🔗 Share this article

An illegal gold rush has wiped out one hundred forty thousand hectares of tropical forest in the Peruvian Amazon, intensifying as armed foreign factions enter the region to capitalize on all-time high gold values, as per a recent study.

Roughly five hundred forty square miles of land have been converted for extraction activities in the Peruvian nation since 1984, and the ecological damage is spreading rapidly across the country, research found.

This mining boom is also contaminating its rivers and streams. Unlawful extractors use dredges – equipment that chew up and spit out riverbeds – depositing harmful mercury employed to separate gold from sediment in their path.

Ultra-high resolution aerial images enabled researchers to identify mining equipment alongside forest loss for the first time, revealing that the environmental crisis once confined to the south of the country was spreading north.

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

The price of gold surpassed four thousand dollars for the first time this period on international markets as worldwide concerns rose about economic instability. Native communities have raised concerns that as the value climbs, armed groups were increasingly destroying their woodlands and contaminating their water sources in pursuit of the valuable mineral.

Satellite photos show that previously lush forest areas are being transformed into lifeless moonscapes of grey earth pocked with stagnant pools of discolored water.

“This small section is just a tiny sample,” a researcher remarked, indicating a limited area of the vast red patchwork of deforestation mapped in the report. “Imagine this expanded to one hundred forty thousand hectares.”

Mercury contamination build up in fish and pass to the people who eat them, leading to health and cognitive issues such as congenital disorders and learning difficulties.

An ongoing study of communities along riverbanks in Peru’s far north 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 affected, with 989 dredges spotted in Loreto since 2017 – including 275 in the current year on the Nanay waterway, a branch of the Amazon 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 representative of several riverside communities in Loreto.

Local communities began blocking miners from moving along the River Tigre in the region 40 days ago, leading to gunfights with militant groups. “We have no choice but to fight back but we are alone. Government authorities is nowhere to be seen,” he stated with anger.

Extraction activities is mostly located in the southern area of Madre de Dios in southern Peru but emerging zones are appearing farther north in Loreto, Amazonas, Huánuco, Pasco and Ucayali.

They are small but once mining is established it could expand quickly, a researcher noted, adding that the report was a glimpse into what was occurring across the rest of the Amazon.

“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 exactly the same thing,” he added.

Findings showed additional mining equipment appearing on Peru’s forest borders with adjacent nations.

As gold values exceed four thousand dollars per ounce, international armed factions are more frequently entering across the border into Peru’s lawless jungles where local authorities are doing little to stop them, as stated by a criminologist.

Illegal organizations, including groups from neighboring countries, are increasingly active across the border.

“Global criminal syndicates trafficking cocaine and concealing illicit gains through illegal gold mining – amid record values yielding high profits – are alongside a administration that has not been a serious obstacle against organised crime,” the analyst stated.

An intergovernmental group of Latin American nations told Peru to get serious about unlawful extraction or it could be subject to penalties.

But an expert said: “The returns from gold are immense right now. I don’t see any signs of a decline in value, so it’s likely going to deteriorate before it improves.”