Neglect of ecosystems services by mining, and the worst environmental disaster in Brazil

On 5 November, 2015, Brazil watched one of the worst environmental disasters in its history unfold. A wave of mud buried Bento Rodrigues, a village in the municipality of Mariana, located in the Espinhaco Mountains in the state of Minas Gerais (Escobar, 2015). Sixty-two million m3 of sludge overwhelmed houses and the historical, cultural and natural heritage of the village, leaving 19 dead, 3 missing and over 600 homeless. On its way to the Atlantic Ocean, the wave of mud reached the Rio Doce (literally “Fresh” or “Sweet River”) – a major drainage of the Southeastern Atlantic hydrogeographic region, which provides key ecosystem services to part of the country’s most populous and industrialized region. It is also one of the main rivers to supply water and nourishment to the endangered Atlantic Forest. The disaster instantaneously