Peru suffers an environmental tragedy
source: http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/science/environment/peru-suffers-an-environmental-tragedy-1.105...
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- Darevalo
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Buenos Aires - The rising price of gold has multiplied by six the pace of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in the Peruvian region of Madre de Dios in recent years, a study published on Tuesday said.
Illegal gold searches using primitive techniques in the years 2003-9 led to the destruction of 7,000 hectares of virgin and extremely diverse rainforest in the two-largest gold-digging areas in the region, Guacamayo and Colorado-Puquiri, Assistant Professor Jennifer Swenson of Duke University said in the online scientific journal PLoS ONE.
Researchers came to this conclusion when they studied satellite images taken by US space agency Nasa and related them to the evolution of the price of gold and to Peru's mercury imports.
“Virtually all mercury imported to Peru is used for artisanal gold mining and imports have risen exponentially since 2003, mirroring the rise in gold prices,” Swenson said.
“Given the rate of recent increases, we project mercury imports will more than double by the end of 2011, to about 500 tons a year,” she said.
The highly poisonous metal is used by poor gold-diggers to wash gold off rock and sand. It is not only harmful to the health of those who handle it, but it also pollutes the region's rivers and air.
Mercury also gets into the food chain and harms local indigenous communities and even those that live further away. Once the gold searchers are done, they leave behind a desert landscape that is poisoned by mercury.
(more at link)
as we see more and more of our world forest stripped away for one resource or another, no one doing the work seems to realize that by removing the trees, crippling the earth your are completely reforming the landscape. lush green forests will die. the native tribes that have lived in the forests of peru and brazil will disappear and more modernization will infest, and it will be costly, and will be trouble some, when we could have saved these lands as they have been for thousands upon thousands of years.
instead there is oil everywhere. and nothing but gold dust left in the ground.
and people thousands of miles away.
clicking ^+ buttons and feeling good for a moment.
Illegal gold searches using primitive techniques in the years 2003-9 led to the destruction of 7,000 hectares of virgin and extremely diverse rainforest in the two-largest gold-digging areas in the region, Guacamayo and Colorado-Puquiri, Assistant Professor Jennifer Swenson of Duke University said in the online scientific journal PLoS ONE.
Researchers came to this conclusion when they studied satellite images taken by US space agency Nasa and related them to the evolution of the price of gold and to Peru's mercury imports.
“Virtually all mercury imported to Peru is used for artisanal gold mining and imports have risen exponentially since 2003, mirroring the rise in gold prices,” Swenson said.
“Given the rate of recent increases, we project mercury imports will more than double by the end of 2011, to about 500 tons a year,” she said.
The highly poisonous metal is used by poor gold-diggers to wash gold off rock and sand. It is not only harmful to the health of those who handle it, but it also pollutes the region's rivers and air.
Mercury also gets into the food chain and harms local indigenous communities and even those that live further away. Once the gold searchers are done, they leave behind a desert landscape that is poisoned by mercury.
(more at link)
as we see more and more of our world forest stripped away for one resource or another, no one doing the work seems to realize that by removing the trees, crippling the earth your are completely reforming the landscape. lush green forests will die. the native tribes that have lived in the forests of peru and brazil will disappear and more modernization will infest, and it will be costly, and will be trouble some, when we could have saved these lands as they have been for thousands upon thousands of years.
instead there is oil everywhere. and nothing but gold dust left in the ground.
and people thousands of miles away.
clicking ^+ buttons and feeling good for a moment.
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- tags:
- Green, Environment, Climate Change, Deforestation, 1 more
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- recommended by:
- Vierotchka
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Roldan
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"The highly poisonous metal is used by poor gold-diggers to wash gold off rock and sand. It is not only harmful to the health of those who handle it, but it also pollutes the region's rivers and air."
By the needy and the greedy equally , it seems the human race is bound to bring its demise sooner than later.
- 1 year ago
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Roldan
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aaron1972
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Absolutely tragic. Once gone... lost forever....
- 1 year ago
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aaron1972
