Deforestation and Forest Degradation Due to Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon: A 34-Year Perspective
While deforestation rates decline globally they are rising in the Western Amazon. Artisanal-scale gold mining (ASGM) is a large cause of this deforestation and brings with it extensive environmental, social, governance, and public health impacts, including large carbon emissions and mercury pollutio...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2018-11-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/12/1903 |
| _version_ | 1797417462765977600 |
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| author | Jorge Caballero Espejo Max Messinger Francisco Román-Dañobeytia Cesar Ascorra Luis E. Fernandez Miles Silman |
| author_facet | Jorge Caballero Espejo Max Messinger Francisco Román-Dañobeytia Cesar Ascorra Luis E. Fernandez Miles Silman |
| author_sort | Jorge Caballero Espejo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | While deforestation rates decline globally they are rising in the Western Amazon. Artisanal-scale gold mining (ASGM) is a large cause of this deforestation and brings with it extensive environmental, social, governance, and public health impacts, including large carbon emissions and mercury pollution. Underlying ASGM is a broad network of factors that influence its growth, distribution, and practices such as poverty, flows of legal and illegal capital, conflicting governance, and global economic trends. Despite its central role in land use and land cover change in the Western Amazon and the severity of its social and environmental impacts, it is relatively poorly studied. While ASGM in Southeastern Peru has been quantified previously, doing so is difficult due to the heterogeneous nature of the resulting landscape. Using a novel approach to classify mining that relies on a fusion of CLASlite and the Global Forest Change dataset, two Landsat-based deforestation detection tools, we sought to quantify ASGM-caused deforestation in the period 1984–2017 in the southern Peruvian Amazon and examine trends in the geography, methods, and impacts of ASGM across that time. We identify nearly 100,000 ha of deforestation due to ASGM in the 34-year study period, an increase of 21% compared to previous estimates. Further, we find that 10% of that deforestation occurred in 2017, the highest annual amount of deforestation in the study period, with 53% occurring since 2011. Finally, we demonstrate that not all mining is created equal by examining key patterns and changes in ASGM activity and techniques through time and space. We discuss their connections with, and impacts on, socio-economic factors, such as land tenure, infrastructure, international markets, governance efforts, and social and environmental impacts. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:19:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c08e45d8b4aa4d79ad799166a964e806 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:19:09Z |
| publishDate | 2018-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-c08e45d8b4aa4d79ad799166a964e8062023-12-03T11:50:11ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922018-11-011012190310.3390/rs10121903rs10121903Deforestation and Forest Degradation Due to Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon: A 34-Year PerspectiveJorge Caballero Espejo0Max Messinger1Francisco Román-Dañobeytia2Cesar Ascorra3Luis E. Fernandez4Miles Silman5Centro de Innovación Científica Amazónica (CINCIA), Jr Cajamarca Cdra 1, Puerto Maldonado 17001, Madre de Dios, PeruCenter for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability, Wake Forest University, 1834 Wake Forest Rd, Winston-Salem, NC 27109, USACentro de Innovación Científica Amazónica (CINCIA), Jr Cajamarca Cdra 1, Puerto Maldonado 17001, Madre de Dios, PeruCentro de Innovación Científica Amazónica (CINCIA), Jr Cajamarca Cdra 1, Puerto Maldonado 17001, Madre de Dios, PeruCentro de Innovación Científica Amazónica (CINCIA), Jr Cajamarca Cdra 1, Puerto Maldonado 17001, Madre de Dios, PeruCenter for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability, Wake Forest University, 1834 Wake Forest Rd, Winston-Salem, NC 27109, USAWhile deforestation rates decline globally they are rising in the Western Amazon. Artisanal-scale gold mining (ASGM) is a large cause of this deforestation and brings with it extensive environmental, social, governance, and public health impacts, including large carbon emissions and mercury pollution. Underlying ASGM is a broad network of factors that influence its growth, distribution, and practices such as poverty, flows of legal and illegal capital, conflicting governance, and global economic trends. Despite its central role in land use and land cover change in the Western Amazon and the severity of its social and environmental impacts, it is relatively poorly studied. While ASGM in Southeastern Peru has been quantified previously, doing so is difficult due to the heterogeneous nature of the resulting landscape. Using a novel approach to classify mining that relies on a fusion of CLASlite and the Global Forest Change dataset, two Landsat-based deforestation detection tools, we sought to quantify ASGM-caused deforestation in the period 1984–2017 in the southern Peruvian Amazon and examine trends in the geography, methods, and impacts of ASGM across that time. We identify nearly 100,000 ha of deforestation due to ASGM in the 34-year study period, an increase of 21% compared to previous estimates. Further, we find that 10% of that deforestation occurred in 2017, the highest annual amount of deforestation in the study period, with 53% occurring since 2011. Finally, we demonstrate that not all mining is created equal by examining key patterns and changes in ASGM activity and techniques through time and space. We discuss their connections with, and impacts on, socio-economic factors, such as land tenure, infrastructure, international markets, governance efforts, and social and environmental impacts.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/12/1903Landsatartisanal-scale gold mininginfrastructureprotected areascommodity |
| spellingShingle | Jorge Caballero Espejo Max Messinger Francisco Román-Dañobeytia Cesar Ascorra Luis E. Fernandez Miles Silman Deforestation and Forest Degradation Due to Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon: A 34-Year Perspective Remote Sensing Landsat artisanal-scale gold mining infrastructure protected areas commodity |
| title | Deforestation and Forest Degradation Due to Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon: A 34-Year Perspective |
| title_full | Deforestation and Forest Degradation Due to Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon: A 34-Year Perspective |
| title_fullStr | Deforestation and Forest Degradation Due to Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon: A 34-Year Perspective |
| title_full_unstemmed | Deforestation and Forest Degradation Due to Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon: A 34-Year Perspective |
| title_short | Deforestation and Forest Degradation Due to Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon: A 34-Year Perspective |
| title_sort | deforestation and forest degradation due to gold mining in the peruvian amazon a 34 year perspective |
| topic | Landsat artisanal-scale gold mining infrastructure protected areas commodity |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/12/1903 |
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