Krenak First Nations people of Brazil fight BHP’s environmental destruction

BY DORINDA COX
Senator for Western Australia

It was powerful to receive the support of the Krenak First Nations people of Brazil leading up to the referendum. Their grace and resilience in times of adversity is inspiring. 

The Krenak people have lodged a class action against Australian mining giant BHP over the devastating Mariana dam disaster - the largest class action in history involving 700,000 claimants seeking approximately $69 billion damages.

Their efforts are being frustrated by BHP’s continued delays to court proceedings, yet the Krenak remain committed to pursuing and achieving justice for their families and future. Eight years on and they still haven’t received compensation despite the massive impact on their health and livelihoods and the deaths of 19 people.

So, what happened? In 2015 BHP’s Mariana tailings dam burst, unleashing 40 million cubic metres of highly toxic mining waste into 700 km of waterways and 170 km of beaches. The contaminated sludge included arsenic, mercury, nickel and aluminium. 

The River Doce was relied on by more than 13 million people for irrigation and drinking water. It suffered irreparable damage when the tailings dam gave way affecting villages and communities. The failure caused massive and ongoing environmental, social and economic devastation. 
 

The mining project was owned and operated by Samarco Mineração, a joint iron ore venture between BHP and the Brazilian company Vale. In 2016 an agreement was struck between Samarco and Brazilian Government and a fine of $4.8 billion was issued but no compensation flowed to affected communities. This is a devastating and draining fight for the Krenak people against mining companies with massive profits and assets and huge legal teams.

Poor corporate citizenship and zero corporate responsibility sadly is all too common in the big business and in mining we see repeated missteps, disregard and destruction of ancient cultural heritage. 

There are similarities in the treatment of First Nations people all over the world and we again see Tiwi Traditional Owners having to take on Santos over its Barossa gas project. My Spirit of Sea Country Bill aims to protect tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

I was deeply humbled to be presented with cultural gifts by Chiefs as they brought their message to Parliament House with the help of an interpreter. The group visited Australia with their legal representatives who are acting on behalf of claimants from several indigenous communities to discuss the impact of the disaster and the court case.

The Krenak people want better international oversight of Australian mining in developing nations. They met with First Nations leaders, superannuation funds and social justice groups in Australia to discuss the impact of our mining companies in the developing world.