Over the past five years, small scale gold mining has destroyed over 170,000 acres of beautiful rainforest in the Peruvian Amazon. To put things into perspective, 170,000 acres is about 200 of New York’s Central Park’s all lined up together. Unfortunately, that number is 30% higher than previously recorded, according to recent research by scientists from Wake Forest University’s CINCIA (Center for Amazonian Scientific Innovation.)
The scientists, based in a region of Peru called Madre de Dios, came up with a new tool because they wanted to identify areas that were particularly affected by small-scale mining. The team combined CLASlite forest monitoring technology, which already exists, and Global Change data sets on the loss of forest to create a deforestation detection tool. The tool is 20-25% more accurate than the methods previously used.
Luis Fernandez, CINCIA’s executive director, said:
The scale of the deforestation is really shocking. In 2013, the first comprehensive look at Peruvian rainforest lost from mining showed 30,000 hectares. Five years later, we have found nearly 100,000 hectares of deforested landscape.
Small-scale mining is devastating the rainforest. The mining crews don’t expect to hit streams of gold, but instead, they scavenge for tiny gold flakes scattered throughout the entire rainforest. They dredge the river sediment and clear out land of trees, and then they use mercury to extract precious metals out of the dirt. This method leaves the landscape sucked from nutrients, devoid of most vegetation, and with the toxic mercury having a disastrous effect on any remaining animal or plant life. “There’s enough gold in the landscape to make a great deal of money in a struggling economy. You just have to destroy an immense amount of land to get it,” Fernandez remarked.
When looking at satellite images, the devastation caused by mining can primarily be seen in the natural wetland areas. CINCIA’s Associate Director of Science, Miles Silman, explained that both the Global Forest map and CLASlite use different sources of information from light waves. These light waves show changes in the landscape to give better insight into which areas are most affected. “Combining the two methods gives us really good information about the specific kind of deforestation we’re looking for,” Silman added.
Fernandez explained:
We want to integrate high-quality scientific research into the processes the government is using for environmental conservation in Madre de Dios. If they can institutionalize these technological innovations, they can more reliably address threats to the rainforest. You have to respond quickly, and you have to respond effectively.
With the Ministry of the Environment of Peru as partners, CINCIA hopes that this tool will be able to be utilized for identifying manners of reducing the damage caused by small-scale mining.
