Illegal mining threatens to destroy the Amazon

Monday, December 22, 2014, 6:05 PM - Experts say that half of the world's known species of plants, animals and insects live in the Amazon rain forest—and if things don't change, that's half of the world that could be without a home soon.

In the Peruvian region known as Madre de Dios, illegal gold mining is destroying valuable hectares of tropical rain forest but one Canadian is hoping to make a difference in the area. Jana Bell has a passion for the South American country and is teaming up with Jhin Solis, a native to Madre de Dios, to start a Canadian charity looking to protect the rain forest.

Solis first encountered the activity back in 1985. While mining decreased shortly after, with previous governments shutting down the Gold Miners' Bank, a high cost of living forced locals to return to the damaging activity.

"Madre de Dios is pretty much isolated from the rest of Peru. As part of the Amazon forest, the access is very difficult. Everything is very expensive. Food supplies and all that has to make it there by truck, but there were no highways built." Solis explained. "People needed to find alternate ways to make money."

When a highway near the area was finally built, the prices went down but the mining didn't stop. In fact, the opposite happened.

"It started with the interoceanic highway that connects ports of Brazil on the Atlantic side with a port in Peru on the Pacific side," Bell said. "All of a sudden, areas that were previously inaccessible opened up and poor people began flooding the areas looking for their fortune."

According to Bell, people from the highlands soon began starting their own mining campsites. Once they're set up, they'll use hoses and motors to extract soil from the depths of the Amazon. By applying mercury, the miners obtain a new compound that is approximately 60 per cent mercury and 40 per cent gold. High temperatures are applied to the product to get rid of the mercury and obtain purified liquid gold.

The use of mercury poses additional challenges to people trying to find gold in the Amazon.

"If you ask them about the health concerns attached to mercury, they'll say 'I've heard people talk about it but I don't believe it," Bell explained.

A view of La Pampa back in action, months after it was shut down

Mercury is toxic and can cause damage to the central and peripheral nervous system, among many other negative effects. Bell says that an education on the dangers could go a long way in fighting illegal mining.

Next: What the Amazon Rainforest Conservancy is doing to improve the situation

An aerial shot of the damage done to the Amazon rain forest by illegal mining

But Government officials have instead focused on a physical fight against illegal mining. Roughly a year ago, military and local police teamed up to shut down a mining site known as La Pampa. Less than six months later, the miners had returned.

"Jhin and I thought we would be able to take pictures of an empty site but some of the miners had already returned and it was too dangerous for us to take pictures. I was sitting behind Jhin on his motorbike and had my little video camera on my lap in the hopes no one would see me taking photos/videos," Bell recalls. "No one did obviously or I may not be here to tell the story."

Danger is a main concern for those that travel into the area. Miners protect their sites with guns and other weapons. Local police do their best to keep things under control, but are often outmanned and outgunned.

"The miners are armed and are everywhere. Madre de Dios is roughly the size of California and has about 400 policemen," Bell said. "There's also a lot of corruption so sometimes the police are threatened or bought off."

Seeing the destruction was enough for Bell to want to do something to change the situation. "I researched, looking for a Canadian organization working there and I couldn't find one so I realized I had to start my own charity," Bell said.

To assist Bell and Solis in their mission to obtain charitable status, they returned to the Amazon to make a documentary. Their organization, the Amazon Rainforest Conservancy (ARC), has since been approved as a charity but know that their work ahead is very challenging.

"We want to purchase threatened tropical rain forest habitat in order to assist in the preservation and conservation of endangered flora and fauna species," Bell said. "We also want to build a small biological station on the land that will be used for education and research in biodiversity and tropical conservation because we want people to be on the land to secure it.

Thanks to donations from friends and interested party, the Amazon Rainforest Conservancy was able to purchase a title transfer of 615 hectares of land located near Tambopata, Peru. About 603 hectares are considered "intact ancient primary rain forest"—which means the area hasn't been mined or logged. There are some trees in that region that have been wiped out in nearby areas.

Bell and the ARC want to involve the local community and give them an opportunity to move away from the damaging activity that's destroying the Amazon. In the land they have purchased, there are hundreds of Brazilian nut trees. protecting these trees ensures that the harpy eagle will continue to have a place to nest, but also allows locals to harvest the nut and obtain money from a new source.

While they are proud of their first victory, they know the road ahead will need a lot more effort and help.

"The reality is that it's harder to protect something, than it is to destroy," Solis explains. "That's the power of money.