Members of MST, of the municipality of Parauapebas in Carajas region, of the Environment Ministry of Para along with researchers gave a tour of the area to illustrate the adverse effect of mining in the region, which is a true ecological and human disaster.

Fanny Blanchard, trainee with Frères des Hommes in Brazil tells us: "Hard to believe that in the middle of the Amazon, hundreds of kilometers of cleared land ends up in the mine: a huge crater, mountains of rubbish used for iron smelting, huge hills bathed in toxic black smoke coming out of the factory.” Under the dismayed eyes of visitors, the multinational company’s representative still tries to be reassuring :" We dig only 3% of a forest that covers 1.2 million hectares."

Access to land is the main cause of the problem. The families, mostly indigenous populations, suffer heavy pressure from companies to sell their land, others are directly expelled. It is thus a human disaster added to an ecological one. The Parauapebas region has experienced a population increase of 150% in 10 years due to the potential employment brought by the establishment of enterprises. However, the latest only offer precarious jobs and many people cannot find work. Poverty, drug trafficking, alcoholism and homicide are constantly increasing.

By putting faces and landscapes on the issues presented in theory during the WSF, this meeting Carajas has helped to imbed the topic of popular sovereignty in the center of the debate.