Brazil’s mining code under attack: giant mining companies impose unprecedented risk to biodiversity

Abstract

Brazil owns one of the largest biodiversity in the world. It has the largest area of tropical forests, the most biodiverse tropical savanna and is one of the countries that have experienced very significant economic growth during the twentieth Century and the beginning of the twenty-first Century. It is among the top ten economies of the world, largely based on environmental resources and commodities production. Two main environmental laws from 1960’s, the Forest Code and the Mining Code, have imposed restrictions to the use of natural resources by landholders and companies up to the 2010’s. In 2012, however, big companies and political lobbies have ssucceeded to change the Forest Code and are threatening the sibling Mining Code.