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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=mercury&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/mercury/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 06 Aug 2026 02:09:05 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on Mercury</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/mercury/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Indonesia seizes mercury shipment bound for illegal mines in the Philippines</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/indonesia-seizes-mercury-shipment-bound-for-illegal-mines-in-the-philippines/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/indonesia-seizes-mercury-shipment-bound-for-illegal-mines-in-the-philippines/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 May 2026 16:23:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anggita Raissa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/26103526/indonesia-illegal-mining-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320126</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Jakarta, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Gold Mining, Illegal Mining, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Mercury, Mining, Poisoning, Pollution, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Authorities at Indonesia’s largest port seized hundreds of kilograms of the toxic heavy metal mercury in late April. The bust reflects the vast scale of illegal mining underway in forests across much of Southeast Asia amid record-high gold prices. “This mercury was to be shipped to the Philippines using manipulated customs documents, so [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Authorities at Indonesia’s largest port seized hundreds of kilograms of the toxic heavy metal mercury in late April. The bust reflects the vast scale of illegal mining underway in forests across much of Southeast Asia amid record-high gold prices. “This mercury was to be shipped to the Philippines using manipulated customs documents, so that the cargo appeared to be textiles, clothing and carpets,” Victor Dean Mackbon, special investigations lead with the Jakarta Police, told Mongabay Indonesia. Police and customs officials said the 760 bottles of mercury were packed in cardboard and concealed within 145 rolls of carpet. Investigators allege the mercury was procured in Indonesia for a buyer in Davao, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Mercury is widely used to separate gold from crushed ore by miners in the illegal sector. But the heavy metal is also a potent neurotoxin linked to developmental disorders in children, as well as severe cognitive, neurological and physical impairment in adults. The seized mercury bottles displayed by authorities in Jakarta at a press conference. Image courtesy of Jakarta Police. Authorities have questioned nine people over the Jakarta seizure, and charged two — the alleged supplier and alleged exporter — with violations of trade and mining laws, for which they could face up to four years in jail. Victor said the suspected trafficking route may have been used to ship mercury to the Philippines since 2021. Davao, the alleged destination of the mercury consignment, is the political stronghold of the Duterte&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/indonesia-seizes-mercury-shipment-bound-for-illegal-mines-in-the-philippines/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320126</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Turning the Amazon’s toxic gold mine waste liability into economic opportunity (analysis)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/formalizing-amazon-gold-mining-can-transform-a-toxic-liability-into-an-economic-opportunity-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/formalizing-amazon-gold-mining-can-transform-a-toxic-liability-into-an-economic-opportunity-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jan 2026 19:13:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/02225429/25-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312918</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, Guyana, Latin America, Peru, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Analysis, Business, Commentary, Community Development, Deforestation, Development, Drivers Of Deforestation, Gold Mining, Health, Illegal Mining, Mercury, Mining, Pollution, Public Health, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Sustainable Development, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The wildcat gold mining boom that swept across the Amazon beginning in the 1970s left behind an environmental catastrophe of staggering proportions. At least 350,000 hectares (almost 865,000 acres) of forest and wetland habitat have been destroyed by placer mining operations across the Pan Amazon, with the actual figure likely far higher given the limitations [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The wildcat gold mining boom that swept across the Amazon beginning in the 1970s left behind an environmental catastrophe of staggering proportions. At least 350,000 hectares (almost 865,000 acres) of forest and wetland habitat have been destroyed by placer mining operations across the Pan Amazon, with the actual figure likely far higher given the limitations of satellite monitoring for small-scale operations and river dredges. In the Tapajós River Basin in Brazil’s Pará state, particularly the municipality of Itaituba, five decades of alluvial mining have devastated tens of thousands of hectares of riparian forest while releasing an estimated 200-500 metric tons of mercury annually into watersheds. Mercury contamination has become endemic: 75% of the population of the municipality of Santarém shows elevated mercury levels, with some residents carrying four times the WHO limit. The legacy extends far beyond the mining sites themselves, as methylmercury bioaccumulates through aquatic food webs, threatening riverside communities across millions of hectares of downstream habitat. Yet hidden within this toxic legacy lies an economic opportunity that could finance comprehensive remediation while generating more than 200,000 formal-sector jobs. The garimpeiro (wildcat miner) reliance on mercury amalgamation technology is remarkably inefficient, because mercury captures only free gold particles through physical absorption, achieving recovery rates of 40-60% from alluvial placers. The remaining 40-60% of gold remains trapped in “tailings” as fine particles, bound in mineral matrices, or simply lost to processing inefficiency. Those tailings, an existing environmental catastrophe, contain an estimated 1,400-2,100 metric tons of recoverable gold worth $90 billion&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/formalizing-amazon-gold-mining-can-transform-a-toxic-liability-into-an-economic-opportunity-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312918</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s illegal gold boom leaves a toxic legacy of mercury pollution</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesias-illegal-gold-boom-leaves-a-toxic-legacy-of-mercury-pollution/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesias-illegal-gold-boom-leaves-a-toxic-legacy-of-mercury-pollution/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jan 2026 11:10:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi HanafiahSarjan LahayTeguh Suprayitno]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/06094145/AP24192306721986-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312625</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Disasters, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Gold Mining, Illegal Logging, Illegal Mining, Mercury, Mining, Politics, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Tropical Forests, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MERANGIN, Indonesia — There wasn’t much Aris Adrianto felt he could do when the gold miners’ heavy vehicles broke into Bukit Gajah Berani, here in this remote pocket of Sumatra’s Merangin district. “They just kept going, like they were afraid of nothing,” said Aris, who is the head of the forestry office in Birun village [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MERANGIN, Indonesia — There wasn’t much Aris Adrianto felt he could do when the gold miners’ heavy vehicles broke into Bukit Gajah Berani, here in this remote pocket of Sumatra’s Merangin district. “They just kept going, like they were afraid of nothing,” said Aris, who is the head of the forestry office in Birun village in the Sumatran province of Jambi. Aris reported the deforestation of Bukit Gajah Berani, a forest whose name means “the hill of the brave elephant,” but nothing changed, he told Mongabay Indonesia. Heightened political risks and giddy company valuations propelled the international price of gold, traditionally viewed as a safe haven asset during nervy economic times, up by almost 70% last year to more than $4,500 per ounce. Around the world, that shine has likely induced a dangerous response as people on the ground, like Aris, report an expansion of illegal gold mining, undermining international commitments to curb deforestation and improve public health. In Bukit Gajah Berani, Aris watched on as the miners turned the forest upside down, altering the landscape from a deep green to a sallow muddy brown. The location of a former gold mine in the forest area of ​​Bukit Gajah Berani village. Image courtesy of LPHD Birun. The Bukit Gajah Berani forest is a buffer contiguous to Kerinci Seblat National Park, the largest old-growth rainforest in Sumatra — a high-conservation-value protected area and the largest intact habitat of the critically endangered Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae). The forest here is a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesias-illegal-gold-boom-leaves-a-toxic-legacy-of-mercury-pollution/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312625</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mercury, dredges and crime: Illegal mining ravages Peru’s Nanay River</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mercury-dredges-and-crime-illegal-mining-ravages-perus-nanay-river/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mercury-dredges-and-crime-illegal-mining-ravages-perus-nanay-river/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Dec 2025 14:37:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Enrique Vera]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/31143542/FOTO-ABRE-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312419</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Gold Mining, Illegal Mining, Mercury, Mining, Organized Crime, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rivers, Threats To Rainforests, Tropics, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On a small airplane, José Manuyama, a professor, frowns and shakes his head with anguish while  thousands of feet below, five dredges operated by illegal miners excavate the Nanay River Basin, in the Loreto region in the Peruvian Amazon. “They are like enormous leeches in the water,” said Manuyama. The plane has begun its second [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On a small airplane, José Manuyama, a professor, frowns and shakes his head with anguish while  thousands of feet below, five dredges operated by illegal miners excavate the Nanay River Basin, in the Loreto region in the Peruvian Amazon. “They are like enormous leeches in the water,” said Manuyama. The plane has begun its second hour of the flyover above the Nanay River and, so far, the people on board have seen about 40 dredges. The Nanay is surrounded by shiny riverbanks with an ochre hue, a result of the mercury used by the illegal miners to separate gold particles from other sediments. River mining is prohibited by Peruvian law. For Manuyama, the president of the Committee for the Defense of the Water of Iquitos, the situation is very disheartening. He says that seven years ago, the Nanay was a clear river, but the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic brought an increase in the mining rafts that have now given the river a milky appearance. Manuyama, a member of the Kukama community, is a social studies professor and is one of the 15 people on the plane, which is now flying over the Napo River. From the air, the orange pipes coming out of four dredges resemble the tentacles of a gigantic animal drilling into the river basin and disturbing the edge of the forest. Along with Manuyama are the prosecutor from the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office in Environmental Matters of Loreto (FEMA Loreto), Bratzon Saboya, and the coordinator of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mercury-dredges-and-crime-illegal-mining-ravages-perus-nanay-river/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mercury-dredges-and-crime-illegal-mining-ravages-perus-nanay-river/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312419</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Critical minerals drive legalization of mining on Amazon Indigenous lands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/critical-minerals-drive-legalization-of-mining-on-amazon-indigenous-lands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/critical-minerals-drive-legalization-of-mining-on-amazon-indigenous-lands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Nov 2025 17:56:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lucas Berti]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/12212946/04_sucata_aviao_yanomami-fernando_frazao-agencia_brasil-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308727</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Critical Minerals, Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forests, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Law, Mercury, Mining, Pollution, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Lawmakers in Brazil can scrap a 30-year-old protection to meet global demand for gold and other minerals.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Brazilian Constitution bans illegal mining on Indigenous lands under any circumstances. But the high demand for minerals, especially gold, drove miners to invade Indigenous lands anyway. Since 2018, the area of gold mines in the Amazon has doubled (1,217% since 1985), while the metal&#8217;s value has nearly tripled, reaching an all-time record high. Since 2023, the federal government has conducted a crackdown on illegal miners, dealing significant blows to criminal operations in Indigenous lands. In the Yanomami Indigenous Territory (Brazil’s largest), operations resulted in more than 500 million reais ($93 million) in losses for illegal miners until mid-October, largely reducing the area affected by the activity, authorities say. In the Sararé and Munduruku lands, authorities have destroyed hundreds of camps, excavators and bunkers that serve to hide equipment and weapons linked to local crime syndicates. These actions are a direct response to the humanitarian and environmental crisis fueled by illegal mining. Criminals skyrocketed deforestation and mercury contamination in rivers and fueled violence in Indigenous communities, as the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime has warned in one of its 2025 reports. Illegal Mining in the Munduruku Indigenous Land in the Amazon. Image by Marizilda Cruppe / Greenpeace. However, while the administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva moves in one direction, the Brazilian Congress goes another. Controversial bills that aim to legalize mining and other large-scale economic activities within Indigenous lands — such as PL 1331/2022 and PL 6050/2023 — are currently in discussion (and advancing), raising concerns&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/critical-minerals-drive-legalization-of-mining-on-amazon-indigenous-lands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308727</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amid Venezuela’s illegal gold heist are armed groups, gangs &#038; elites, report says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/amid-venezuelas-illegal-gold-heist-are-armed-groups-gangs-elites-report-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/amid-venezuelas-illegal-gold-heist-are-armed-groups-gangs-elites-report-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Oct 2025 14:57:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/02133441/AP23136547644568-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306973</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Environment, Gold Mining, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Mercury, Organized Crime, Rainforest Destruction, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[According to a new report, most of Venezuela’s gold is smuggled and laundered internationally through shell companies and opaque supply chains, including to the U.S. The operations are often controlled by military elites, guerrilla groups and transnational gangs, which exploit several loopholes and gaps in the U.S. financial and trade systems, the report by the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[According to a new report, most of Venezuela’s gold is smuggled and laundered internationally through shell companies and opaque supply chains, including to the U.S. The operations are often controlled by military elites, guerrilla groups and transnational gangs, which exploit several loopholes and gaps in the U.S. financial and trade systems, the report by the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition says. The impact on Amazon forests, water and Indigenous communities is “devastating,” the authors write. They suggest several policy changes in the U.S. to prevent the transfer of illegal gold into the country, such as tightening oversight, closing legal loopholes and restoring domestic enforcement capacity, which has been dramatically reduced over the years due to the prioritization of resources to curb narcotics trafficking. The current U.S. government&#8217;s approach to drugs and gangs from Venezuela, which included strikes on alleged drug boats, is one they say shouldn&#8217;t be replicated for illegal gold as it &#8220;isn&#8217;t working&#8221; and the costs &#8220;are considerable.&#8221; “A militaristic, hardline U.S. response to illegal gold mining in the region would be both unwise and ineffective,” Julia Yansura, the FACT Coalition’s program director for environmental crime and illicit finance and co-author of the report, told Mongabay via email. “First off, many of our allies in the region have already tried this, sending in troops for rapid, military style &#8216;strikes&#8217; against illegal mining sites. &#8220;What we are urging the U.S. to do is to employ new tools from the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing toolbox. By cutting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/amid-venezuelas-illegal-gold-heist-are-armed-groups-gangs-elites-report-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306973</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Formalizing small-scale gold mining can reduce environmental impacts &#038; crime (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/formalizing-small-scale-gold-mining-can-reduce-environmental-impacts-crime-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/formalizing-small-scale-gold-mining-can-reduce-environmental-impacts-crime-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Aug 2025 19:49:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Robert Muggah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/06153154/Columbia-Illegal-Mining-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303936</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Global, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Community Development, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Development, Environment, Forests, Gold Mining, Illegal Mining, Illegal Trade, Mercury, Mining, Pollution, Rainforests, Trade, Tropical Deforestation, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Artisanal and small-scale gold mining employs more than 15 million people globally and generates a fifth of global gold supplies. It supports 100 million people indirectly, more than any other extractive sector, yet despite its economic lifeline status, it remains the world’s largest source of mercury pollution and a growing conduit for organized crime, corruption [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Artisanal and small-scale gold mining employs more than 15 million people globally and generates a fifth of global gold supplies. It supports 100 million people indirectly, more than any other extractive sector, yet despite its economic lifeline status, it remains the world’s largest source of mercury pollution and a growing conduit for organized crime, corruption and environmental devastation. A host of international and regional agreements and programs have emerged to target illegal gold mining and associated issues, from the Minamata Convention on Mercury to the planetGOLD initiative. Against this backdrop of pollution, crime and informality, one proposed solution is investment in centralized gold processing plants. A report from the World Gold Council found that if well designed and governed, such plants can help shift workers from informal to formal employment, facilitate due diligence, curb illegal mercury use, and decouple artisanal mining from criminal and illicit economies. Promising experiences in regularizing small-scale gold production from Peru to Tanzania suggest that the focus on such plants offers more than hypothetical returns. The mercury used to amalgamate gold is cheap, effective and toxic. Studies from artisanal and small-scale mining sites across the Amazon reveal catastrophic consequences for human health and ecosystems. Investment in centralized and mercury-free processing plants could be a “missing middle” in the sector, transforming pollutant-intensive livelihoods to cleaner, safer ones. Different types of gold processing plants require different types of interventions. For example, gravimetric plants, which separate gold through density differences rather than chemical processing, require significantly less capital than&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/formalizing-small-scale-gold-mining-can-reduce-environmental-impacts-crime-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303936</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mexico’s rising mercury trade fuels toxic gold mining in Latin America: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/mexicos-rising-mercury-trade-fuels-toxic-gold-mining-in-latin-america-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/mexicos-rising-mercury-trade-fuels-toxic-gold-mining-in-latin-america-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jul 2025 17:07:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/30170037/AP110519174590-1-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303440</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Colombia, Latin America, Mexico, North America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Mercury, Mining, Organized Crime, Politics, Pollution, Protected Areas, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — In 2017, as part of an international treaty, Mexico started phasing down mercury production and eliminating its use in gold mining, citing major environmental and public health hazards. The effort appeared to work: Between 2017 and 2018, the government reported that national mercury production had dropped from 442 metric tons to just [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — In 2017, as part of an international treaty, Mexico started phasing down mercury production and eliminating its use in gold mining, citing major environmental and public health hazards. The effort appeared to work: Between 2017 and 2018, the government reported that national mercury production had dropped from 442 metric tons to just half a metric ton. Over the following three years, it reportedly dropped to zero. But for some environmental groups, those numbers looked too good to be true. The government wasn’t reporting mercury smuggling during those years, they said, and had even left several key sections of its progress reports blank. Ultimately, the government would have to issue a correction to some official figures, clarifying that mercury was still being produced in the country. Today, mercury production persists in several states across Mexico, including in protected areas, and has turned the country into one of the main suppliers for the mercury used in gold mines across Latin America. “Mercury mining production is spinning out of control, with bursts of activity driven by mercury prices, increased violence and an alleged recent takeover of productive mines by a drug cartel,” the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said in a recent report. Peruvian jungle devastated by wild cat gold miners in Madre de Dios, Peru. (Guadalupe Pardo/Pool Photo via AP) Mercury is considered one of the top 10 chemicals of major public health concern by the World Health Organization. Once released into an ecosystem, it can pollute soils and streams&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/mexicos-rising-mercury-trade-fuels-toxic-gold-mining-in-latin-america-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303440</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>U’wa people await implementation of landmark court ruling against Colombian gov’t</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/uwa-people-await-implementation-of-landmark-court-ruling-against-colombian-govt/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/uwa-people-await-implementation-of-landmark-court-ruling-against-colombian-govt/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jul 2025 15:18:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Antonio José Paz Cardona]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/11113402/member-of-the-Uwa-Indigenous-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302255</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Governance, Health, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Law, Mercury, Natural Gas, Oil, Oil Drilling, Politics, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Dec. 20, 2024, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights publicly announced a landmark decision against the Colombian government and found it responsible for multiple human rights violations against the U’wa Indigenous people. In a more than 200-page document, the court determined there were violations of the right of access to a healthy environment, freedom [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Dec. 20, 2024, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights publicly announced a landmark decision against the Colombian government and found it responsible for multiple human rights violations against the U’wa Indigenous people. In a more than 200-page document, the court determined there were violations of the right of access to a healthy environment, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, the self-determination of Indigenous peoples, collective property, political participation, access to information, participation in cultural life, children’s rights and judicial protection. Months after the ruling, Indigenous communities are insisting on its implementation. The U’wa Nation is located in eastern Colombia, across the departments of Arauca, Santander, Casanare, Northern Santander and Boyacá. The U’wa people have defended their ancestral territory and culture since the early 1990s, confronting tourism projects and the extraction of natural resources, such as oil and gas. U’wa lawyer Juan Gabriel Jerez Tegria emphasized that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the Colombian government to complete a number of tasks within two years: title the territory, clarify colonial titles, carry out a participatory process for the current extractive projects and guarantee that the projects located within in the U’wa reservation, or in adjacent areas, do not impact the U’wa people’s right to participate in their cultural life. A 2023 hearing in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Image courtesy of EarthRights International. “For us, this decision means that our demands and our rights were acknowledged. This means that there is a precedent that allows [us] to make&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/uwa-people-await-implementation-of-landmark-court-ruling-against-colombian-govt/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302255</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous Amazonians win landmark ruling against mercury pollution in Colombia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indigenous-amazonians-win-landmark-ruling-against-mercury-pollution-in-colombia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indigenous-amazonians-win-landmark-ruling-against-mercury-pollution-in-colombia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2025 15:41:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Iván Paredes Tamayo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/09153827/Capture-decran-le-2025-07-09-a-11.37.29-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302123</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation, Land rights and extractives, and Latin America]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Health, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Law, Mercury, Politics, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Colombia’s Constitutional Court has issued a historic ruling, finding in favor of Indigenous leaders who say their communities in the country’s Amazonian region are at risk of losing their identity and disappearing due to mercury contamination from gold mining. The court ordered the protection of these communities due to the high risk they peoples face [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Colombia’s Constitutional Court has issued a historic ruling, finding in favor of Indigenous leaders who say their communities in the country’s Amazonian region are at risk of losing their identity and disappearing due to mercury contamination from gold mining. The court ordered the protection of these communities due to the high risk they peoples face from the contamination of the water and fish they consume from the Caquetá and Apaporis rivers. The Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development will monitor the contamination studies ordered by the court. The case was brought to the country’s highest court by five shamans, or “jaguars,” representing 30 Indigenous groups from the Yuruparí region that covers the eastern Colombian Amazon and overlaps into Brazil. Those affected by mercury contamination from mining have since 1989 complained about the serious consequences and problems they’ve faced as a result. “The Indigenous peoples in the Jaguars of Yuruparí Macroterritory emphasize that the Constitutional Court notes that gold mining and the use of mercury have caused a risk to our traditional knowledge system, recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage,” the plaintiffs said in a press release after the ruling. Their legal action dates back to 2019, when they filed for protection in light of what they allege was the state’s failure or complicity in allowing gold mining in Indigenous territories. At the time, they said that more than 30 Indigenous communities were at risk. Representatives of the Indigenous peoples celebrated the Constitutional Court’s decision. Image courtesy of Rodrigo Durán.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indigenous-amazonians-win-landmark-ruling-against-mercury-pollution-in-colombia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302123</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia tests shows blood mercury rising at ground zero of world energy transition</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesia-tests-shows-blood-mercury-rising-at-ground-zero-of-world-energy-transition/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesia-tests-shows-blood-mercury-rising-at-ground-zero-of-world-energy-transition/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2025 03:26:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rabul Sawal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/08105108/AP24197844886186-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302035</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Energy, Environment, Health, Mercury, Mining, Nikel, Pollution, and Public Health]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MALUKU, Indonesia — Just four months after Mongabay reported on a dramatic surge in diagnoses of respiratory illness near Indonesia’s second-largest nickel industrial estate, new data indicate that up to half the local population may have been exposed to unsafe levels of mercury — and one in three to harmful arsenic. “This study is a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MALUKU, Indonesia — Just four months after Mongabay reported on a dramatic surge in diagnoses of respiratory illness near Indonesia’s second-largest nickel industrial estate, new data indicate that up to half the local population may have been exposed to unsafe levels of mercury — and one in three to harmful arsenic. “This study is a serious warning of the long-term threat of heavy metal exposure, to both public health and environmental sustainability,” said Darmawati Darwis, a professor at Indonesia&#8217;s Tadulako University, which conducted the research in partnership with Nexus3, a Bali-based nonprofit. The researchers from Nexus3 and Tadulako University took blood samples last year from 46 residents of Gemaf and Lelilef villages. These two villages are particularly close to the Weda Bay Industrial Estate, commonly known by its Indonesian acronym IWIP, on the island of Halmahera. The results of those blood tests, which were published in April, showed 22 people (47%) had mercury levels above the safe limit of 9 micrograms per liter (µg/l) of blood — and the samples from 15 people (32%) exceeded the arsenic threshold of 12 µg/l. “These findings emphasize the need for routine environmental and health monitoring, as well as law enforcement against polluting industries,” Darmawati said. &nbsp; IWIP was established by Chinese mining conglomerates Huayou, Tsingshan and Zhenshi in 2018 as a smelting hub for the rapidly expanding nickel mining taking place on Halmahera Island. The IWIP site currently processes up to 30,000 metric tons of ferronickel ore per year, and is powered by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesia-tests-shows-blood-mercury-rising-at-ground-zero-of-world-energy-transition/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302035</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nine takeaways on Brazil’s crackdown on illegal mining in Munduruku lands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/nine-takeaways-on-brazils-crackdown-on-illegal-mining-in-munduruku-lands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/nine-takeaways-on-brazils-crackdown-on-illegal-mining-in-munduruku-lands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jun 2025 22:52:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/06/24130740/Illegal-gold-mining-inside-the-Munduruku-and-Sai-Cinza-Indigenous-Lands-Para-state-Brazil-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301196</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Inside Brazil’s Amazon gold war]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, carbon, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Food, food security, Health, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Mercury, Mining, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay published a five-part series delving into Brazil’s ongoing operation to evict illegal gold miners from Munduruku Indigenous territories, deep in the Amazon Rainforest. While there has been some disruption to mining in the region, Munduruku organizations told Mongabay the operation is not yet completely successful, with small groups of illegal miners, or garimpeiros, still [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay published a five-part series delving into Brazil’s ongoing operation to evict illegal gold miners from Munduruku Indigenous territories, deep in the Amazon Rainforest. While there has been some disruption to mining in the region, Munduruku organizations told Mongabay the operation is not yet completely successful, with small groups of illegal miners, or garimpeiros, still remaining in the forests. The 2.4-million-hectare (5.9-million-acre) Munduruku Indigenous Territory is among the hardest hit by illegal mining, which has brought disease, mercury contamination, attacks and deaths to communities. In 2020, the Supreme Federal Court ordered the government to escalate actions against illegal mining in Munduruku and other Indigenous lands. Despite their efforts, actions up until then had been ineffective, which is why another request was made again in 2023 and the government began a new operation in November 2024. While the operation is underway, the continued presence of invaders and their machinery in some areas of the Munduruku Indigenous Territory has raised fears among residents that mining will resume once security forces withdraw, or else spread to other conservation areas like Amanã National Forest. Conservationists agree that without concrete actions to target the high-level criminals who finance the mining activities, miners may return or migrate. Federal forces have been expelling illegal gold miners from protected areas like the Munduruku Indigenous Territory in Pará state. Image courtesy of the Federal Police. The involvement of some Indigenous Munduruku in mining is also complicating government efforts to tackle its spread, federal agents said. During reporting, Indigenous leaders&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/nine-takeaways-on-brazils-crackdown-on-illegal-mining-in-munduruku-lands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301196</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Researchers find high levels of mercury in Amazon’s Madeira River water &#038; fish</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/researchers-find-high-levels-of-mercury-in-amazons-madeira-river-water-fish/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/researchers-find-high-levels-of-mercury-in-amazons-madeira-river-water-fish/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Nov 2024 14:18:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kevin Damasio]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/25184516/BK-201-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290476</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Climate Change, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fishing, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Mercury, Mining, Politics, Pollution, Public Health, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rivers, Threats To Rainforests, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Initial results from Harvard reveal high levels of mercury in the Madeira, although still below the limit recommended by Brazil’s authorities.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[HUMAITÁ, Brazil — When we arrive at the first site in the Madeira River, researchers from Amazonas State University (UEA) and Harvard position themselves at the stern and bow of the voadeira, an aluminum speedboat, to collect samples. The vessel floats 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) upstream of Humaitá municipality, in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, to start an endeavor to monitor the water quality and mercury contamination of the largest tributary in the Amazon River Basin. Around the boat, river dolphins feed in the water while squirrel monkeys jump from branch to branch in the embaúbas trees and two riverine men fill buckets with water in front of a banana plantation. On the left channel, a ferry passes loaded with cargo and two illegal gold mining dredges go upstream. The UEA researchers collect their water samples in seven small bottles, which will be analyzed in the boat and inland laboratories, and they take notes of a few parameters measured right away with a probe, such as pH, dissolved oxygen and water temperature. Harvard researcher Evan Routhier collects water from the Madeira River near the municipality of Novo Aripuanã, in the state of Amazonas, as part of an expedition by Brazilian and American researchers in the heart of the Amazon. The trip served to collect samples for monitoring water quality and mercury levels in the river and fish in the region. Image by Bruno Kelly. The Harvard University researchers, besides filling their own water in two 1-liter (2-pint) bottles and two&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/researchers-find-high-levels-of-mercury-in-amazons-madeira-river-water-fish/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290476</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil sets a date to remove illegal miners from Munduruku land, more details await</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/brazil-sets-a-date-to-remove-illegal-miners-from-munduruku-land-more-details-await/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/brazil-sets-a-date-to-remove-illegal-miners-from-munduruku-land-more-details-await/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Nov 2024 23:23:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jenny Gonzales]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/06232708/50446231782_611508cc56_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289779</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation, Land rights and extractives, and Latin America]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Gold Mining, Health, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Mercury, Mining, and Public Health]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SÃO PAULO — After years of delays in protecting the Munduruku Indigenous people from illegal gold mining and mercury use decimating the Tapajós River Basin, Brazil’s independent public prosecutors said there’s now a planned start date to remove the miners from the Munduruku Indigenous territory. Though the precise date and operation remain confidential, stakeholders in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SÃO PAULO — After years of delays in protecting the Munduruku Indigenous people from illegal gold mining and mercury use decimating the Tapajós River Basin, Brazil’s independent public prosecutors said there’s now a planned start date to remove the miners from the Munduruku Indigenous territory. Though the precise date and operation remain confidential, stakeholders in the government and communities are gathering preliminary data to plan the miners’ expulsion, sources share with Mongabay. The Munduruku and their ancestral lands in the Amazon rainforest have dealt with illegal gold miners for decades. When miners use mercury to obtain gold from the ore, the toxin flows down the river, affecting communities that drink the water and consume its fish. From babies to the elderly, studies have detected the presence of this heavy metal in their bodies. Mercury impacts the central nervous system, causing brain damage and deformities and crossing the placental barrier to reach the fetus. The Munduruku Indigenous territory was officially recognized two decades ago, but miners still came. Despite a 2020 Supreme Federal Court order for the federal government to expel miners in Munduruku and other Indigenous lands &#8220;in a more critical state&#8221; (with a request made again in 2023), very little has been done so far. In addition to the STF, the Federal Public Prosecutor&#8217;s Office and the Pará Public Prosecutor&#8217;s Office have requested the removal of the illegal miners from the Munduruku land for years. The land, measuring 2.4 million hectares (5.9 million acres), is the second-largest area of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/brazil-sets-a-date-to-remove-illegal-miners-from-munduruku-land-more-details-await/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289779</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can nations ever get artisanal gold mining right?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/can-nations-ever-get-artisanal-gold-mining-right/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/can-nations-ever-get-artisanal-gold-mining-right/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2024 17:38:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/13114258/8-Small-scale-miner-using-mercury-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286036</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Colombia, Ghana, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Environmental Law, Gold Mining, Health, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Mercury, Mining, Poisoning, Pollution, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is a pillar of stability and opportunity for at least 16 million people worldwide, particularly in rural, impoverished communities. But with these pros also come cons. Given the serious contamination and environmental degradation associated with it, nations around the world are pushing for more sustainable laws and regulations. The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is a pillar of stability and opportunity for at least 16 million people worldwide, particularly in rural, impoverished communities. But with these pros also come cons. Given the serious contamination and environmental degradation associated with it, nations around the world are pushing for more sustainable laws and regulations. The question remains for policymakers, however: Can policymakers ever get it right? Several studies have demonstrated the harmful effects of ASGM on communities and the environment. One of the greatest problems is the use of mercury to separate gold from the ore, with the waste then released into the environment, leading to air, soil and water pollution that threatens biodiversity and human health. Another issue is deforestation without a rehabilitation process, which legal mines are often required to have. “There are a lot of illegal mining activities in the small-scale mining space that are creating a lot of environmental issues, such as pollution of river bodies,” Philip Bawah, a member of the Ghana National Association of Small-Scale Miners (GNASSM), told Mongabay. The challenge, he said, is proper regulation and government assistance to turn these operations into legal businesses that follow environmental protocols. “There are a lot of lapses from the authorities concerned,” Bawah told Mongabay. Small-scale gold mining in Ghana. Image by Mirko Winkler / planetGOLD. Nations around the world are keen to find ways to make mining more sustainable, given that so many people depend on it for income and security. In fragile and conflict-affected&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/can-nations-ever-get-artisanal-gold-mining-right/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/can-nations-ever-get-artisanal-gold-mining-right/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286036</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Report reveals widespread use of smuggled mercury in Amazon gold mining</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/report-reveals-widespread-use-of-smuggled-mercury-in-amazon-gold-mining/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/report-reveals-widespread-use-of-smuggled-mercury-in-amazon-gold-mining/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2024 13:16:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/17124207/Beyond-Fire_Mining_26__DSC0333-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=284463</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Law, Mercury, Mining, Organized Crime, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[According to a report from Brazilian think tank the Escolhas Institute, up to 73% of all mercury used in Brazil's gold mines is of unknown origin; the country’s environmental agency states practically all mines in Brazil use illegal mercury.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The return in 2023 of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Brazil’s presidency marked a significant setback for illegal gold mining in the Amazon. During Lula&#8217;s first year in office, the federal environmental agency, IBAMA, destroyed 600 dredgers used to churn up riverbeds in search of gold, and 150 backhoe loaders doing the same on riverbanks. However, the impact of illegal gold mines reverberates for dozens of years after they close. It’s not just the forests and rivers that may never be the same again; the mercury used by the miners continues to impact future generations. &#8220;If we simply stop mining today and let nature regenerate itself naturally, there are estimates that this mercury will remain circulating in the environment for 100 years,&#8221; Paulo Basta, who coordinates studies on mercury contamination at Fiocruz, Brazil’s leading federal health research center, told Mongabay. Mercury is widely used in the so-called garimpos, wildcat mines that undergo simpler environmental requirements than large-scale commercial mining projects. It helps separate the gold from the ore by sticking to it and forming a little ball, and is later burned off to leave behind just the gold. The mercury evaporates in the process, but rapidly condenses and returns to nature in liquid form. Mercury contamination also happens earlier in the previous process, when the metal is mixed with the ore, during which some of it washes into the river. &#8220;They do this work by hand,&#8221; Larissa Rodrigues, a researcher and portfolio manager at the Escolhas Institute, which advocates&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/report-reveals-widespread-use-of-smuggled-mercury-in-amazon-gold-mining/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/report-reveals-widespread-use-of-smuggled-mercury-in-amazon-gold-mining/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-284463</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal mining in the Pan Amazon: an ecological disaster for floodplains and local communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/illegal-mining-in-the-pan-amazon-an-ecological-disaster-for-floodplains-and-local-communities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/illegal-mining-in-the-pan-amazon-an-ecological-disaster-for-floodplains-and-local-communities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2024 10:13:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/09001548/portada-1-floodplains-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280764</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Forest Destruction, Forests, Gold Mining, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Mercury, Mining, Rainforests, Research, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Floodplains are extraordinarily productive because they are the interface between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They are remarkably diverse because they integrate a mosaic of lakes, marshes, palm swamps and inundated forests, which create the complex food webs that support fish populations. Floodplain habitats are socially and economically vital because tens of thousands of families depend [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Floodplains are extraordinarily productive because they are the interface between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They are remarkably diverse because they integrate a mosaic of lakes, marshes, palm swamps and inundated forests, which create the complex food webs that support fish populations. Floodplain habitats are socially and economically vital because tens of thousands of families depend upon their natural resources for their livelihoods. The impacts from placer mining are catastrophic to floodplains because miners overturn the top layer of soils to expose the gold-bearing placer sediments, leaving behind a desolate moonscape. A placer mine typically occupies a floodplain in its entirety, extending from terrace to terrace and expanding upstream and downstream over dozens of kilometers. A common variant consists of a dredge mounted on a barge that exploits the channel bed of larger rivers that drain wildcat mining landscapes. The combination of placer mines in the headwaters and dredge-barges working downstream can convert a clear-water riparian ecosystem into a silt-laden and polluted river (e.g., the Tapajós). The floodplains of the Andean piedmont and certain geologically defined landscapes on the Brazilian and Guiana Shield attract tens of thousands of wildcat miners, who employ placer mining technology that is particularly destructive and extraordinarily toxic. Credit: © IBAMA &amp; Vincius Mendonça, CC BY-SA 2.0, Flickr.com © Ryan M. Bolton, Shutterstock. At least 350,000 hectares (about 864,800 acres) of forest and wetland habitat have been lost in the Pan Amazon due to placer mining activities. This value, which is derived from satellite images, underestimates the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/illegal-mining-in-the-pan-amazon-an-ecological-disaster-for-floodplains-and-local-communities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/illegal-mining-in-the-pan-amazon-an-ecological-disaster-for-floodplains-and-local-communities/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280764</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forest restoration planned for Colombia’s Farallones de Cali National Park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/forest-restoration-planned-for-colombias-farallones-de-cali-national-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/forest-restoration-planned-for-colombias-farallones-de-cali-national-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jan 2024 19:46:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/09193127/Feature-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277498</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Law Enforcement, Mercury, Mining, National Parks, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Reforestation, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Colombia’s environmental authorities plan to take new steps this year to restore an important national park hit hard by deforestation and pollution, most of it from illegal gold mining. Farallones de Cali National Park, located on the Pacific coast, will begin a long-term habitat restoration project to reverse the damage done by illegal gold mining, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Colombia’s environmental authorities plan to take new steps this year to restore an important national park hit hard by deforestation and pollution, most of it from illegal gold mining. Farallones de Cali National Park, located on the Pacific coast, will begin a long-term habitat restoration project to reverse the damage done by illegal gold mining, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development said in an announcement late last month. It follows a year of joint law enforcement operations to remove criminal groups responsible for the mining. “The message is clear: together, we can control the territory and dismantle these criminal gangs,” said Susana Muhamad, Colombia’s Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development. The Ministry plans to invest around $3.7 million into the park’s restoration, which will involve reforestation and analysis of mercury levels in local waterbodies. Mercury is used to extract gold particles from the soil but is often dumped back into rivers and streams, poisoning flora and fauna as well as residents. Officials said it could take up to 20 years for the forest to grow back and 50 years for the park’s ecosystems to be fully restored. Mining has had a “disastrous” impact on the soil, they said during the announcement. They didn’t provide further details on how reforestation would be carried out. Officials announce progress and plans for Farallones de Cali National Park. (Photo courtesy of Minambiente) The 196,364-hectare (485,226-acre) national park is an important biological corridor along Colombia’s Pacific coast. It has over a thousand species of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/forest-restoration-planned-for-colombias-farallones-de-cali-national-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277498</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Residents of southeast Alaskan town debate mine that’s bound to change region</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/residents-of-southeast-alaskan-town-debate-mine-thats-bound-to-change-region/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/residents-of-southeast-alaskan-town-debate-mine-thats-bound-to-change-region/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 May 2023 15:02:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Evan Bourtis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/26143418/Glacier-Creek-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269090</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation and Indigenous-led conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Alaska, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Conservation, Ecosystems, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Habitat, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Mercury, Mining, Mountains, Pollution, Resource Conflict, Rivers, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In southeast Alaska, people and bears alike come to the shore of the Chilkat River to catch salmon beside evergreen trees and mountains with snow-covered stony summits. Five species of salmon call the Chilkat home, spending most of their life in the Pacific Ocean before returning to the river where they were born to reproduce [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In southeast Alaska, people and bears alike come to the shore of the Chilkat River to catch salmon beside evergreen trees and mountains with snow-covered stony summits. Five species of salmon call the Chilkat home, spending most of their life in the Pacific Ocean before returning to the river where they were born to reproduce and eventually die. A two-minute walk from the river, across from a waterfall that flows down a rocky slope, you’ll find Gershon Cohen’s wooden cabin. Cohen, a water policy advocate, lives in Haines, a small town built between the river and an inlet, surrounded by vibrant waterways that sustain the region’s fishing industry. The Chilkat River and the Klehini River that it intersects with landed eighth on the list of 10 of the most endangered rivers in the U.S. in April. That’s a list that the nonprofit American Rivers has compiled for the past 40 years. The reason the nonprofit considers the rivers to be endangered: a proposed mine, called the Palmer project. The controversial mine proposal has caused divisions in the town between residents who are concerned about the mine&#8217;s impact on commercial fish stocks and residents who anticipate a boost for businesses in Haines and jobs closer to home. At the center of that debate is weighing short-term economic goals against long-term benefits. The mine would extract copper, zinc and other metals near the rivers’ glacial source upriver of Haines. Recently, the companies running the project got a permit to dig a tunnel under a glacier&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/residents-of-southeast-alaskan-town-debate-mine-thats-bound-to-change-region/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-269090</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>International mercury regulations fail to protect the environment, public health: study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/international-mercury-regulations-fail-to-protect-the-environment-public-health-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/international-mercury-regulations-fail-to-protect-the-environment-public-health-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2023 16:53:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/04/13163723/Feature-2-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267466</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Mercury, Mining, Politics, Pollution, Rainforests, Regulations, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Around 15 million people across the globe are working at artisanal and small-scale gold mining sites, nearly a third of them women and children. Instead of operating advanced equipment supplied by formal mining companies subject to government oversight, they use basic tools, bulldozers and unregulated chemicals. In many cases, miners vaporize mercury to separate gold [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Around 15 million people across the globe are working at artisanal and small-scale gold mining sites, nearly a third of them women and children. Instead of operating advanced equipment supplied by formal mining companies subject to government oversight, they use basic tools, bulldozers and unregulated chemicals. In many cases, miners vaporize mercury to separate gold from the soil, a process known as amalgamation. While it can be faster than other methods, the process also leads to serious environmental and public health consequences. Mercury is known to lead to memory loss, seizures, vomiting and lung damage, among other problems. The World Health Organization considers mercury to be one of the top-ten chemicals of public health concern. Yet regulations on its use are still relatively new. The UN Minamata Convention on Mercury only went into force in 2017, an attempt by the international community to collaborate on mitigating mercury use. Nearly 140 countries have signed onto the treaty, with the UN saying that 84% of them have submitted some update on improved mercury regulation policy. But their efforts in artisanal and small-scale gold mining appear to be flawed, a March study in Environmental Science &amp; Policy found. And the progress being made to limit mercury use in mining is either misrepresented or just too inconsistent to reach a conclusion about. “We realized that there were a lot of differences with these mercury estimates and how they were developed,” said Michelle Schwartz, the study’s lead author and engineer at environmental consulting firm Tanaq&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/international-mercury-regulations-fail-to-protect-the-environment-public-health-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-267466</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil tackles illegal miners, but finds their mercury legacy harder to erase</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/brazil-tackles-illegal-miners-but-finds-their-mercury-legacy-harder-to-erase/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/brazil-tackles-illegal-miners-but-finds-their-mercury-legacy-harder-to-erase/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Mar 2023 15:15:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/03/15102136/Illegal-mining-areas-inside-Yanomami-land-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=266479</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chemicals, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Health, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Mercury, Mining, Poisoning, Politics, Pollution, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rivers, Threats To Rainforests, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2015, researchers in Brazil started a project to address a tricky challenge: Reducing exposure to mercury contamination in the region of the Tapajós River, a major tributary of the Amazon. Artisanal miners use the heavy metal to separate gold from ore, then burn it off. The waste mercury then ends up in the air, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2015, researchers in Brazil started a project to address a tricky challenge: Reducing exposure to mercury contamination in the region of the Tapajós River, a major tributary of the Amazon. Artisanal miners use the heavy metal to separate gold from ore, then burn it off. The waste mercury then ends up in the air, vegetation and water. In bodies of water like the Tapajós, it undergoes a transformation into methylmercury, a toxic substance that can move up the food chain, concentrating in carnivorous fish. For residents of this northern area of Brazil’s Pará state, fishing is an important source of food. The Tapajós Basin has been plagued by illegal mining and mercury pollution for decades. That’s why the researchers at Pará Federal University (UFPA) started working with villagers to raise awareness of the dangers of mercury and help manage their exposure, principally by reducing their consumption of potentially contaminated fish. The researchers used learning sessions and local radio to share information about the health risks associated with mercury. Participants in the project also helped to spread the word among other community members. Similar interventions have also proved successful in the past as a short-term solution to address mercury exposure. Of 34 participants whose hair samples were tested in consecutive years during the project, more than half showed reduced exposure to mercury. Though a small sample, the researchers say it indicates that such knowledge-sharing initiatives can be effective to reduce exposure. “We need to provide knowledge to local communities about&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/brazil-tackles-illegal-miners-but-finds-their-mercury-legacy-harder-to-erase/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/brazil-tackles-illegal-miners-but-finds-their-mercury-legacy-harder-to-erase/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-266479</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Struggles loom as Bolivia prepares new plan to clean up its mercury problem</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/struggles-ahead-as-bolivia-prepares-new-plan-to-clean-up-its-mercury-problem/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/struggles-ahead-as-bolivia-prepares-new-plan-to-clean-up-its-mercury-problem/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Mar 2023 08:15:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/03/08225131/FEATURE-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=266311</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Infrastructure, Law, Mercury, Mining, Politics, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Roads, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia’s failure to combat illegal gold mining generated a heated national debate last year. Numerous news sites published investigations into deforestation, pollution and corruption tied to the mining industry, while leading officials in congress and the UN made public calls for action by the central government, which had largely been silent on the issue. The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia’s failure to combat illegal gold mining generated a heated national debate last year. Numerous news sites published investigations into deforestation, pollution and corruption tied to the mining industry, while leading officials in congress and the UN made public calls for action by the central government, which had largely been silent on the issue. The biggest concern was that mining operations make free use of mercury — a chemical that separates gold particles from soil — despite the country having signed onto an international convention to ban the toxic chemical a decade ago. There were also concerns that mining was happening on land that hadn’t been legally approved by regulators, allowing operations to dredge rivers, cut down trees and delegate work to foreign companies without proper oversight. “In Bolivia, small-scale gold mining is the source of mercury emissions. Hundreds of tons of mercury are released into Indigenous territories every year, posing risks to people’s health and the environment and generating serious environmental injustices,” Marcos Orellana, the UN Special Rapporteur on Toxic Substances and Human Rights, said last year. President Luis Arce’s government responded to the criticism this January by announcing plans to improve regulations on gold mining and mercury, at a cost of over $6.5 million. But conservationists and officials alike are concerned the plans won’t be enough. Miners at a January press conference on mercury regulations. (Photo courtesy of the Bolivia Information Agency) One of the projects is a national action plan on mining, which still needs two years&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/struggles-ahead-as-bolivia-prepares-new-plan-to-clean-up-its-mercury-problem/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-266311</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous youths lured by the illegal mines destroying their Amazon homeland</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/indigenous-youths-lured-by-the-illegal-mines-destroying-their-amazon-homeland/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/indigenous-youths-lured-by-the-illegal-mines-destroying-their-amazon-homeland/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Nov 2022 16:45:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jean-Mathieu AlbertiniVictor Raison]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/11/30152659/yanomami_territory_DSC_5850-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=263079</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation, Artisanal Mining, Global Commodities, Land rights and extractives, and Latin America]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, COVID-19, Crime, Culture, Drinking Water, Environment, Fish, Gold Mining, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Malaria, Mercury, Mining, Pollution, Rainforests, Social Conflict, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story was produced with the funding support of the Rainforest Journalism Investigations Network (RIN) of the Pulitzer Center. WAIKAS, Brazil — From up above, long, massive, yellowish stains tear apart the green blanket of the Amazon. In the northern part of the Yanomami Indigenous Territory near Brazil’s border with Venezuela, these illegal gold mines, known [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story was produced with the funding support of the Rainforest Journalism Investigations Network (RIN) of the Pulitzer Center. WAIKAS, Brazil — From up above, long, massive, yellowish stains tear apart the green blanket of the Amazon. In the northern part of the Yanomami Indigenous Territory near Brazil’s border with Venezuela, these illegal gold mines, known locally as garimpos, blanket the banks of the Uraricoera River. The pilot flies his Cessna aircraft low but doesn’t get too close. He fears the armed garimpeiros, or gold diggers, on the ground as much as the other small planes swooping through the tree canopy to avoid the police radars and supply the mining camps. On the ground, the Indigenous village of Waikas is in sight. This is home to the Yek&#8217;wana, one of the eight ethnic groups who live in this territory the size of Portugal. &#8220;Illegal mining, the garimpo, has destroyed everything. Our river has become muddy and contaminated. We can&#8217;t fish anymore, and the animals have fled far away from the noise of the [mining] generators and machines,&#8221; says Julio Yek&#8217;wana, one of the community&#8217;s leaders in Brazil’s Roraima state. There are currently around 20,000 illegal miners in the Indigenous territory, according to the Federal Public Ministry. Deep inside the forest, the boat traffic carrying men and supplies to the garimpos is relentless. The entire structure of Julio’s society has been shaken to its foundation, he tells Mongabay. Illegal mining and the fortunes promised by gold miners is swaying Indigenous youth in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/indigenous-youths-lured-by-the-illegal-mines-destroying-their-amazon-homeland/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-263079</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>About 72% of gold miners poisoned with mercury at artisanal mining sites in Cameroon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/about-72-of-gold-miners-poisoned-with-mercury-at-artisanal-mining-sites-in-cameroon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/about-72-of-gold-miners-poisoned-with-mercury-at-artisanal-mining-sites-in-cameroon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Nov 2022 21:01:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yannick Kenné]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/11/29204039/Photo-1-scaled-e1667349306177-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=263045</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Artisanal Mining, Global Commodities, and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Environmental Law, Gold Mining, Illegal Mining, Industry, Mercury, Mining, Poisoning, Pollution, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BATOURI, Cameroon – At Kambélé III, an artisanal mining site in the commune of Batouri, located 415 kilometers (268 miles) east of Yaoundé, Cameroon&#8217;s capital, male, female, teenage, and child gold miners are already hard at work on a sunny Thursday morning. Clothed in rags and without protection, they dig, comb, and excavate the gutted [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BATOURI, Cameroon – At Kambélé III, an artisanal mining site in the commune of Batouri, located 415 kilometers (268 miles) east of Yaoundé, Cameroon&#8217;s capital, male, female, teenage, and child gold miners are already hard at work on a sunny Thursday morning. Clothed in rags and without protection, they dig, comb, and excavate the gutted site across hectares of land as far as the eye can see. Some transport large quantities of soil and stone to grinding mills, whose whirling sound creates a deafening roar. On both sides of the site, archaic wooden facilities have been set up as laboratories and are used to refine ore and extract gold from it. Miners washing ore containing gold using an outdated, locally-assembled tool. Image © Yannick Kenné. With his bare hands plunged in a copper basin, Saliou Hassana, a 17-year-old gold miner, constantly mixes its contents, a muddy and yellowish water containing gold particles. His meticulous work aims to extract the gold from the particles. After a few minutes of mixing, he obtains blackish sediments in which gold nuggets are buried. As the final step to separate the treasure from the ore, Saliou uses a chemical substance carefully preserved in a piece of wool: mercury. The resulting 0.15 microns of gold is immediately sold to an eager collector for less than $7.58 (5,000 FCFA). Saliou obtains the mercury from gold collectors on the black market. They discreetly sell small doses to gold miners, and for a capful three centimeters in diameter, the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/about-72-of-gold-miners-poisoned-with-mercury-at-artisanal-mining-sites-in-cameroon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-263045</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>U.N. report calls for the ban of mercury trade and its use in gold mining</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/u-n-report-calls-for-the-ban-of-mercury-trade-and-its-use-in-gold-mining/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/u-n-report-calls-for-the-ban-of-mercury-trade-and-its-use-in-gold-mining/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Nov 2022 17:53:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Peter Speetjens]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/11/24171037/52102532805_2c317e93d2_c-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=262927</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation and Artisanal Mining]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conflict, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Gold Mining, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Mercury, Mining, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Artisanal gold mining is driving the global demand for mercury, with 2,058 metric tons of the toxic metal contaminating water, land and air every year, according to a recent report Mercury, Small Time Gold Mining and Human Rights. Presented before the United Nations Human Rights Council on Sept.20 by Marcos Orellana, the U.N.’s special rapporteur [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Artisanal gold mining is driving the global demand for mercury, with 2,058 metric tons of the toxic metal contaminating water, land and air every year, according to a recent report Mercury, Small Time Gold Mining and Human Rights. Presented before the United Nations Human Rights Council on Sept.20 by Marcos Orellana, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on toxics and human rights, the report calls for an end to mining, exporting and trading mercury, as well as a ban on the use of mercury in small-scale gold mining. “An estimated 10 million to 15 million people were directly engaged in small-scale gold mining in 2017, including an estimated 1 million child workers and 4.5 million women,” the report says. “It generates up to 20% of the global gold supply annually, equivalent to approximately 500 tons, with a market value of almost $29 billion annually.” Orellana, who teaches international environmental law at George Washington University in the U.S., found that the demand for mercury used in small-scale gold mining stems from three key regions: South America (39%), East and Southeast Asia (37%), and sub-Saharan Africa (21%). Most small-scale gold mining in South America is centered in the Amazon. In Brazil, it has gone “big scale.” According to MapBiomas, a research collective that tracks land use changes through satellite imagery, small-scale gold mining in 2018 overtook industrial mining in scale, covering 107,800 hectares (266,000 acres) in 2020, 94% of it in the Amazon. The Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF)&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/u-n-report-calls-for-the-ban-of-mercury-trade-and-its-use-in-gold-mining/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-262927</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mercury rising: Why Bolivia remains South America’s hub for the toxic trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/mercury-rising-why-bolivia-remains-south-americas-hub-for-the-toxic-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/mercury-rising-why-bolivia-remains-south-americas-hub-for-the-toxic-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Nov 2022 09:01:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Daniel]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/10/26172604/FEATURE-Mercury-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=261877</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Forest Destruction, Forests, Freshwater, Governance, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Mercury, Mining, Politics, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LA PAZ — Mercury, even at room temperature, will slowly transition from its silver liquid state into a dangerous vapor that, when inhaled, can leave a person with permanent brain and lung damage. It also happens to be extremely useful for separating gold from other particles, like dirt, making it a popular tool for many [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LA PAZ — Mercury, even at room temperature, will slowly transition from its silver liquid state into a dangerous vapor that, when inhaled, can leave a person with permanent brain and lung damage. It also happens to be extremely useful for separating gold from other particles, like dirt, making it a popular tool for many mining operators throughout South America. Miners often dump the chemical into rivers, where it spreads through the watershed and seeps into the ground. Fish and other freshwater animals absorb it into their bodies, and then it climbs up the food chain until reaching humans — often members of local and Indigenous communities in the Amazon. Recognizing the overwhelming public health and environmental risks of mercury, Ecuador and Peru banned imports in 2015 and, in the years following, implemented a series of regulations on chemical use in artisanal mining. Colombia followed suit in 2018. Brazil, although it hasn’t prohibited mercury imports, has created customs regulations for it and now requires a permit for using mercury while mining. Bolivia, however, has done almost nothing to regulate it. The import and export of mercury is still legal — it’s treated like any other substance at customs — as is its distribution inside the country. Critics of the Bolivian government say its failure to act has exacerbated the damage done by illegal mining and fueled a black market in the region. A young girl working with mercury in Mayaya, Bolivia. (Photo by Maxwell Radwin) “You can go to the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/mercury-rising-why-bolivia-remains-south-americas-hub-for-the-toxic-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-261877</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Shady contracts, backdoor deals spur illegal gold mining in Bolivian Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/shady-contracts-backdoor-deals-spur-illegal-gold-mining-in-bolivian-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/shady-contracts-backdoor-deals-spur-illegal-gold-mining-in-bolivian-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Nov 2022 09:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Daniel]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/10/26165009/FEATURE-1-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=261867</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, International Trade, Mercury, Mining, Politics, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rivers, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LA PAZ — Gold is Bolivia’s second-biggest export, valued at more than $1 billion annually and employing hundreds of thousands of people in the country. But much of that gold has uncertain origins, coming from somewhere deep in the Amazon rainforest, where environmental regulations often go unenforced. Setting up camp in secluded parts of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LA PAZ — Gold is Bolivia’s second-biggest export, valued at more than $1 billion annually and employing hundreds of thousands of people in the country. But much of that gold has uncertain origins, coming from somewhere deep in the Amazon rainforest, where environmental regulations often go unenforced. Setting up camp in secluded parts of the rainforest, mining operators carry out their excavations hours or even days from the nearest town. They block off paths with excavators and bulldozers or, in other cases, work on dredge boats in the middle of rivers, making it difficult to trace their output. Some of them have also turned violent, throwing rocks and explosives at unfamiliar boats and threatening to hold visitors hostage. Government officials and local media outlets alike have acknowledged the difficulties accessing gold mining hotspots, and of regulating their environmental impact. The area of greatest concern is Madidi National Park, a nearly 19,000-square-kilometer (7,300-square-mile) protected area with some of the highest biodiversity rates in the Americas. The area has become the nucleus of illegal gold mining in Bolivia, with more operations pushing into the park from the south every year. “You can’t help but feel sorry for the complete and total change that’s taking place,” said Jairo Gómez, an environmental official in the mining town of Guanay. “It’s immense. It’s monstrous work. [Mining operations] clear endless stretches, and all you’re left with is stone and rubble.” Mongabay managed to visit multiple illegal mining sites, interview investors, and review their work contracts to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/shady-contracts-backdoor-deals-spur-illegal-gold-mining-in-bolivian-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-261867</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chinese companies criticized for mercury pollution in Cameroon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/chinese-companies-slated-for-mercury-pollution-in-cameroon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/chinese-companies-slated-for-mercury-pollution-in-cameroon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Sep 2022 08:48:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Christophe Nyemeck Beat]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Desirenimubona]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/05080741/Chinese-companies-slated-for-mercury-pollution-in-Cameroon-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=259911</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, and Central Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chemicals, Drinking Water, Environment, Environmental Law, Gold Mining, Health, Human Rights, Industry, Mercury, Mining, Poisoning, Pollution, Public Health, Rivers, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An environmental think tank in Cameroon has raised the alarm over the pollution of rivers in the country’s east and north. The Centre for Environment and Development (CED) says two Chinese gold mining companies are discharging toxic mercury and cyanide into the rivers every day, putting downstream communities and wildlife at risk. “The latest tests, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An environmental think tank in Cameroon has raised the alarm over the pollution of rivers in the country’s east and north. The Centre for Environment and Development (CED) says two Chinese gold mining companies are discharging toxic mercury and cyanide into the rivers every day, putting downstream communities and wildlife at risk. “The latest tests, conducted in several waterways in June 2022, including the Djiengou River, which runs through the village of Kambélé III … in eastern Cameroon, showed traces of mercury in the surface of waters flowing down from the nearby gold washing ponds,” Marc Ansèlme Kamga, an environmental researcher at CED, told Mongabay. “The results of the water samples taken showed an average daily use of 40 liters [10.5 gallons] of mercury and cyanide per Chinese company.” Kamga estimateed  that Mencheng Mining and Zinquo Mining each have 20 people working in washing ponds along the Djiengou River, with each worker using as much as 2 liters (half a gallon) of mercury and cyanide per day. These chemicals are extremely toxic, which makes the presence of school-age children working at gold mining sites across the region alarming to observers. At one gold washing pond near Kambélé III, 8-year-old Pierre works in a pit alongside his parents. His father, the muscles in his bare arms clearly outlined, gave up farming to work in the gold mines. Pierre, his unkempt hair covered in mud, has worked alongside him since before his eighth birthday. An administrator at a school elsewhere in Cameroon’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/chinese-companies-slated-for-mercury-pollution-in-cameroon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-259911</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>At 30, Brazil’s Yanomami reserve is beset by mining, malaria and mercury</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/at-30-brazils-yanomami-reserve-is-beset-by-mining-malaria-and-mercury/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/at-30-brazils-yanomami-reserve-is-beset-by-mining-malaria-and-mercury/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jun 2022 13:33:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Peter Speetjens]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/06/09233120/Haverkamp-header-768x508.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=257006</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation and Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Gold Mining, Governance, Health, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Malaria, Mercury, Mining, NGOs, Poisoning, Politics, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Thirty years ago, Brazil issued a decree officially recognizing the ancestral land of the Yanomami people as an Indigenous territory. The new designation made the area, located deep in the Amazon, on the border with Venezuela, a protected land: it can’t be sold or exploited and may only serve as the source of livelihood for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Thirty years ago, Brazil issued a decree officially recognizing the ancestral land of the Yanomami people as an Indigenous territory. The new designation made the area, located deep in the Amazon, on the border with Venezuela, a protected land: it can’t be sold or exploited and may only serve as the source of livelihood for the 27,000 Indigenous Yanomami living in more than 350 villages spread across the rainforest. Indigenous territories in Brazil have long been a stronghold against deforestation. But there was little to celebrate for the Yanomami on May 25, the 30th anniversary of their territory’s official recognition. That’s because this reserve, an area the size of former colonial power Portugal and located in the shadow of Pico da Neblina, Brazil’s highest mountain, has witnessed a massive invasion of illegal gold miners, known as garimpeiros, in recent years. The area inside the reserve that’s been destroyed by mining activities increased from 1,200 hectares (2,965 acres) at the end of 2018 to 3,272 hectares (8,085 acres) at the end of last year, according to the report “Yanomami Under Attack,” from the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), an NGO that advocates for environmental diversity and the rights of Indigenous people. The report describes how some 20,000 illegal miners have penetrated deep into the Yanomami reserve, which straddles the border region of the states of Roraima and Amazonas, by plane and boat. Their activities are described as “artisanal,” yet they work with excavators, bulldozers and dredgers that cost a small fortune. In the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/at-30-brazils-yanomami-reserve-is-beset-by-mining-malaria-and-mercury/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-257006</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In a biodiversity haven, mining drives highest ever recorded levels of mercury</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/in-a-biodiversity-haven-mining-drives-highest-ever-recorded-levels-of-mercury/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/in-a-biodiversity-haven-mining-drives-highest-ever-recorded-levels-of-mercury/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Feb 2022 07:30:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/02/28064315/10-Gold-mining-areas-in-Madre-de-Dios-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253159</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation and Artisanal Mining]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Gold Mining, Health, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Law Enforcement, Mercury, Mining, Planetary Health, Poisoning, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, Rivers, Threats To Rainforests, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Years of artisanal mining along the Madre de Dios River and its tributaries have left their marks, both seen and unseen. Miners, swarming to the region in a modern-day goldrush, have cleared away pockets of this sliver of the Peruvian Amazon. The hangover from the continuing boom has left behind the telltale moonscapes of barren [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Years of artisanal mining along the Madre de Dios River and its tributaries have left their marks, both seen and unseen. Miners, swarming to the region in a modern-day goldrush, have cleared away pockets of this sliver of the Peruvian Amazon. The hangover from the continuing boom has left behind the telltale moonscapes of barren land, muddied streams and rivers, and an invisible toxin that fouls the water, the air and, as a recent study has shown, the forests themselves. The study, published Jan. 28 in the journal Nature Communications, reveals that forests — and dense, intact forests in particular — sponge up mercury in the atmosphere that comes from gold mining in the Madre de Dios’s riverine soils. The mercury gathers on the surface of the leaves and in their tissues, and then rainfall washes it from high in the canopy to the forest floor, in a process that scientists call “throughfall.” Levels of mercury found in that throughfall “were the highest ever recorded anywhere in the globe,” Jacqueline Gerson, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, said in an interview. “That completely surprised us, that this area in the Amazon could have such high concentrations of mercury, higher than levels you&#8217;re seeing in industrial areas [or] in mercury mining areas,” she said. “And this all was happening within a biodiversity hotspot.” A gold mining site on the Madre de Dios River. Image by Kelsey Lansdale. Artisanal gold miners, who employ largely&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/in-a-biodiversity-haven-mining-drives-highest-ever-recorded-levels-of-mercury/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/in-a-biodiversity-haven-mining-drives-highest-ever-recorded-levels-of-mercury/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-253159</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil’s Amazon gold mining to be “stimulated” by Bolsonaro’s decree (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/brazils-amazon-gold-mining-to-be-stimulated-by-bolsonaros-decree-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/brazils-amazon-gold-mining-to-be-stimulated-by-bolsonaros-decree-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Feb 2022 22:04:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Philip M. Fearnside]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/02/22220232/peru_aerial_1461-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=252987</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Deforestation, Forests, Gold Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Mercury, Mining, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On February 11, 2022, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro published a decree establishing the Program for Supporting the Development of Artisanal Mining (Pró-Mape), which aims to “stimulate” this type of mining “with a view to sustainable development.” However, what would be stimulated is neither “artisanal” nor “sustainable development.” The vision of mining being carried out at [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On February 11, 2022, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro published a decree establishing the Program for Supporting the Development of Artisanal Mining (Pró-Mape), which aims to “stimulate” this type of mining “with a view to sustainable development.” However, what would be stimulated is neither “artisanal” nor “sustainable development.” The vision of mining being carried out at the individual level is today, mostly mythological: “garimpagem” (usually translated as “wildcat mining”) in the Amazon is generally being carried out with expensive machinery and infrastructure, with the activity being commanded by entrepreneurs. Almost all Amazonian gold mining is illegal, although there are “garimpeiro” cooperatives that can obtain licenses to do the activity legally thanks to a 1989 law. President Bolsonaro’s recent decree cites this law to define “artisanal mining,” which means that these legal entities would be “stimulated.” The number of these cooperatives has exploded since the beginning of the Bolsonaro presidential administration. Recent investigations have revealed that many of the licenses for garimpeiro cooperatives are just fronts to launder gold illegally taken from Indigenous lands and other locations far from the licensed site, and often the licensed sites where allegedly large amounts of gold were taken are, in fact, under dense forest without any visible activity. The shipment of gold abroad is based on an export license in which the supposed source of the product is self-declared, without any type of inspection. In addition, Brazil’s powerful drug gangs have recently been found to be investing heavily in Amazonian gold mining, as well as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/brazils-amazon-gold-mining-to-be-stimulated-by-bolsonaros-decree-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-252987</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Alaskan Indigenous leaders fear impacts on salmon streams by mining project</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/alaskan-indigenous-leaders-fear-impacts-on-salmon-streams-from-mining-project/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/alaskan-indigenous-leaders-fear-impacts-on-salmon-streams-from-mining-project/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jan 2022 18:15:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Laurel Sutherland]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/01/26173218/Bethel-No-Donlin-26-scaled-e1643218727262-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=252029</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Alaska and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Freshwater Fish, Habitat, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Mercury, Pollution, Rivers, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For Indigenous tribes living in Alaska’s remote Yukon-Kuskokwim region, southwest of the state, the future is bleak and uncertain. Tribal councils worry that plans to construct a 6,474-hectare (15,990 acres) open-pit gold mine near the Kuskokwim River watershed will have grave impacts on salmon habitats, their traditional ways of life and their health. “This development [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For Indigenous tribes living in Alaska’s remote Yukon-Kuskokwim region, southwest of the state, the future is bleak and uncertain. Tribal councils worry that plans to construct a 6,474-hectare (15,990 acres) open-pit gold mine near the Kuskokwim River watershed will have grave impacts on salmon habitats, their traditional ways of life and their health. “This development could possibly destroy our livelihood, rivers and sea mammals that we depend on,” said Fred Phillips, representative of the Indigenous Village of Kwigillingok tribal council. According to him, tribes are not willing to take the risk. The Kuskokwim River in southwestern Alaksa. Image courtesy of Travis via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) drainage is part of a rich biome encompassing coastal wetlands, tundra and mountains that supports the subsistence lifestyle of three distinct Alaskan Native groups; The Yup’ik, Cup’ik and Athabascan. To access the remote region, one needs to go by boat when the Kuskokwim River is flowing, or truck, snow machine and four-wheeler when the river is frozen. Draining into the Bering Sea to the west, the Kuskokwim River, and many of its tributaries, are designated as Essential Fish Habitat (EFH), under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act for Pacific Salmon. This is a legislation that manages marine fisheries in US waters. The sprawling river is a vital source of food for the 38 communities that reside alongside it, serving as a running ground for the chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta), coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha)&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/alaskan-indigenous-leaders-fear-impacts-on-salmon-streams-from-mining-project/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-252029</doi>				</item>
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