Até onde vai a lama? Impactos do rompimento da barragem Córrego do Feijão e da pandemia COVID-19 na cadeia produtiva de minhocuçu (Rhinodrilus alatus) e outras iscas, em Minas Gerais

Abstract

The collapse of the Córrego do Feijão ore tailings dam (Minas Gerais, Brazil) contaminated the Paraopeba river basin, affecting its biodiversity and human communities that use its different resources. The environmental, social and economic impacts in the area affected by the mud are evident. However, these impacts generate a succession of indirect effects and affected people that are not considered by the judicial process. With the interruption of fishing, the entire production chain of earthworm (Rhinodrilus alatus) and other baits was affected, reaching the quilombola community of Pontinha, in the municipality of Paraopeba, whose main source of income is the extraction of earthworms, and a group of fishing trade spots by the side of the BR 040 road, in the municipality of Caetanópolis, called “Shopping da Minhoca”. Aiming to diagnose the impacts of the dam failure and of the COVID-19 pandemic on the production chain of minhocuçu and other baits, and to contribute to the determinations of short-term measures and public policies that address these sectors, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were applied to three sectors of the minhocuçu chain and other baits: traders, extractors and fishermen. From the triangulation of the collected data and content analysis of the interviewees' reports, we diagnosed the impacts of the Córrego do Feijão dam break and of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thereby, we identified a complex network of influences and indirect threats to the bait production chain that converge into two direct ones, the illegal use of minhocuçu and the fishing activity. Therefore, all factors that affect the fishing activity generate impacts on the bait trade and, consequently, on the extraction of earthworms. These threats intensified with the dam break, as the traffic of fishermen slowed unexpectedly, reducing bait sales and the income of traders and extractors. The social and environmental impacts of the dam break to these groups were further aggravated by the pandemic. Traders and extractors who were already weakened by the break were hit once more by the pandemic and the Brazilian economic crisis that followed, further increasing their vulnerability. Thus, the entire chain of baits was hit by these two disasters. In this context, this work provides support for strategic planning with a focus in minimizing negative effects to such groups, and for the revision of the extent of impacts caused by dam failures.