Within the framework of the Pre-summit and Amazon Summit that has been announced to be held among the presidents and governments of the Amazon countries, The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation issued a circular warning about the problem of the illegal exploitation of minerals in the Amazonand required all the competent authorities, opportune and necessary actions against the risks in the guarantee of rights of indigenous peoples and the preservation of protected areas.
In circular 009, the control entity urged the National Government to urgently implement the Minamata Convention on mercury and the Single National Mercury Plan, calling for constant monitoring of the levels of contamination by this metal, in people and ecosystems, in strategic basins for the biocultural wealth of the Amazon.
In the communication, the Public Ministry also specified that said high-level measures, must include the articulation of all the ministries and the Public Forcewhich prevent the illegal extraction of minerals, the transnational circulation of groups that carry out illegal mining activities, as well as trafficking of toxic substances in the Amazon territoryespecially in the territories of the indigenous peoples in isolation settled in the Río Puré National Natural Park.
The call from the control entity, aimed at protection of indigenous peoples and the Amazon ecosystemrequested that they be carried out toxicological studiesepidemiological and sociocultural studies on the impacts of mercury on the communities and ecosystems of these territories, including sacred sites for indigenous people.
Finally, the State must design and implement a decontamination plan, for the restoration of the ecosystem in strategic basins of the Amazon, prioritizing the basins of Caquetá, Putumayo and Inírida; including a detoxification plan with a differential and biocultural approach to local communities and indigenous Amazonian peoples.