The licensing project for the Guaíba Mine was finally shelved by the State Foundation for Environmental Protection (Fepam), of Rio Grande do Sul. Biologist Andrea Garcia de Oliveira, head of the Mining Sector of Fepam, explained some of the reasons that led to the shelving, such as the terminology of “not satisfactory” for the submitted studies of environmental licensing for the undertaking and the complementary data in the updated version, in addition to the declaration of nullity of the licensing process for the Guaíba Mine.
This was, moreover, a victory for civil society and indigenous peoples. This is because, in February, federal judge Clarides Rahmeier, of the 9th Federal Court of Porto Alegre, decided to annul the process, upholding the claims exposed in a public civil action by the Poty Guarani Indigenous Association and the Arayara Institute.
“It is a result of coordinated work between several organizations from civil society in Rio Grande do Sul, with the participation of the Arayara and Preservar Institutes, in addition to the Coal Laboratory of the Geology Department at UFRGS and the dozens of entities that were gathered together in the Committee Against Megamining. It shows a society that is mobilized and aware of the energy transition that we have to carry out in this decade,” says Roberto Kishinami, senior coordinator of the Energy portfolio at iCS.
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