The Amazon
Peru: dramatic rainforest loss from mining
Illegal gold mining in Peru has razed almost 62,500 hectares of rainforest—an area over ten times the size of Manhattan—over the past four years.
Tag: informal mining
The Andes
Frog die-off ominous sign for Lake Titicaca
Peru's National Forestry and Wildlife Service is investigating the death of some 10,000 frogs whose bodies have been found in the Río Coata, which flows into Lake Titicaca.
The Amazon
Peru: satellite to monitor rainforest
Peru launched its first satellite into space this month, to monitor illegal mining, logging and other extractive activities in the country's vast stretch of the Amazon rainforest.
The Andes
Bolivia: vice-minister killed by protesting miners
A deputy interior minister in Bolivia's government was abducted and killed by striking miners in a conflict over privatization of mineral claims on the Altiplano.
The Andes
Colombia: illegal mining the ‘new coca’?
Outlaw mining operations are a growing sideline for Colombia's narco networks, in a nexus with paramilitaries and companies operating on the margins of the law.
The Amazon
Peru: losing battle against outlaw gold mining
Peru sent elite troops to raid outlaw gold-mining operations in the Tambopata Nature Reserve—but they are massively outnumbered by perhaps 10,000 illegal miners in the area.
The Andes
Colombia: cocaine mega-busts keep coming
Amid moves toward peace in Colombia, the goad of the war—the country's lucrative cocaine trade—clearly remains robust, as record-breaking hauls are reported.
The Andes
Anti-gang ‘mega-raids’ in crisis-hit Venezuela
As Venezuela lurches deeper into political crisis, President Maduro launches a new phase in his controversial "Operation Liberate the People" security program.
The Amazon
Peru: state of emergency over illegal mining
Peru's President Ollanta Humala declared a state of emergency in the rainforest region of Madre de Dios following reports of mercury poisoning by outlaw gold-mining operations.
The Andes
Afro-Colombian anti-mining protests repressed
Afro-Colombian protesters blocking the Pan-American Highway in southern Cauca region to protest illegal mining on their lands were violently dispersed by the riot police.
Africa
Mining fuels renewed Darfur conflict
Russia is blocking release of an internal UN report that apparently shows how pro-government militias in Darfur are making some $54 million per year in gold mining.
The Andes
Colombia: will paras fill post-FARC power vacuum?
Rights groups see an urgent threat that criminal gangs and paramilitary groups will fill the power vacuum in remote areas of Colombia as the FARC is demobilized.