In the face of widespread public opposition and legal challenges, Brazilian President Michel Temer this month backtracked on a plan to open a vast area of the eastern Amazon to mining. Temer on Sept. 25 issued a decree that effectively maintains a 33-year-old ban on mining in the National Reserve of Copper and Associated Minerals (Renca), a biodiverse-rich area of pristine rainforest in Amapá and Pará states. The measure rescinded a controversial Aug. 28 decree he had issued to lift the ban. Renca was created by the former military regime in 1984 after copper reserves had been discovered in the region. The objective was to temporarily prevent mining of the copper—as well as gold, tantalum, nickel, manganese, iron and other commercial ores later found there—on the understanding that state mining companies would be allowed to extract them in the future. But subsequent civilian governments continued... [Log in to read more]