A traditional way of life forever being altered by miners and loggers. Rival lula has promised to end illegal deforestation and mining. But is he really the man to save the amazon . Perhaps this is one of the most critical president ial elections we have ever had in brazil. As brazilians go to the polls, will who wins decide the future of the rainforest . We travelled to brazils Yanomami Territory, right up on the border with venezuela. Its the Worlds Largest indigenous reserve home to nearly 30,000 people who live as hunter gatherers, as well as tens of thousands of illegal miners, a number that keeps growing. The remoteness of the yanomami is what makes them so special, but also increasingly vulnerable. This woman is malnourished and dehydrated. The Health Centres become a Field Hospital on the front line of illegal mining. There are new cases every day old and young. Nobody escapes this scourge. Outside, a Makeshift Ward is full of patients with malaria the yanomami sick. Marilena i
marilena s two month old grandson has pneumonia. he doesn t have a name yet. yanomami people don t name their children for several years in case they die. it s a very real fear. five minutes walk from the health centre, a polluted creek doesn t stop the children playing. the mercury used to extract gold in the mine upstream has poisoned these once crystal clear waters. fishing and drinking here is now impossible. jenny played in this water as a kid, though much has changed not least the temptation for young indigenous to get involved in illegal mining. and this is the mine that s causing their pain. production in full swing, it s scarring the landscape and its people. there are as many as 20,000 illegal miners working in the region. we just passed one of the worst affected areas in the yanomami territory. we couldn t land. the polot said many of the miners are armed, and he was worried they d shoot at the plane. in the past few years, monitoring of illegal activity in the