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 Senator Tião Viana (Workers' Party, state of Acre), the vice-president of the Senate, declared that he is against a law-proposal prepared by the Federal Government to regulate mining activities in indigenous lands.
This happened during a meeting held earlier this month with the vice president of the Missionary Council on Indigenous Issues (Cimi), Saulo Feitosa, which was convened to discuss research data indicating that petroleum has been found in Acre.
During the meeting, Feitosa said that any measures to regulate the exploitation of mineral resources in indigenous lands must be discussed as part of the debate on the Statute of Indigenous Peoples.
He challenged the law-proposal of the Federal Government to regulate mining activities in indigenous lands. Senator Tião Viana said that he agreed with him.
At the meeting, Feitosa expressed Cimi's concerns with any petroleum exploitation in indigenous lands in the state of Acre. Legally, this activity cannot be carried out because there is no specific regulation to be applied to the exploitation of mineral resources in indigenous lands.
Furthermore, petroleum prospection can have high environmental and social impacts - as a result of the presence of non-indigenous people in indigenous lands and of the physical framework that needs to be set up for this activity.
The impacts can begin to be felt even before the petroleum is actually exploited. Senator Tião Viana said that his proposal for petroleum prospection in the state of Acre does not involve indigenous lands or conservation units, as the law provides for.
Even if the exploitation of oil and natural gas is not directly carried out in indigenous lands, it will be necessary to study the direct and indirect impacts of these activities for the population before any authorization is granted.
Cimi
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