Irregular and illegal mining takes root in Napo, a tourist spot in the Ecuadorian Amazon

The mining irregular and illegal of gold has become indomitable in the vicinity of Tena, one of the most visited tourist destinations in the amazon of Ecuadorwhere this phenomenon is engulfing the nature that attracts its visitors and dividing entire families and communities.

A few kilometers from Tena, capital of the Napo province, is Yutzupino, considered one of the epicenters of irregular and illegal mining in Ecuador and located on the Jatunyacu river, which, when joined with the Anzu, forms the Napo river, a tributary of the Amazon.

Until the end of 2022, there were 125 hectares deforested by mining in this enclave, according to data from the Andean Amazon Monitoring Project (MAAP), which documents the deforestation of Amazon forests from images of satellites.

Only last year there were 55 hectares, a 78% more than the area previously covered, according to a MAAP report published in March and dedicated especially to the Ecuadorian province of Napo.

This even after the Government carried out a large operation in February 2022 where more than 140 excavators were seized, used to remove the bed and banks of the river.

Phenomenon accelerated by pandemic

“With the pandemic, as of November 2021, they began to enter en masse, counting around 250 machines, which later only 148 were seized”points out the provincial delegate of the Ombudsman’s Office in Napo, Andrés Rojas.

“Since then, things have not slowed down, but have multiplied. We have around 36 mining fronts that concentrate between 200 and 250 machines throughout the province and the operational level of the State is insufficient to control and eradicate these illegal mining activities.”the Mint.

This situation has been denounced on several occasions by environmental groups such as Napo Ama La Vida, which consider both mining practiced outside mining concessions and mining within them to be illegal, but without the respective operating permits.

Faced with this scenario, the Ombudsman’s Office requested a protection action for violation of the rights of nature, by deforesting forests and contaminating rivers; and prior, free and informed consultation, but the judicial decision only accepted the first and ordered to restore what was violated, something that has not occurred.

Waiting for court decision

Now he has insisted with an extraordinary action presented before the Constitutional Court to invalidate all the mining concessions granted in Napo for not having carried out a prior consultation.

“We are sure that the Court will rule in our favor, because there are precedents”says Robles when recalling the Sinangoe case, where the highest court of guarantees of Ecuador reverted the mining concessions established in its territory for not having previously obtained the authorization of the indigenous community.

“In the same way, it can be replicated in the province of Napo”insists the Ombudsman’s Office delegate in a province that at the end of 2022 had 256 areas dedicated to mining activities that occupied the 3% of the provincial area, according to data from the Agency for the Regulation and Control of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources.

Of these, 77 were mining concessions, 68 free use areas and 111 areas dedicated to artisanal mining, the majority to extract gold and stone materials.

“As soon as the Napo territory is declared free of mining concessions,” the next step would be “to promote a popular consultation to declare the Napo territory free of metal mining activity.”says Robles.

It would be a plebiscite similar to the one that will be voted on in Quito on August 20, coinciding with the extraordinary general elections, to prohibit any type of mining in the Chocó Andino, a biosphere reserve located within the capital’s metropolitan area. from Ecuador.

feuding families

Further downstream is Huambuno, another important mining enclave, which at the end of last year recorded 238 hectares of deforestation, 67 of them outside mining concessions, according to MAAP, an Amazon Conservation project that has as a partner in Ecuador Ecoscience Foundation.

On those same waters of the Napo river they make rafting (rafting) tourists who arrive in the area, with guides like Daniel Robles, who told EFE that mining has completely divided his family and he has even received death threats from his relatives.

“They have thrown stones at me, they have shown me machetes, pistols and rifles… and now, finally, threats through social networks or telephone calls are in fashion”narrates Robles, who feels intimidated.

For this tour guide, it is necessary to protect the natural environment of this area so that it can be enjoyed by all. “There are foreigners who pay up to 20,000 dollars to enjoy what they do not have in their countries, and we are destroying it”concludes.

Source: EFE