A Contested Forest
The Case of the Carajas Iron Ore Mine in the AmazonLocation: Amazon Forest, Brazil
Urbanism Seminar, MIT Fall 2018
The Carajás forest holds different meanings, where it is considered a commodity when it comes to natural resources and extraction. The forest is also an ecosystem and heritage that need to preserved. Moreover, the forest is a home that is inhabited by people.
Different actors tap into the different worlds of extraction, preservation, and settlements, in which the worlds begin to converge. The extraction company taps in to the realm of conservation as it claims to replant the forest, the environmental agency permits mining processes as it negotiates deals with the company, and the residents form their own smaller scale extraction processes as they begin to inhabit the forest.
This research project analyzes and visualizes the narrative of the contested forest.
Global Scale
On July 31 1967, a helicopter carrying a Brazilian team of geologists from Companhia Meridional de Minerações (CMM), a subsidiary of U.S. Steel, landed on a hilltop in Serra dos Carajás to refuel. The geologists recognized iron ore on the surface, and four decades later, one of the world’s largest iron ore mines producing $13 billion worth of iron ore per year, had taken place. Valeships, with capacity for up to 400,000 tons of iron ore, depart for 7 ports in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Mine and Infrastructure
The Carajás Mine is located within the municipality of Parauapebas, Southeast of the state of Pará in the Carajás Mountains of Northern Brazil. On June 1978, Vale commissioned the 890km railroad linking the Ponta da Madeira on the Maranhão coastline to the Carajás reserves, leading to the implementation of the Carajás Iron Ore Mine, which cut through the Awa and Maranhao Indigenous Tribes.
World of Extraction
Viewing the forest as a commodity, Vale digs up more than 300,000 tons every day and by the year 2014, the mine processed a total of around 110 million tons.
Viewing the forest as a commodity, Vale digs up more than 300,000 tons every day and by the year 2014, the mine processed a total of around 110 million tons.
World of Preservation
The Carajás forest, a federally protected area, has a unique landscape characterized by ridges, caves, and bonded iron formation (BIF) rocks. Over the BIF, the savannah/‘canga’ is formed, which acts as a caprock to support the tops of mountain plateaus. Out of the 400,000h of the forest, 3% of the vegetation cover is made of the canga/savannah ecosystem, which is the same contested land that Vale operates on.
The Carajás forest, a federally protected area, has a unique landscape characterized by ridges, caves, and bonded iron formation (BIF) rocks. Over the BIF, the savannah/‘canga’ is formed, which acts as a caprock to support the tops of mountain plateaus. Out of the 400,000h of the forest, 3% of the vegetation cover is made of the canga/savannah ecosystem, which is the same contested land that Vale operates on.
Timeline
The three worlds of extraction, preservation, and settling act in parallel, where they sometimes either work together or create friction.
The three worlds of extraction, preservation, and settling act in parallel, where they sometimes either work together or create friction.
Actor-Network Diagram
The implications resulting from the Carajas Mine and different actors affected by it.
When Extraction and Preservation Meet
Actors from different ‘worlds’ meet to establish a forest for preservation and extraction.
Urbanization
In Parauapebas, the mine provides thousands of jobs to its citizens, and an exponential population increase is seen in parallel to the expansion of Vale’s mining projects in the Carajás area. Between 2000 and 2010 the urban population grew 115 percent.
Rural Expansion and Extraction
As Vale established the Carajas National Forest and has ownership on it with ICMBio, with the aim to reserve the forest from deforestation a lot of extraction due to cattle raising and tree logging is seen outside the forest.
Displacement
A 560-mile long railway that cut through the Awa’s territory on its way to the coast.
Contestation
Different actors tap into the different worlds of extraction, preservation, and ‘inhabiting’, in which the worlds begin to converge. The extraction company taps in to the realm of conservation as it claims to replant the forest, the environmental agency permits mining processes as it negotiates deals with the company, and the residents form their own smaller scale extraction processes as they begin to inhabit the forest.