FROM BELÉM (PA) — Chief Raoni Metuktire and other Indigenous leaders from the Amazon region criticized on Tuesday (11) President Lula’s support for oil exploration in the Equatorial Margin, a coastal region stretching from Amapá to Rio Grande do Norte, including the mouth of the Amazon River.
“I know they want to drill for oil, I know Lula is talking about it, but I want to say that we cannot allow this to happen,” said the 90-year-old Indigenous leader during an event organized by the MPF (Federal Prosecution Service) in the Green Zone of COP30 in Belém (PA).
The warning echoed protests from other Indigenous people from Pará and Amapá present at the meeting. “It is sad to see Lula defending this at COP. The world can no longer continue with oil exploration,” said Luene dos Santos Karipuna, executive coordinator of the Coordination of Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of Amapá and Northern Pará.
At the end of October, the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) granted an operating license to Petrobras to begin exploratory drilling of a well at the mouth of the Amazon basin for the purpose of oil exploration. The concession sparked protests from environmental organizations and civil society. According to the state-owned company, drilling is scheduled to begin “immediately.”
“IBAMA authorized the start of research without listening to the Indigenous people, completely erasing us from the place where we live,” Luene laments.
At COP, the issue continues to be discussed at parallel tables and in conversations in the corridors of the Green Zone, a space open to the public. Fossil fuels (such as oil, coal, and natural gas) are the main source of greenhouse gas emissions, such as CO2, which are responsible for global warming.
“President Lula is the one who has demarcated the most indigenous lands. But we are saddened when he talks about climate change and then speaks in favor of oil exploration,” agrees Edmilson Karipuna, coordinator of the Council of Chiefs of the Indigenous Peoples of Oiapoque, the CCPIO. “We will always say no to oil exploration,” he reinforces.
IBAMA’s license to Petrobras causes impacts in Amapá, say organizations
Indigenous people are already reporting impacts on their territories and in the municipality of Oiapoque (AP), on the border with French Guiana, as a result of the license issued by IBAMA, such as population growth, increased violence, and invasions of Indigenous t