The activities of wildcat miners in the Pan Amazon has become an increasing issue of concern over the past five years; in part, because their numbers have exploded, but also because as a group, they have flagrantly violated the land rights of Indigenous people, particularly the Yanomami, but also the Murunduku and Kayapó (Brazil), the Ese Eja and Harakmbut (Peru), and the Lekos (Bolivia). Efforts to ‘tame’ wildcat mining is a stated priority for governments and civil society. Over the short term, most wildcat miners will be forcibly removed from formally recognized Indigenous territories. These efforts will be successful because the global media has determined this is a human rights issue that governments cannot ignore. It is less likely, however, that miners will be criminally prosecuted and, in some jurisdictions, they will be allowed to salvage their equipment. In some regions, they will be exiled from high-level protected areas; however, many will continue to have access to multiple-use protected areas. Unallocated public lands and waterways will remain exposed to their harmful practices, as well as unregulated mining operations on private landholdings. The damage caused by illegal mining on 105 hectares in Pariamanu, located in Madre de Dios (Peru). Image courtesy of FEMA. Environmental advocates want them eradicated from all regions of the Amazon. Their view, one popularized by the global media, is they are illegal operators who avoid taxes, ignore labor laws and pollute the environment. Although this is literally true, many operate on landscapes where mining is, theoretically, legal.…This article was originally published on Mongabay
Article by:
This story first appeared on Mongabay
South Africa Today – Environment
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Mongabay, and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
