The Volta Grande ("Big Bend") region of the Xingu River in the Amazon is once again under imminent threat. Following the construction of the Belo Monte megadam in 2016, this area is undergoing unprecedented levels of destruction. And now, Canadian mining company Belo Sun is pushing forward with an open-pit gold mine in the region, displacing and threatening the traditional communities who live there.

A large part of the Volta Grande mining project sits within an agrarian reform settlement that is home to hundreds of families who live off the land and the river, cultivating small-scale farms, producing manioc flour, and harvesting açaí or other traditional products from the forest. Belo Sun’s attempts to remove these families from their land threatens to erase their history and rights.

Local communities and civil society from Brazil and abroad are resisting these aggressive attempts to hand over agrarian reform land to an international mining company. Amazon Watch is supporting local guardian groups through the Amazon Defenders Fund and by providing legal support to their organizations.