Posted on January, 15 2015

On 14 Jan 2015, the University of Puerto Rico released a research paper showing that the highest percentage of Amazonian forest loss, caused by gold mining, occurs across the Guianas.
 
The study reviewed information on the rainforests of Suriname, French Guiana, Guyana, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, and Bolivia and demonstrated that between 2001 and 2013, approximately 1680 km2 of tropical forest was lost in South America as a result only of small-scale gold mining.

Almost 90 percent of that forest loss occurred in just four regions:  the forests of the Guianas; the moist forests of Peru; Tapajós-Xingú in Brazil; and the Magdalena Valley-Urabá region of Colombia.

Of those four regions the Guianas had highest percentage losses (-41%) suggesting that impacts in these countries are significant even at the continental scale.  The paper also notes that, worryingly, much mining occurs inside or close to Protected Areas.
 
Small scale gold mining has long been recognised as a source of critical income across the Guianas but, as this study reminds us, the consequences of poorly controlled mining is significant environmental damage and highlights once again the urgency of the situation.
 
WWF has worked on gold mining issues for many years and published results showing the serious impacts on health, forests and freshwater systems.  WWF recognises the steps that have been taken by national authorities but urge them to re-double their efforts to ensure that these negative impacts of gold mining are dealt with.
 
It is also clear that these are regional issues that demand a regional response and three areas deserve immediate attention – early signing and implementation of the international Minamata convention to phase out mercury; enforce the exclusion of all mining in Protected Areas and strengthen discussions with neighbouring countries to address the currently uncontrolled movement of miners, mercury and gold.
 
Coordinated efforts can have significant positive effects on the ground as can be seen by the recently adopted French Guiana – Brazil bilateral agreement to control gold mining activities in the border area which has already contributed to reducing illegal mining by 20% within French Guiana.

The WWF Forest and Climate Programme collaborates with WWF-Guyana on reducing emssions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+). 

Guyana’s monitoring, reporting and verification system (MRV), the first in the world to provide a country-wide system to reliably monitor changes to forest cover, is a powerful mechanism to inform public policy discussions and has become a cost effective and reliable model for other countries preparing for REDD+. Furthermore, Guyana’s community monitoring, reporting and verification projects in the North Rupununi and the Wai Wai Kanashen territory empower local communities by developing their own capacity to monitor changes in their natural resources such as carbon, biodiversity, fresh water, and timber.