Deep in the Amazon Rainforest, Indigenous Peoples face huge threats from expanding illegal gold mining. Forests are destroyed, rivers are poisoned with mercury. Miners invade in huge numbers, bringing violence and disease.
Doto Takak Ire, Indigenous leader of the Kayapó People, says, “I’ve been fighting against gold mining and for the protection of the Amazon and Indigenous Lands practically my entire life.”
The impact on Indigenous communities is severe. The Yanomami face a humanitarian crisis dating back decades, made worse by the recent Bolsonaro government. A 2020 study found 200 Munduruku tested positive for mercury contamination.
How Greenpeace pressured Hyundai to stop equipping illegal gold miners
An April 2023 Greenpeace report highlighted the fast expansion of illegal gold mining into Indigenous Lands.
One company, HD Hyundai Construction equipment (HCE), supplied 43% of the digging equipment to miners.
Greenpeace Brazil and Greenpeace East Asia launched the report at a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, at which Doto Takak Ire spoke.
On the other side of the world, activists and Indigenous Leaders protested in front of a Hyundai factory in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
They demanded the company stop selling their excavators to illegal miners in the Amazon.