January 16, 2015

"Gold rush" threatens tropical forests in South America

editor:	Ama Lorenz

The new research publish, on 14 January, in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, shows the growing environmental impact of gold mining in some of the most biologically diverse regions in the tropics.
According to researchers from the University of Puerto Rico around 1680 km2 of tropical forest was lost in South America as a result of gold mining between 2001 and 2013, which increased from around 377 km2 to 1303km2 since the global economic crisis in 2007.

Increased demand for gold has been paralleled by a dramatic increase in price - the price of gold increased from $250/ounce in 2000 to $1300/ounce in 2013. This has stimulated new gold mining activities around the world and made it feasible to mine for gold in areas that were not previously profitable for mining, such as deposits underneath tropical forests.

Lead author of the research Nora L. Álvarez-Berríos said: "To decrease the amount of deforestation that is occurring as a result of gold mining in the tropical forests, it is important that awareness is raised among gold consumers to understand the environmental and social impacts of buying gold jewellery or investing in gold.
It is important to also encourage more responsible ways of extracting gold by helping miners to extract in a more efficient way to reduce deeper encroachment into the forests."

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