MINING, DEFORESTATION, AND FOOD INSECURITY IN INDIGENOUS TERRITORIES OF THE AMAZON

STRUCTURAL CHALLENGES AND PUBLIC POLICY RESPONSES

Abstract

This article analyzes the structural interrelationship between mining expansion, deforestation, and the intensification of food insecurity in indigenous territories of the Amazon, seeking to evaluate the effectiveness and contradictions of Brazilian public policies in the face of this socio-environmental crisis. Adopting an interdisciplinary and decolonial approach, the research articulates a literature review, documentary analysis of regulatory frameworks (PNPSAN, PNGATI, PPCDAm), and a brief case study on emergency actions in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory (2023–2025). The results demonstrate that environmental degradation, marked by mercury contamination of water and the collapse of subsistence ecosystems, causes an epistemological and ontological rupture, transforming food insecurity into a form of structural violence that affects indigenous sovereignty and territorial integrity. A critical analysis of public policies reveals that, despite the existence of a consistent normative framework, governmental actions remain fragmented, reactive, and assistance-oriented, reproducing institutional coloniality and failing to recognize the inseparable link between the environment, indigenous rights, and adequate food. It is concluded that overcoming the crisis requires a transition from the intervention paradigm to that of coexistence, through the implementation of integrated socio-environmental governance policies. The creation of Local Plans for Food Sovereignty and Territorial Sustainability, articulated with the restructuring of the PPCDAm and the PNPSAN, is proposed as a way to consolidate indigenous protagonism and the Human Right to Adequate Food (DHAA) in the Amazon. The study contributes to the debate on the formulation of sustainable public policies and the consolidation of post-colonial development paradigms.