📋 Tender Overview
The Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP) launches, this Tuesday (21), in partnership with the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), the Instituto Amazônico do Mercúrio (Iamer ), which aims to combat contamination caused by metal in the Legal Amazon. The launch will take place at the Gasmetro Theater in Parque da Residência, at 5pm, in Belém. The department will be represented at the event by the program director of the MJSP Executive Secretariat, Juliana Santos.
The initiative is coordinated by the National Secretariat for Access to Justice (Saju/MJSP) as a way of promoting public policies aimed at access to environmental justice. The project is also part of the National Strategy for Mitigation and Reparation of the Impacts of Drug Trafficking on Territories and Indigenous Populations, coordinated by the National Secretariat for Drug Policies and Asset Management (Senad) and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI), and will receive contribution of R$3 million from the National Anti-Drug Fund (Funad).
The project envisages the creation of five mercury testing centers in four Amazonian states, with the aim of reinforcing the Federal Government's actions in preventing and monitoring human exposure to the heavy metal in the region, which has high rates of violence due to its actions. of criminal organizations that operate networks of illegal logging, human trafficking, illegal mining, gold and diamond smuggling, among other crimes.
Access to environmental justice
The initiative is an extension of Saju's actions, in the agenda of combating criminal organizations in indigenous lands. The National Strategy seeks to address these challenges in a systemic and intersectoral way, bringing together different actors to design and articulate public policies.
“In view of the actions of mercury contamination studies, it was identified that there were no studies on mercury contamination in humans. As there are many underreportings of contamination cases, this led to the need to create human testing centers, with specific protocols, so that we can then create and improve public policies for the territory”, highlighted secretary Sheila de Carvalho.
"The contamination of rivers by mercury is a major factor in making the health and lives of the people who inhabit the forest vulnerable. This scenario is a direct result of the convergence of illegal markets in the Amazon basin, which involves drug trafficking, illegal mining and other environmental crimes. This reality reinforces the need for integrated actions to repress this organized crime and to protect and repair communities that are suffering from the various forms of violence practiced by criminal networks", added the Secretary of Drug Policy and Asset Management, Marta Machado .
The project
Through the partnership, two of the centers will be established in Pará, at the Federal Universities of Pará (UFPA) and Oeste do Pará (Ufopa), and the others at the Federal University of Amapá (Unifap), Federal University of Rondônia (Unir) and University of Gurupi (Unirg), in Tocantins.
The Instituto Amazônico do Mercúrio (Iamer) will be responsible for preparing diagnoses based on data collected using equipment with advanced technologies and standardized analysis protocols. Based on the results, short, medium and long-term solutions will be designed to prevent exposure to mercury in the region.
The institution will also act as an interdisciplinary network, offering technical consultancy in the areas of public health, environment, human rights, and environmental and epidemiological monitoring. The objective is that the strengthening of local scientific production supports the creation of local public policies.
The project's priority fronts also include support for research and sustainable development that generate work and income compatible with the reality of indigenous territories, aiming to create opportunities that occupy the space dominated by illicit activities.
