A/HRC/31/56/Add.1 presented to the community as a fait accompli, with a compensation package that was not negotiated with their participation. 69. The various Quilombo communities in the Vale do Ribiera region of Sao Paolo and neighbouring Paraná State, important regions for agribusinesses, reported the presence of various projects on their lands, including pine plantations, mining and dams and other extractive industries, all without respect for the principle of free prior and informed consent. The Special Rapporteur is additionally concerned that environmental justifications have also been used in this region, infringing Quilombo rights to lands and territories. For example, some Quilombos in the Vale do Ribiera region have had their traditional lands usurped by State parks, leading to a situation where communities are physically divided, and are forbidden even from crossing the parks to access their own lands. Moreover, Quilombolas have not been given any role to participate in the management of the parks, through the provision of jobs or conservation efforts. The Special Rapporteur notes that allowing Quilombos whose traditional territories may now constitute national parks to use parts of those parklands for traditional cultivation purposes or subsistence farming, or to enter or to access other parts of their territories, should not be considered as being in conflict with environmental priorities. 70. Although ILO Convention No. 169 should be applied on an equal basis to traditional communities, the Special Rapporteur also observed that it is seldom properly implemented for those peoples who often reside in remote impoverished areas, who largely sustain themselves through communal subsistence activities, and who remain some of the more invisible and marginalized minorities in Brazil. 71. For example in the State of Norte de Minas, Gerazeiros communities, who have already experienced the negative impacts of decades of commercial eucalyptus cultivation, which destroyed much of their lands, are now being threatened by a mining project of the Sul America de Metais. The project would involve the exploitation of low-grade iron in open air mines, along with the construction of a pipeline. Although the project is only at the initial licensing phase, Gerazeiros communities that live in the region of Grão Mogol, Padre Carvalho and Josenópolis, in addition to others that live in the path of the pipeline, have not been adequately consulted. Allegedly, public hearings were held to discuss the licensing process and the environmental impact assessment, without giving communities adequate notice to prepare their participation. Their request to delay the hearing was denied and at a second public hearing many traditional peoples were subjected to intimidation when they attempted to raise their concerns. Moreover, the National Agency for Water has already granted the company authorization to use 6,200m3/hour of the waters from the nearby Irapé damn, without an environmental impact study or any community participation. This will allegedly aggravate the existing water shortage in the region and have serious impacts on the traditional livelihoods of the Gerazeiros. 72. Pantaneiros communities, who reside in the wetlands and engage in subsistence activities of fishing, small-scale communal agriculture and pastoralism with collective livestock, have also been impacted by large-scale monoculture soy production on their traditional territories. The communities observe that these projects have disrupted their pastoral corridors and that toxic chemicals used for the cultivation of the monocrops flow off into their lands and water resources, poisoning other arable lands and destroying water resources. The Pantaneiros communities have also observed new prospecting for calcium and iron mining taking place again without their consent. 73. Decree 6040 recognizes the importance of land and territory for the survival and culture of traditional communities. However, as they are not afforded the same legal rights to demarcation compared with indigenous peoples or Quilombo communities, the Special Rapporteur fears that traditional communities are often overlooked in the pursuit of the economic and developmental policies and objectives of Brazil, which have generally 15