The thirst for gold now affects the Podocarpus National Park in Ecuador; detect underground tunnels and illegal mining camps

At least 222 mining camps have been detected, through satellite maps, within the Podocarpus National Park, located between the provinces of Loja and Zamora Chinchipe.. The total superficial area affected by the felling of wood and evacuation of sediments is 28.4 hectares. There are dozens of tunnels that have been drilled by illegal miners to extract gold.

The affectation occurs in the part of the park that is located in Zamora, 13 kilometers south of the Romerillos Alto sector. Specialists and technicians from the EcoCiencia Foundation have collected information, between 2019 and 2022, about this extraction that is causing a great impact on the biodiversity of the area.

Ambition for gold contaminated the water of Yutzupino, in Napo, with mercury, diesel and gasoline, according to groups

Illegal gold extraction has been concentrated in three mining fronts: Dos Camas, San Luis and La Aída. The first recorded a total of 4.7 hectares (ha) affected by felling and sediment deposit. By August 2019 this impact was only 0.1 ha.

The second, the largest, reports 11 ha of affectation. As of August 2019, the area with the presence of illegal mining was 3.7 ha. Meanwhile, in La Aída, 9 ha have been affected when in 2019 it was 4.3 ha.

The expansion of illegal mining in these sectors gained strength with the pandemic, says Jorge Villa, a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and remote sensing specialist at EcoCiencia.

“We understand, from the data, that what has driven this is the actions of the pandemic. Also, this is a protected area, so it is understood that it is an illegal activity.“, it states.

The economic crisis deepened by COVID-19 has caused dozens of Ecuadorians to fall into the hands of illegal mining and its investors. It also made the few government controls even more scarce. The topography of the places where gold is being extracted is very complex, which is why heavy machinery is needed to drill the tunnels, which accounts for the amount of resources that are being handled.

The report that EcoCiencia has drawn up is collaborative and people who frequent the affected area have participated and have confirmed the construction of the camps and tunnels. Illegal miners reach the outskirts of the national park and then move to these areas on foot.

It is estimated that in Podocarpus there are 606 species of vertebrates. The most representative group in terms of abundance are birds with 560 species, followed by mammals with 46.

In addition, 70 species of trees and 135 vascular plants have been recorded in its páramos. Additionally, it is considered a site of concentration of endemic species, with 40 species of flora exclusive to this area. Another important group of these forests are orchids, reporting 63 species (the majority used for ornamental purposes), 25 of which are under some category of threat.

Oil spills, mining expansion, deforestation and species trafficking continued to impact nature in Ecuador in 2022

All these species are being affected by deforestation, the use of explosives. removal, sediment deposits and water pollution caused by illegal mining.

This activity has not been able to be stopped by the Government in several points at the national level, even in those areas where large operations were carried out that included the confiscation of machinery. The water calms down and the miners return.

An example is the province of Napo. Last year the Government carried out a control in the town of Yutzupino, where the soil and water were even contaminated with gasoline. Last week it became known that illegal miners have now arrived at Naranjalito. A video on social networks showed how backhoes broke the ground near a river and several meters later several pools with sediment.

Personnel from the Ministry of the Environment verified the effects and stated that they will act based on current regulations. Since 2022 the authorities have carried out 15 inspections and 8 control operations as a whole, despite this the illegal activity continues.

Gustavo Manrique, head of the Environment portfolio, in an interview with EL UNIVERSO acknowledged that one of the points on which the Government failed in 2022 are the controls on illegal mining. The promise for 2023 is to increase them and, especially, not just arrive when the damage is done.

Although the Government must carry out controls, civil society must also understand the great affectation that is being carried out on nature and not participate in it or denounce it, Villa points out.

Currently in the country there are organizations such as Conaie that threaten a strike in indigenous territories where formal mining is carried out to “stop it”, but their top leaders do not speak about illegal mining that also has a large presence in their ancestral lands. (YO)