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An illegal gold rush has resulted in the clearing of one hundred forty thousand hectares of tropical forest in the Peruvian Amazon, accelerating as foreign, armed groups move into the area to capitalize on record gold prices, as per a recent study.

Approximately five hundred forty square miles of land have been cleared for mining in the South American country since the mid-1980s, and the environmental destruction is spreading rapidly across the country, investigations revealed.

This mining boom is also polluting its waterways. Illegal miners use floating excavation machines – machines that chew up and spit out river bottoms – leaving harmful mercury used to extract gold from soil in their path.

Detailed satellite photographs enabled researchers to detect mining equipment together with deforestation for the initial instance, showing that the ecological disaster once confined to the southern part of the country was creeping northward.

“Initially, it was only observed in Madre de Dios but now we’re seeing it across numerous areas,” commented a director from the monitoring project.

Gold values topped $4,000 for the initial occasion this week on international markets as worldwide concerns rose about financial fragility. Indigenous groups have raised concerns that as the price soars, armed groups were more frequently tearing down their forests and contaminating their water sources in pursuit of the precious metal.

Aerial images show that once dense swathes of green jungle are being converted into lifeless moonscapes of barren soil pocked with stagnant pools of discolored water.

“This small section is just a minor example,” a researcher remarked, pointing to a small section of the extensive pattern of deforestation mapped in the report. “Consider this expanded to 140,000 hectares.”

Mercury contamination build up in fish and are transferred to the people who eat them, leading to health and cognitive issues such as birth defects and learning difficulties.

An ongoing investigation of riverside communities in Peru’s northernmost region of the Loreto region found the median level of mercury was nearly four times the World Health Organization’s recommended limit.

Research found that 225 rivers and streams have been impacted, with 989 dredges spotted in the region since 2017 – including 275 in the current year on the Nanay waterway, a branch of the Amazon River that is the lifeblood of ecosystems and dozens of Indigenous communities.

“Our waterways are being contaminated – it’s the water that we drink,” said a spokesperson of several riverside communities in Loreto.

Residents began preventing extractors from moving along the River Tigre in the region 40 days ago, resulting in armed clashes with militant groups. “We have no choice but to fight back but we are alone. The state is absent,” he expressed frustrated.

Extraction activities is mostly located in the Madre de Dios region in southern Peru but new hotspots are appearing farther north in Loreto, Amazonas, Huánuco, Pasco and Ucayali.

They are small but once mining is established it could grow rapidly, an expert noted, stating that the report was a glimpse into what was occurring across the broader Amazon region.

“This is the first time we’ve been able to examine so closely at a country but I think in Brazil, Bolivia and Colombia we are going to see exactly the same thing,” he commented.

Research showed more dredges appearing on Peru’s jungle frontiers with Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia.

With gold prices surpassing $4,000 an ounce, international armed factions are increasingly venturing across the border into unregulated forest areas where local authorities are taking minimal action to halt their activities, as stated by a criminologist.

Criminal networks, such as groups from Colombia and Brazil, are more involved in the region.

“Global criminal syndicates trafficking cocaine and laundering profits through illegal gold mining – now with peak prices yielding high profits – are combined with a government that has failed to act decisively against criminal enterprises,” the expert stated.

A political coalition of South American countries told Peru to address illegal mining or it could be subject to penalties.

But a researcher commented: “Gold is just so profitable right now. I don’t see any signs of prices going down, so it’s probably going to deteriorate before it gets better.”