Saving the Amazon Together

Narrator: Brazil’s Amazon rain forest has millions of different types of insects, plants,
animals, and birds, many of which are exotic and rare. Scientists have yet to record
all of the varied species of life here. However, the Amazon is far from a paradise.
There are a number or threats that have put it in crisis. It’s quickly being destroyed
by widespread deforestation from human settlement and land development.

Therefore, a concerned group has been brought together in an effort to help save it.
The expedition has come to define the borders and the rules of a newly created
national park, Tumucumaque. The park is enormous—about 3.8 million
hectares—but it only employs five people, not nearly enough staff to care for it.

The Brazilian government established the national park and allocated funds for its
administration. However, legislation is one thing; it’s quite another to make a park a
reality. The first step is to mark the borders of the park. Another major issue is one
of monitoring. The area is so vast that it’s extremely difficult to regulate effectively.

The team is part of the Amazon Region Protected Areas program. The experts come
from different organizations. Christoph Jaster is a Brazilian government park warden.
He’s joined by Claudio Maretti from the World Wildlife Fund and Jawapuku Wayapi,
a member of the indigenous people on neighboring lands.

Claudio Maretti, World Wildlife Fund: Somebody needs to come here and do the
job, and that’s what we are doing.

Narrator: Their mission is twofold. First, they have come to search for criminals, such
as illegal gold miners who may be harming this precious, newly protected landscape.
They’ve also come on a diplomatic mission, seeking cooperation with neighboring
tribes that live alongside park lands. Jawapuku Wayapi says that by working with
each other, the authorities and his people can protect the new park from being
invaded by illegal commercial activity.

From here, the journey will become even more challenging as they move into the
more remote and untraveled areas of the forest. There are no roads in this remote
area surrounding the park, and few airstrips, so water is the most efficient and
practical way to travel, but it’s not an easy journey. Dangerous currents and majestic
waterfalls have stopped all but a few explorers and fortune seekers from ever

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coming here.

Maretti: This is the largest obstacle, the most important that we have to cross.

Narrator: They construct a pulley system using ropes and wheels to get the boats to
the top of the waterfall. After their heavy lifting, the team is exhausted, but they still
need to continue moving. Park manager Christoph Jaster wants to track down a gold
mine seen from the air. According to his GPS, it should be nearby.

Maretti: We’re going back, trying to find an entrance here—a small river or a track in
the forest.

Narrator: Once they’ve found the track, the team will simply need to follow it to its
source: the illegal mine. Hydraulic gold mining in the Amazon erodes the soil and
creates silt in rivers, negatively affecting the habitats of countless species of plants
and animals. However, the most dangerous aspect of the process is the mercury
used to extract the gold, which can poison wildlife and create health risks for
neighboring indigenous communities.

Authorities hope to create a partnership with the local Wayapi tribe, supplying them
with boats and fuel so that they can help patrol the new park’s borders. According to
Claudio Maretti, this is an unusual collaboration, but obviously one that could
benefit both sides.

Far up the river, the team finds a path that appears to have been made by miners.
Together with an armed police unit, they follow it deep into the forest. Eventually, as
they get closer to the suspected mining site, the team comes across a frightened
miner named Francisco. He agrees to lead them several miles to the gold mine.

Once at the mining site, the team realizes the degree of damage from just one
mining operation. It turns out that the mine has been operating illegally for nearly
two decades. But it appears that the mine isn’t really very profitable.

Christophe Jaster, Park Manager: They just obtain 70, 80, or at maximum 100 grams
of gold per month. And that’s too poor. They are looking for another place to mining.
That will be a positive moment for us to convince them to leave this place.

Narrator: Francisco says that the mine’s owner will be angry but that he was thinking

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of closing the operation down anyway and moving to another location. In time, the
forest will repair the damage caused by the mine, but the mercury pollution will last
much longer.

The team has found the mine, but their mission is not over yet. Jaster leads the
others to a remote airstrip built years ago by a mining company. Upon their arrival,
the team finds two unexpected residents. José and his wife Madeleina have lived
here for 18 years, mining gold with a small dredge, and surviving by farming, hunting
and fishing. The team posts a signboard to make it clear that this land is a national
park now. Unfortunately for the couple, non-employees are prohibited from living in
it. The wardens don’t want to leave the couple homeless, but there’s no way around
the rules, or is there . . .?

Jaster may be able to pay the couple a salary to monitor and maintain the airstrip.
It’s another way to get the local residents to support the new reserve instead of
discriminating against them or ignoring their needs.

The team has finished its work and, for now, the expedition can return down the
Amazon. The gold miners have been sent on their way, the Wayapi have agreed to
help patrol the new park’s borders, and the park’s western border has been marked.
Little by little, the beautiful, lawless wilderness of the Tumucumaque rain forest is
becoming a well-defined and protected national park. The rain forest and the
amazing animal and plant diversity in this region now stand a better chance of
surviving because conservationists and indigenous peoples are working to save the
Amazon together.

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