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As the coronavirus pandemic reaches deep into Brazil\u2019s Amazon, a ceaseless stream of trucks carry soybeans and construction workers to an expanding port complex in the heart of the forest.<\/p>\n
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Indigenous activists have opposed the Itaituba port in Par\u00e1 state for nearly a decade, even before shipments began there in 2014.<\/p>\n
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But now the pandemic and expansion works are fueling new fears about the port\u2019s impact on traditional communities and the biodiversity riches of the Tapaj\u00f3s river.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThere\u2019s a flow of workers all the time. Nothing\u2019s changed. It\u2019s like the virus didn\u2019t exist,\u201d said Alessandra Munduruku – a leader of the Munduruku people – who lives in Praia do Indio, a village within 10 km (6 miles) of the grain port.<\/p>\n
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Local indigenous leaders say the complex in Miritituba district is illegal because the companies involved did not comply with an international convention, enshrined in Brazilian law, requiring prior consultation with traditional communities.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe companies never listen to us,\u201d Munduruku, who campaigns on indigenous rights throughout Brazil, said by phone.<\/p>\n
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Global agroindustry giants Bunge and Cargill are among about a dozen firms that use the Itaituba terminals to load grain grown as far as 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away in big soybean-producing regions such as Mato Grosso and western Bahia.<\/p>\n
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Bunge and Cargill told the Thomson Reuters Foundation they operate legally and have met all the licensing requirements set by Semas, Par\u00e1\u2019s environment secretariat.<\/p>\n
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\u2018No inspection, no control\u2019<\/strong> <\/p>\n Josenaldo Luna de Castro, a community leader from the city of Itaituba, said the traffic of heavy ships on the river since the port complex was established had hurt fish stocks, forcing more than 70% of fishermen to abandon their profession.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now COVID-19 is exhausting scarce healthcare resources in other Amazon cities, including hard-hit Manaus, and Luna de Castro said Itaituba\u2019s residents fear the long lines of truck drivers who arrive in the city each day could bring the virus with them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no inspection and no control,\u201d he said by phone from the city of about 100,000 people.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As Brazil\u2019s coronavirus death toll surges, Par\u00e1 state alone has reported more than 3,800 fatalities, more than 30 of them in Itaituba.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nationwide, Brazil has seen over 743,000 cases and 38,500 fatalities for the virus, making it one of the countries hardest-hit.<\/p>\n maritime professional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As the coronavirus pandemic reaches deep into Brazil\u2019s Amazon, a ceaseless stream of trucks carry soybeans and construction workers to an expanding port complex in the heart of the forest. Indigenous activists have opposed the Itaituba port in Par\u00e1 state for nearly a decade, even before shipments began there in 2014. But now the pandemic …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[5593,7519,1154,2332,7518,3740,953,2796],"class_list":["post-11433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-maritime-news","tag-amazon","tag-conduit","tag-covid19","tag-fear","tag-indigenous","tag-leaders","tag-port","tag-soy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/11434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
As construction work moves forward on a new port area, just down the river from the current terminals, Munduruku said villagers worry that new roads and construction will encroach further on the forest and their way of life.<\/p>\n