Desastres criados no Pantanal sul-mato-grossense pela mineração: o caso da seca do córrego Urucum

Abstract

The general objective of this research is to identify the application of the conceptual tool “desastralização” (disaster-making) in the context of mineral exploitation in the Pantanal region of Mato Grosso do Sul. As a working hypothesis, the case of the Urucum Stream drought was selected for analysis, given its public repercussion and its involvement in legal proceedings. The goal is to establish a causal link between the drought and mining activity in the southern Pantanal, and to demonstrate how this disaster was both created and made possible. The chosen methodological approach was the historical-dialectical method, aiming to understand that the social issue under investigation is in constant motion and transformation, and is not limited to isolated events, but is instead part of a broader whole. Regarding the theoretical framework, the research was grounded in the concept of the “mining model” as defined by Horacio Machado Aráoz, which highlights recurring violations and the comprehensive degradation of life resulting from mining activities. In addition, it draws on the conceptual tool “desastralização,” proposed by Karine Gonçalves Carneiro and Tatiana Ribeiro de Souza, to understand how and why disasters are created. To support the hypothesis, the research used primary sources such as case law from the Court of Justice of Mato Grosso do Sul regarding environmental damage caused by mining in the Pantanal. Secondary sources included documents from the National Mining Agency (ANM), the Atlas of Mining Problems, the Water Resources Plan for the Paraguay River Basin, and reports from the Pastoral Land Commission, in order to complement the investigation. The study concludes that mining activities in the Pantanal region of Mato Grosso do Sul led to disasters related to the drought of the Urucum Stream. These activities caused not only individual harm to affected people, but also ecological damage to the essential characteristics of the biome and broad environmental damage that impacted the collective interests of society, affecting all components of the environment.