Pres. Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil wants to open up the Amazon rainforest to commercial mining. We (Now This Earth) talked to Indigenous leader and activist Sônia Guajajara to learn about the impacts of removing the rainforest from the protection of Indigenous communities.

On February 5, 2020, President Jair Bolsonaro presented a new a bill to the Brazilian congress that would bring commercial mining, oil, and gas exploration to Indigenous reserves of the Amazon.

‘There’s really important data that Indigenous people represent 5% of the world’s population, but we protect over 82% of the global biodiversity that is still alive in the world,’ says activist Sônia Guajajara. ‘It’s real important data to show the scale of removing territories from Indigenous peoples.’

Source: Now This Earth