🔗 Share this article

An illegal gold rush has resulted in the clearing of 140,000 hectares of tropical forest in the Amazon region of Peru, intensifying as foreign, armed groups enter the region to capitalize on all-time high gold values, according to a report.

Approximately five hundred forty square miles of land have been converted for extraction activities in the South American country since the mid-1980s, and the ecological damage is spreading rapidly across the country, analysis revealed.

This mining boom is also contaminating its waterways. Illegal miners use floating excavation machines – machines that disrupt and displace riverbeds – leaving toxic mercury used to extract gold from sediment in their path.

Detailed satellite photographs enabled analysts to identify dredges alongside forest loss for the initial instance, showing that the environmental crisis previously limited to the southern part of the country was spreading northward.

“Initially, it was only observed in Madre de Dios but now we’re seeing it across numerous areas,” commented a director involved in the research.

The price of gold surpassed four thousand dollars for the initial occasion this period on global exchanges as worldwide concerns increased about economic instability. Native communities have raised concerns that as the price soars, militant factions were increasingly destroying their woodlands and poisoning their rivers in pursuit of the precious metal.

Aerial images show that previously lush forest areas are being transformed into barren landscapes of barren soil pocked with standing water of discolored water.

“This little square is just a minor example,” a researcher remarked, pointing to a small section of the extensive pattern of forest clearance mapped in the report. “Consider this expanded to one hundred forty thousand hectares.”

Mercury contamination build up in aquatic life and pass to the people who consume them, causing neurological and developmental problems such as birth defects and developmental delays.

An ongoing study of communities along riverbanks in Peru’s northernmost region of the Loreto region found the median level of mercury was almost quadruple the safe threshold set by global health authorities.

Analysis found that hundreds of waterways have been impacted, with 989 dredges spotted in the region since 2017 – including 275 in the current year on the Nanay River, a branch of the Amazon River that is the lifeblood of ecosystems and dozens of Indigenous communities.

“They are poisoning our rivers – it’s the drinking water that we drink,” said a spokesperson of multiple local communities in Loreto.

Residents began blocking miners from moving along the Tigre River in Loreto 40 days ago, resulting in gunfights with militant groups. “We have no choice but to fight back but we are alone. Government authorities is absent,” he expressed frustrated.

Mining remains concentrated in the Madre de Dios region in southern Peru but emerging zones are developing in northern regions in multiple provinces.

They are small but once mining is established it could expand quickly, an expert noted, adding that the report was a insight into what was occurring across the broader Amazon region.

“This is the first time we’ve been able to examine so closely at a country but I think in neighboring countries we are going to see similar patterns,” he added.

Findings showed additional mining equipment being detected on Peru’s forest borders with Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia.

As gold values exceed four thousand dollars per ounce, international armed factions are increasingly venturing into Peruvian territory into Peru’s lawless jungles where local authorities are taking minimal action to stop them, as stated by an expert on crime.

Criminal networks, including groups from Colombia and Brazil, are increasingly active across the border.

“International crime networks involved in drug trade and laundering profits through unlawful extraction – now with peak prices providing hefty returns – are combined with a government that has failed to act decisively against organised crime,” the analyst stated.

A political coalition of Latin American nations told Peru to address unlawful extraction or it could face economic sanctions.

But a researcher said: “The returns from gold are immense right now. There are no indications of a decline in value, so it’s probably going to get worse before it improves.”