Link to article: https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/bolsonaro-pushes-mining-brazils-indigenous-lands-citing-fertilizer-pinch-2022-03-09/
The Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, attempted to rush through a law that would allow mining on indigenous reservations to get fertilizer supplies. His efforts to rush the bill were unsuccessful as party whips decided it might anger voters in an election year. The bill will be studied and considered again in 30 days. Brazil is the largest importer of potash and they rely on fertilizer for about 85% of their grain crops. Brazil has large reserves of Potash in the Amazon around indigenous inhabited land. Many say that Bolsonaro is using the Ukrainian war to rush the bill to mine and also oil exploitation on protected and indigenous lands while the attention is on Ukraine and Russia.
It is understandable that they are trying to find a solution to finding a new source of Potash because Brazil is one of the world’s top food producers. Despite this, it is concerning that getting fertilizer in the country would have to happen at the expense of the Amazon rainforest and indiginous protected land. Bolsonaro has already cut back environmental enforcement in the Amazon and defunded the government’s indiginous protection agency. The Amazon already has massive deforestation and indiginous people in Brazil are facing an increasing amount of violence towards them. This law could lead to further weakening of environmental protection creating damage that is irreversible.
This situation displays complex interdependence. So many countries are affected by the war in Ukraine. Because of the sanctions put on Russia, many countries are experiencing hardships with oil and gas supply, which results in higher prices. Sanctions on Russia are causing Brazil to try and find a new source of potash. This is troublesome because to meet their needs with fertilizer, they would have to put it at the expense of the environment, and indigenous reservations which are protected by their constitution. This shows how reliant other countries are on other countries, and don’t always have a plan if they suddenly cant depend on other countries.