Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Suriname Rainforest threatened by Gold Rush ~Nichole Rose

Fewer than a dozen men, barefoot with survival on their minds, blast away at the Earth for three days in Suriname Rainforest in pursuit of gold. They have used tools such as high pressure power hoses and earth movers to decimate the land and destroy vital habitat in this swathe of rainforest. The miners of Nieuw Koffiekamp state that they need work and this is the only option left for them. They plan to spend a week ripping through the soil and filtering it through toxic mercury to find the gold. When asked about the damage that they have caused, a most defensive Juergen Plein shouts, "But survival comes first." When they fail or succeed to find any gold, they will move on to a new swath of rainforest to dig for more.



Small scale mining operations are growing along the northeastern border of South America due to record gold prices on the market. The drive comes from the previous year where 16.5 metric tons of gold was produced, hitting a record high. The effects of this mining are due to the protocol used when mining for it. Not only are these miners uplifting trees but also poisoning the waters with mercury. Most alarming is the make shift jungle towns being erected, fully equipped with shops, churches and prostitutes. What they leave is destruction and mayhem in the jungle while in fervent need to find gold. World Wildlife Fund representative, Dominiek Plouvier says, “In their wake is a wasteland.” He explains that “all the top soil has been removed, it’s finished.”



Most intriguing is that many of the miners are illegal immigrants from Brazil that are fleeing the law in some form and fashion. Suriname is known as a country that is rich in resource simultaneously as being the country with the weakest enforcement of law. Even the Vice President Robert Ameerali said he would seek to reduce the use of mercury even though it is outright illegal already. Making laws and policies regarding better technology or training for miners will go unheard because there is no enforcement behind it. The Suriname rainforest is in danger and an easy target on what the scientific world sees as a vital and irreplaceable biome.

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