Illegal Mining
Venezuela’s Yapacana National Park suffering increasing mining deforestation: report
Illegal gold mining is accelerating deforestation in one of Venezuela’s most threatened national parks, a new report from Amazon Conservation revealed. Satellite imagery analyzed by the NGO shows that thousands of excavators, bulldozers and other illegal mining equipment are clearing the rainforest in the southwestern part of Yapacana National Park, located in the Venezuelan state […]
Mercury rising: Why Bolivia remains South America’s hub for the toxic trade
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 […]
Shady contracts, backdoor deals spur illegal gold mining in Bolivian Amazon
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 […]
Can Two New Bills Reshape Indigenous Rights and Illegal Gold Mining in Suriname?
Funding for the research and writing of this series of articles was provided by Amazon Aid Foundation. “We’ve been fighting the government of Suriname for almost 25 years, for recognition of our land rights,” says Jupta Itoewaki, a leader of the Indigenous Wayana people. “The government and leaders don’t feel like they need to consult […]
Fighting extractive industries in Ecuador: Q&A with Indigenous rights activist María Espinosa
National protests overwhelmed Ecuador in June, with Indigenous groups mobilizing in nearly every province of the country and President Guillermo Lasso announcing a state of emergency that restricted travel and allowed law enforcement to use aggressive force. The protests were in response to a variety of grievances — gas prices, healthcare, education — but they […]
Big banks fund the heavy machinery used for Amazon deforestation, report says
The deforestation sweeping across the Brazilian Amazon is driven largely by industrial agriculture, mining and cattle ranching. But those activities wouldn’t be possible without heavy machinery like bulldozers and tractors, and the big banks that often finance their purchase. Questionable business practices, weak government oversight and a lack of transparency make buying heavy machinery in […]
Brazilian miners ramp up their invasion of Yanomami land in Venezuela
In southern Venezuela, the headwaters of some of the country’s largest rivers snake through remote parts of the Amazon rainforest near the Brazilian border, where Yanomami, Ye’kwana and other Indigenous communities have lived for hundreds of years. For most of their history, the Yanomami survived without much contact from the outside world, relying on traditional […]
Mining company destroys Indigenous cemetery during expansion in Honduras
When workers dig through the earth at the San Andres mine in western Honduras, one of the country’s largest mining operations, they sometimes find something mixed in that wasn’t there in older parts of the mine: human bones. For the past decade, the Maya Chortí Indigenous community in the town of Azacualpa were fighting to […]
Displaced and deprived, Indigenous communities suffer from hunger in Nicaragua
Many Indigenous communities in northern Nicaragua are struggling with hunger and malnutrition as increasing land invasions force them from ancestral forests that they once sustainably managed for crop cultivation. Residents in and around the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve near the Caribbean coast, most of them part of Mayangna and Miskito Indigenous communities, don’t always have enough […]
Mongabay’s 10 hardest-hitting investigations of 2021
In 2021, Mongabay’s investigative journalism set out to hold powerful figures accountable for deforestation and pollution, and the mistreatment of vulnerable communities trying to protect local ecosystems. Using data-driven analysis and video, its reporters found new and interesting ways to attract readers all over the world. They analyzed census data to better understand how Indigenous […]