Home / Environment / Mariana Disaster: A Decade of Broken Promises and Unhealed Wounds
Mariana Disaster: A Decade of Broken Promises and Unhealed Wounds
5 Nov
Summary
- Toxic mining waste spill killed 19 and contaminated Doce River for 370 miles
- Indigenous Krenak community devastated, still fighting for justice and recovery
- Brazil's climate credibility questioned as environmental deregulation continues
Ten years ago, on November 5, 2015, a mining dam owned by Samarco, a joint venture between Brazilian company Vale and Anglo-Australian giant BHP Billiton, burst near the town of Mariana in southeastern Brazil. The disaster unleashed a torrent of toxic iron ore waste that buried the nearby community of Bento Rodrigues and swept down the Doce River valley, killing 19 people and contaminating waterways for nearly 600 kilometers before reaching the Atlantic Ocean.
For the Indigenous Krenak people, who had lived along the Doce River for generations, the damage was not just environmental but spiritual. "It was the saddest day for my people," said Shirley Djukurnã Krenak, an Indigenous leader. "We felt the death of the river before it arrived."
As Brazil prepares to host the United Nations' COP30 climate summit in 2025, the unresolved legacy of the Mariana disaster and other recent policy moves reveal the distance between the country's climate discourse and reality. Indigenous congresswoman Célia Xakriabá, who represents the affected region of Minas Gerais, said the tragedy remains "a crime still in progress," with the Doce River still contaminated and the people still suffering.
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The lack of justice for the Mariana victims undermines Brazil's credibility as a global environmental leader, according to experts. Instead of learning from the disaster, the country has weakened its environmental licensing laws, contributing to further tragedies like the Brumadinho dam collapse in 2019 that killed 270 people.
