‘If they pollute our rivers, what will become of us?’: the town divided between hope and fear in Brazil’s Amazon oil rush

As a state-controlled company explores for oil in the fragile Equatorial Margin the government struggles to balance its ecological promises with fossil fuel expansion. In Oiapoque, the stakes could not be higherCovering a densely forested area larger than Wales, the municipality and city of , in , is an isolated yet renowned part of , thanks to a popular national saying. “From Oiapoque to Chuí” highlights the country’s northernmost and southernmost points, respectively, illustrating its vastness.Although well known, it is a remote area with about 30,000 inhabitants where less than 2% have access to proper sewage treatment. One-third of its residents are Indigenous people from four ethnic groups living in 68 hamlets across three Indigenous lands, 66 of which have electricity for less than 12 hours a day.