Original subtitles

♪ ♪

ALEX: Uh‐hmm.

MARIANA: The Amazon rainforest is at a tipping point.

So all the little red dots, this is all...

MARIANA: And criminal networks are pushing it closer

to the edge.

To understand how they operate,

I'll travel to a violent frontier.

MARIANA: What's fueling the multi‐billion dollar trade for illegal timber?

How is a global gold rush wreaking havoc on the jungle?

He says it can end up in a gold ring just like mine.

And what are the stakes for our planet?

MOIRA: I think it makes sense to think about the Amazon as the canary in the coal mine.

MARIANA: Watch out, watch out!

MOIRA: If we can't save it, we're doomed.

♪ ♪

(singing in native language).

MARIANA: 500 miles from the mouth of the Amazon lies Itaituba,

where a gold rush feeling hangs in the air.

So as soon as you get here,

you get a sense that this whole town

is geared towards exploiting the Amazon.

You can see it everywhere.

There's gold shops, there's places selling chainsaws.

And even the local mayor is a former gold miner.

While it might not surprise you that illegal logging is a major factor in deforestation,

gold mining is equally malicious.

I've come to this region where nearly 30 tons

of gold are extracted illegally every year,

as the first step on my mission to understand how

criminal networks are decimating the Amazon.

Okay. We're here.

But how do I actually make my way into the Amazon's underworld?

Through a contact,

I've set up a meeting with a driver who works for local prospectors.

MARIANA: Clearly, this is not the answer I'm looking for.

But what I've learned from these situations is to never take the first no

as the final answer.

MARIANA: And to keep buying drinks.

(singing in native language).

MARIANA: After a few rounds, the driver's tune has changed.

MARIANA: He now says he might be able to get me into a mine he knows,

deep in the Amazon jungle.

MARIANA: But there's a catch.

MARIANA: And so, thanks to my new drinking buddy, the next morning,

I find myself on one of the Amazon's infamous small planes.

MARIANA: Looking out the window,

while trying not to think about going down in a ball of flames,

I'm struck by the immensity of the Amazon.

But in 2020, an area the size of 345 Manhattans was wiped out.

And in Brazil, up to 94% of that deforestation can be considered illegal.

So, all these brown dots that you see, all these clearings in the jungle,

that's all the illegal gold mines.

So, who are the criminals responsible for this destruction?

And why is gold mining so devastating to the rainforest?

I'm hoping to find out.

This is what it's like to land on a runway made out of dirt.

I can't tell you where I'm headed.

It's an agreement I made last night with the driver.

So that's our guys waiting for us over there.

They are our contacts who are taking us to the mine.

Guys, seriously.

Cameras, cameras down.

This is the area they asked not to film as we arrived.

But I can tell you this,

it's always a little nerve‐wracking getting in a car with a masked man,

someone I don't know if I can trust.

MARIANA: The masked man, who I will be calling Alan,

says he's taking me to one of his four gold mines,

deep in the rainforest.

MARIANA: Alan tells me that other illegal prospectors in the area know I'm here

and we need to be on guard.

MARIANA: They almost prevented us from even landing.

And so, he's saying that people are just super scared here.

In Brazil, illegal gold mining is estimated to bring in

more than $1 billion a year.

While gold trafficking is less widespread than logging,

it can leave permanent scars.

Loggers often harvest valuable trees and leave the rest.

Miners, however, slash everything in their path.

Wow.

We're surrounded by the jungle here.

It's just a big clearing right in the middle of the rainforest.

This is pretty big.

Much bigger than I expected.

At the belly of a man‐made crater, miners toil away in the mud,

stripping back layer after layer of earth.

MARIANA: It's a backbreaking, dirty job.

Gold mines are a breeding ground for malaria and the pace is furious.

It's crazy to think that all of this has been done in just one week.

They just started working in this area a week ago and

you can see how much of it is already cleared out.

Deforestation from illegal gold mining has increased by more than 90% in recent years.

And our insatiable thirst for the precious metal threatens to make the situation even worse.

Tech companies consume hundreds of tons of gold a year.

Pure gold is used in every smartphone.

MOIRA: Where are the products that are being produced in the Amazon going?

They're coming here to the U. S. They're going to Europe.

These massive corporations could decide to really trace the supply chains

but they're choosing not to.

MARIANA: The murky supply chain ensures that

"dirty gold" finds its way into the market,

much as blood diamonds do.

And in Brazil, "dirty gold" has added significance.

Oh, it's mercury that they were putting in.

MARIANA: So he just has this mercury and the gold sort of combines with the mercury

and that's how they look and find gold here.

Despite what Alan says,

mercury leaves rivers poisoned.

The pollution can spread hundreds of miles downstream.

You see these little specks?

The yellow specks are gold and these little sort of silver little balls,

that's the gold covered in mercury.

Alan then takes the unrefined gold to a dealer,

one who doesn't ask too many questions.

MARIANA: A gold ring, just like mine.

MARIANA: But if miners like Alan are simply left to their own devices,

the Amazon will continue to face a dark future.

And in many cases, they actually have very little to show for it.

Sometimes they only get 70 to 80 grams of gold out of an area like this,

so all this work was almost for nothing.

That amount means only a few thousand dollars for

a week of work for Alan and his two dozen workers.

MARIANA: Traffickers in the Amazon are playing a high‐stakes game.

And more times than not, they're losing.

MARIANA: This man is an inside source from IBAMA,

Brazil's environmental protection agency.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: My source from IBAMA says that at the moment,

his agency is losing the battle with the Amazon mafia.

MARIANA: And corruption in Brazil allows international criminal organizations

to reap the benefits.

MARIANA: But getting black market commodities out of the country relies

on one key player, the middle man.

MARIANA: This dealer buys gold from mines all over the Amazon basin.

When he has enough, he melts it and sells it to international buyers.

MARIANA: Gold laundering,

the mixing of legal and illegal gold,

nearly ensures that trafficked gold finds its way into the market.

MOIRA: These massive corporations will turn a blind eye to the mixing of

illegally obtained materials with legally obtained materials.

And then they can take the certificate of authenticity for the legally obtained stuff

and slap it on the whole batch and say,

"Okay, we're good."

MARIANA: And because of this,

90% of Fortune 500 companies that invest in gold can be linked

to illegal mines in Latin America.

MARIANA: After seeing the effects of gold mining firsthand,

I'm going deeper into the Amazon,

hoping to find those responsible for

deforestation's original sin.

MOIRA: The first step in deforestation in the Amazon is usually illegal logging.

So there are a few types of wood in the Amazon that are really

valuable on the international market.

Things like mahogany.

The loggers will go in, they'll cut down those valuable trees and

then they will just chop down all the rest, and then burn them.

Then, when the land is cleared from the fires,

that can serve as cattle pastures.

MARIANA: Shockingly, an estimated 50% of logging in Brazil is illegal.

And the United States is one of the biggest importers of trafficked wood from the Amazon.

MARIANA: The high stakes have made the jungle a violent place.

MARIANA: On the edge of the Amazon's protected areas,

lies a small settlement.

MARIANA: I've traveled here to understand what can happen

to you when you go up against the Amazon mafia.

MARIANA: Osvalinda and Daniel Pereira run a small

organic farm surrounded by old‐growth timber.

MARIANA: Nearly all the forests adjoining their property

have been cut down in recent years.

MARIANA: The Pereiras have managed to protect and

plant new trees on their farm and they've

reported illegal activity to the authorities,

which has made them a target of local criminals.

MARIANA: One day, after returning to their house,

the couple found a local logging boss waiting for them,

accompanied by a squad of armed men.

DOROTHY: Brazil has about 30% of the world's biodiversity.

And so, can you imagine when somebody chops down

a tremendous area that burns for ten days?

MARIANA: Dorothy Stang was an American nun who campaigned for 30 years

to stop illegal loggers in the Amazon.

In 2005, while walking in the jungle,

she was murdered with six shots fired at close range.

Stang's murder is far from an isolated incident.

More than 1,700 people have been killed in land conflicts since 2000.

And in this part of the world,

where impunity reigns,

only 10% of the murders were brought to justice.

Following the threats from the local logging boss,

the Pereiras awoke one morning to find that

someone had crept onto their farm.

MARIANA: Leaving a terrifying warning.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: The Pereiras continue to receive death threats,

but they refuse to let the criminals have their way.

(chanting in native language).

MARIANA: My source says the situation got even more dire after

the 2018 election of Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro.

(speaking in native language).

INTERPRETER: It is a fallacy that the Amazon is a heritage of humanity and

it is also a mistake to say it is the lungs of the world.

Certain countries are using these fallacies, and instead of helping,

have started to attack with lies.

MOIRA: When Jair Bolsonaro was elected, a lot changed.

Deforestation skyrocketed.

There's been a massive rollback in respect for indigenous rights.

And Bolsonaro has regularly, in public, encouraged Amazon deforestation.

He's encouraged the arsonists lighting a lot of the fires.

And he's defamed a lot of the indigenous leaders.

When the head of state is encouraging violence,

that sends a very clear message.

MARIANA: According to observers,

his administration has effectively given a green light

to those who want to destroy the Amazon for profit,

which critics say includes the most powerful man in Itaituba.

At his riverside mansion,

I arrange a meeting with the town's mayor, Valmir Climaco.

MARIANA: He is not shy about his past as a logger and miner.

According to Climaco's own election filings,

he's the subject of 45 federal criminal citations.

But his trouble with the law hasn't hurt his popularity.

MARIANA: Mayor Climaco now owns cattle ranches and farms cleared from the rainforest,

industries responsible for millions of acres of deforestation.

MARIANA: Climaco was acquitted of some charges,

though he still faces pending trials for alleged

environmental crimes dating back to 2012.

However, Climaco doesn't think mining and logging are hurting the Amazon either way.

MARIANA: In the Amazon, this is all a seductive argument for those who

stand to make huge profits.

But it doesn't mesh with the reality I've seen in my time here.

MARIANA: Rather than debating the mayor on the merits of inhaling mercury fumes,

I want to ask him about the slew of killings in the region,

including Dorothy Stang, the American nun.

MARIANA: With the help of the FBI,

Brazilian authorities eventually convicted two

ranchers of orchestrating Dorothy Stang's murder.

MARIANA: Climaco's own property lies alongside the ancestral territory of

the Munduruku indigenous tribe.

For Climaco, letting them manage the land would be the real travesty.

MARIANA: Despite what Mayor Climaco says,

Brazil's indigenous people are now some

of the most courageous defenders of the Amazon.

Still, on the search for illegal loggers,

I'm going on patrol with members of the Munduruku indigenous tribe.

We've been going in further and further in for over an hour now.

They're actually looking for signs that there's been illegal activity in this area.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: I'm on patrol with the Munduruku tribe,

trying to catch illegal loggers in the act.

All these cut branches that you see are clear signs that

there's been some sort of illegal activity.

Usually, it's illegal loggers that come here and start cutting the branches

so they can go through deeper into the jungle.

Look.

(speaking in native language).

This is all evidence that the illegal loggers have been here.

You can see a whole structure over there.

This camp has been set up in the short time since the Munduruku last went on patrol.

MARIANA: Chief Juarez plans to confront the loggers and

force them out of Munduruku territory.

MARIANA: It's a bullet case, .38 cal.

MARIANA: Brazil's indigenous people have increasingly come under violent attack.

MARIANA: Even with the chance of an armed encounter,

Chief Juarez says it's time to move forward.

They've heard that there's people actually cutting down trees about an hour from here,

so he says we should keep going.

We'll try to go as far as we can.

As we proceed deeper and deeper into the rainforest,

it's hard not to feel completely exposed.

Criminals could be behind any bend of the river.

After another hour on the water,

the chief stops our boat.

The loggers have clearly been here.

MARIANA: They come in with chainsaws to look for trees like this.

And they left it behind because

they realized it was actually going to fall into the river.

MARIANA: Even with fresh evidence of their work,

the chief says the criminals have slipped away.

But two days later, I get a new lead.

MARIANA: After dozens of calls,

I finally receive a promising message from a local contact and a former illegal logger.

MARIANA: It's the access I've been working on for months.

But it's in an area with one of Brazil's highest murder rates.

I'll be miles and miles from help if anything goes wrong.

And as I head out to an undisclosed location,

I have no idea about what, or who, I might find.

Okay. This is it.

Okay. Come on, guys.

Let's do it.

The boss meets me at the access road and says we need to hurry onto the truck

so we're not spotted.

Okay, so we go on the back of the truck.

It's not an accident that this is a bumpy ride.

Loggers cut narrow roads,

hidden under the forest canopy to throw off aerial surveillance.

Whoa, whoa.

Watch out, watch out, watch out, watch out.

So we just got stuck.

The big truck got stuck.

I have no idea how they're going to take it out of here.

The truck isn't going anywhere.

And on top of that, we're suddenly alone.

The guy who's taking us in just left.

So we're stuck here.

It's super muddy and wet everywhere.

Stranded in the middle of the jungle with potentially violent criminals operating

in the area and there is nothing to do but wait.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: So we're stuck here,

just us and a big illegal logging truck.

After 30 minutes,

our contact returns and he's got some heavy equipment with him.

The rainy season is normally a quiet time of the year for the illegal timber trade,

because of the difficulty reaching the jungle.

But these loggers seem to be working harder than ever.

But I mean, it's incredible.

It's just in the middle of this thick, thick piece of jungle.

And there's just this clearing.

And this is what they've done.

They've just cleared this all out.

The loggers tell me that just yesterday,

a member of another crew was killed during the part

of the process I'm watching now.

They're saying it's incredibly dangerous to be behind,

uh, where the log is going up because

it's common that the cables will break and will fall off.

So a lot of people have been injured and killed when this happens.

They're just, these, like,

two cables that are pulling the log up to the truck.

This is all super sketchy.

I mean, they're barefoot!

You know, they're doing all of this, a lot of them are barefoot.

It may not be a high‐tech operation,

but they work fast, and efficiently.

So they've done all of this damage that you see here,

all this clearing, in just the last two weeks.

MARIANA: Loggers usually take pains to avoid being caught.

IBAMA raids mean crippling fines and destroyed equipment.

But insiders say the illegal timber trade is operating more openly than in years past.

They say they're going to cut down another tree right now.

The men tell me how they clear the most valuable trees first

and are quick to spot which ones to cut next.

Yeah, so they're saying that they think it's going to fall that way.

When it does, when it cracks, that a lot of sort of debris...

(thud)

Oh, my God.

Did you hear that? Did you hear that?

So that's it, when you hear that first crack,

that means the tree is falling.

It's slowly falling.

And then you just...

MARIANA: Watch out. Watch out.

MARIANA: Wow. I mean, it's insane.

You can feel the, you can hear the cracks incredibly loud.

And then you can feel the whole sort of, uh, ground shake.

Knowing that these trees could soon end up in a wood floor or backyard

deck somewhere in the U. S., it's hard to stomach.

MARIANA: Okay. Let's go see that.

He's saying we can go and see it.

The fallen tree.

Wow. Wow.

MARIANA: It's not even worth anything,

which makes this whole thing even more depressing.

I mean, all of this wasted for nothing.

Seeing this pointless destruction reminds me of what I witnessed at the gold mine.

The Amazon is being ravaged based on false hopes by those in the trenches.

MARIANA: If there is one thing I've learned from reporting on the world's black markets,

it's that the people who are getting their hands dirty often feel

like they have no other choice.

Criminals on the bottom rung of the shadow economy say they are simply trying to survive.

MARIANA: Holding those accountable for the murders in the Amazon is seemingly

an impossible task.

It's no surprise that so many of those killings have gone unpunished.

I may never come face to face with those at the top,

but I have one last way to expose the Amazon mafia.

I'm going to follow the timber.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: Under the cover of night,

the logs I saw being cut down in the Amazon earlier,

are transported here to this illegal sawmill.

I still want to understand what happens to timber illegally harvested in the Amazon.

And if this wood will soon end up in the hands of U. S. consumers.

(speaking foreign language).

But nobody at the mill wants to talk.

MARIANA: Si.

MARIANA: Suddenly, I'm told it's time for us to stop filming.

A shipment of cut boards is heading out and we've been explicitly warned not to follow.

It's frustrating to leave without tracking this wood any farther.

But I already know where a lot of it is headed.

♪ ♪

JACOB: Sometimes it's a bit of a reveal.

When you look at a shipment like this, and you open it up,

it takes your breath away for a second.

To be like, "Wow, that's not what I was expecting."

And you realize how big some of the wood is.

You do step back and you put that in perspective,

how old was that tree?

MARIANA: At a warehouse near the port of Houston,

agents from U. S. Customs and Border Protection are inspecting

a new shipment from Latin America.

JACOB: Some of the wood today is raising red flags.

When we look at the documents,

the wood states that it's a certain age.

When we come here and physically look at the wood,

it looks much older than what's on the documents.

Therefore, it probably didn't come from the mill that's on the paperwork

and then we're going to look further into that wood.

MARIANA: As one of the largest timber importers in the world,

the U. S. is a prime target for black market organizations.

But smuggling trees from the Amazon is a federal crime,

in violation of the Lacey Act.

JACOB: We attempt to catch everything that comes our way.

Due to the pure volume of stuff like that,

most likely stuff does make it through.

But our attempt is to catch everything entering this country.

MARIANA: One estimate now puts the worldwide trade for illegal timber as high as $152 billion.

JACOB: We are seeing a larger increase in shipments coming out

of the Amazon than previous years.

So the problem isn't going away,

it's only increasing.

MOIRA: There's so much responsibility that we have to address our own

contributions to the climate crisis.

So many of the companies that are based here are buying and selling the very products

that are produced in deforested parts of the rainforest.

It comes down to how important is it and how important are we insisting that it be?

I think it makes sense to think about the Amazon as a canary in the coal mine

in the sense that if we can't save it, we're doomed.

MARIANA: All these little red dots, that are a lot of them,

all represent deforestation that has happened in just the last five years?

CARLOS: Exactly.

MARIANA: So the death of the Amazon as we know it?

MARIANA: Carlos Souza is a researcher for an environmental nonprofit called Imazon.

Through satellite technology,

they are able to monitor deforestation on a micro level,

including the illegal logging site I witnessed myself.

It's crazy to think that it looked so massive at the time and

now to think that it's just probably just a little tiny, tiny, tiny little dot.

MARIANA: Stop it. CARLOS: To stop it.

MARIANA: The data is alarming.

Dr. Souza says it should be a wake‐up call for the entire world.

So, does that mean that this is it?

We're, it's completely hopeless.

There's nothing we can do about it?

CARLOS: There is hope.

MARIANA: Uh‐hmm.

The good news is that it's not too late.

And there are still those on the ground fighting against deforestation.

Looking at the Amazon from high above,

it's striking that there are these islands of intact forest.

When you get closer,

you notice that many of those areas are indigenous lands.

Before leaving the Amazon,

I return to one of those islands,

the Munduruku territory.

I reunite with tribal leader and activist,

Alessandra Munduruku.

Tonight, the village is having a meeting to discuss how they can fight back

against a new bill proposed by the Bolsonaro government.

MARIANA: The bill would open up mining in protected areas, like the Munduruku territory.

MARIANA: The Amazon's hundreds of indigenous tribes have survived conquest,

smallpox, enslavement, and assimilation.

And the future of our planet might depend on them standing in the way of the Amazon mafia.

MARIANA: But for the Munduruku,

stopping powerful criminal networks alone is too much to ask.

Foreign governments will have to supply pressure.

And consumers will have to investigate where the products they buy come from.

And if we are helping to protect the Amazon or destroy it.

Captioned by Cotter Media Group.