible to global geopolitics, we produce our own fuel here for our country,” he emphasized.

According to the vice president, Brazil is the only country in the world that blends 30 percent anhydrous ethanol into gasoline, in addition to having 85 percent of its vehicle fleet made up of flex-fuel vehicles - that is, vehicles that can run on either ethanol or gasoline.

In Alckmin’s view, the use of biodiesel improves air quality and reduces pollution, as well as cases of respiratory illness. “There is no agenda more positive than this one. It speaks to every sector.”

The vice president also pointed out that biodiesel production has social benefits because it involves small farmers and creates jobs throughout the industrial and service supply chain.

“If we are world champions in agriculture, if we have the most competitive and efficient tropical agriculture in the world, let’s add value: produce biofuels, help the environment and public health, generate jobs and income, avoid importing products, and strengthen our country’s economy,” he added.

Conflict

Alckmin also highlighted the Brazilian government’s initiatives to ensure fuel supplies and mitigate the impact of rising diesel and gasoline prices amid the conflict in the Middle East.

Among the initiatives are the suspension of federal taxes (PIS/Cofins) on petroleum products and a diesel subsidy in collaboration with states and municipalities. “Most states agreed,” he noted.

On April 8 and 9, representatives of the foreign ministries of countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean in the Southern Hemisphere will meet in Rio de Janeiro for the 9th Ministerial Meeting of the South Atlantic Zone of Peace and Cooperation (ZOPACAS).

ZOPACAS is a diplomatic mechanism established in 1986 by the United Nations to keep the region free of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. The Zone of Peace and Cooperation comprises Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and 21 countries along Africa’s west coast, from Senegal to South Africa.

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As has been the case throughout its 40-year history, the country hosting the ZOPACAS ministerial meeting assumes the presidency of the mechanism for two to three years. Brazil will succeed Cape Verde.

With the risk of armed conflict reduced among the 24 countries in the region, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry aims to strengthen cooperation.

“For 40 years, United Nations member states have, by consensus, reiterated this declaration [regarding a zone free of weapons of mass destruction]. However, ZOPACAS is also a zone of peace and cooperation, and this aspect, in our view, has not developed to its full potential,” said Ambassador Carlos Márcio Bicalho Cozendey, Secretary for Multilateral Political Affairs at Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Documents

According to the diplomat, the countries are expected to sign three documents in Rio: a convention on the marine environment; a cooperation strategy establishing three areas of action (subdivided into 14 thematic areas); and the Rio de Janeiro Declaration, which is political in nature.

Although it is a “political declaration,” Ambassador Carlos Bicalho rules out the possibility that the 30–40 paragraphs of the text currently being drafted will contain references to conflicts in the Middle East or Eastern Europe. “One should not expect statements on all current events,” he said.

The ZOPACAS ministerial meeting, however, should “reiterate and make clear that this is a peaceful region and that the countries of the region themselves are capable of and interested in maintaining it as a region of peace and security” and “prevent extra-regional powers from bringing their conflicts and problems here,” the diplomat added during a press briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brasília.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is expected to attend the meeting’s closing ceremony.