A captivating image of the Peruvian Amazon from space has become a striking reminder of the desolation caused by gold mining in the region.
The stunning photograph, captured by a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station, shows two parallel but very different rivers, one natural and the other man-made, flowing through what was once a flourishing tropical rainforest. Now, however, rampant illegal mining has seized much of the South American nation’s gold reserves and destroyed more than 250,000 acres of forest in the process, according to environmental reports.
The left side of the image shows the Inambari River, but it is the scene on the right that catches the eye with a meandering stream illuminated by miles of gold prospecting pits.
The rare image required cloudless weather conditions and the sun to project its light at a very specific angle, called a “bright spot,” to create a bright effect.
Independent miners, they shouted garimperos, are responsible for the luminescent belt of the iconic Amazon rainforest. In search of better lives, they have gone down to Madre de Dios, Peru, where the gold rush has been taking advantage since the 1980s, caused by a rise in the price of the precious metal. The country is the sixth largest producer of gold in the world. In 2017, a study estimated that about 155 metric tons were removed from the Peruvian Amazon.
Its excessive search for wealth has left in its wake a cemetery of tropical fauna and vegetation, and land contaminated by mercury, a byproduct of the gold mining process. The slime was so rich that up to 10 to 15 grams of gold a day could be forged. Gold is priced at just over $ 1,800 per ounce, according to the Nasdaq, or about $ 64.50 per gram.
For years, the illegal La Pampa, a hostile illegal mining industry center, was known to support “prostitution, current slavery and organized crime” and had long been inaccessible to outsiders. , according to a report published in 2020 in Nature. Scientists and ground authorities could only observe from the distance of a satellite how huge strips of rainforest were being cut for surface prospecting.
In 2019, the Peruvian government declared martial law in the region, expelling tens of thousands of miners who relied on this work to make a living. Since then, conservation biologists have begun working with Peru to investigate which tree species can survive in today’s harsh ecosystem.