Gold Mining Cost the Amazon Seven Central Parks of Forest, Inaugural Report Shows
March 25, 2026
New publication highlights rapid expansion of mining-related deforestation across the Amazon
countries and provides timely insights to support enforcement and accountability
Washington, DC, March 11, 2026 — Amazon Mining Watch today released the inaugural edition of the Amazon Mining Watch Panorama, a new report series that will provide timely insights into the growing impacts of gold mining across the Amazon Rainforest. Drawing on AI-powered detection of mining scars from the Amazon Mining Watch platform, the series offers a basin-wide snapshot of mining-driven deforestation and emerging threats to protected areas and Indigenous territories as a tool to support informed decision-making on needed action.
The first edition of the Panorama, covering October–December 2025, confirms the continued expansion of gold mining across all nine Amazonian countries. In the last quarter alone, the report estimates approximately 6,000 hectares (over 14,000 acres) of new mining-related deforestation across the Amazon, highlighting the scale and urgency of the crisis facing the world’s largest tropical forest. That’s an area equivalent to about seven times the size of Central Park in New York City.
Brazil registered the largest expansion in mining activity during the quarter, accounting for roughly 2,000 hectares/ 5,000 acres of new deforestation, followed by Peru (1,700 hectares/ 4200 acres) and Guyana (900 hectares/ 2000 acres). Additional expansion was detected in Venezuela, Suriname, Bolivia, Ecuador, and French Guiana, underscoring the transboundary nature of mining-driven forest loss across the Amazon Basin.
“Illegal gold mining continues to spread across the Amazon, threatening biodiversity, Indigenous territories, and critical ecosystems,” said Andrés Santana, Senior Manager for Halting Illegal Deforestation at Amazon Conservation. “With the Amazon Mining Watch Panorama series, we are providing governments, journalists, and civil society with a regular, data-driven snapshot of where mining is expanding and where urgent action is needed.”
New Mining Incursions and Renewed Pressure on Protected Areas
The report identifies several new incursions into areas that previously showed no evidence of mining, including Indigenous territories such as Territorio Charip in Ecuador, where satellite analysis detected the first mining scar recorded in the area. It also highlights cases where mining activity has resurged after periods of inactivity, suggesting renewed pressure following earlier enforcement actions. For example, new mining scars were detected in Igarapés do Juruena State Park in Brazil and in Indigenous territories in Ecuador and Guyana during the last quarter. Meanwhile, several protected areas and Indigenous territories continue to experience persistent and accelerating mining deforestation, including Tambopata National Reserve in Peru, where more than 200 hectares of new mining expansion were detected during the quarter.
“These findings show that illegal gold mining remains one of the most pervasive threats to the Amazon,” said Blaise Bodin, Director of Strategy and Policy at Amazon Conservation. “Regular monitoring and transparent reporting are essential to understand where this activity is expanding and to strengthen enforcement across borders.”
The Amazon Mining Watch Panorama synthesizes the latest monitoring data and highlights key trends, new incursions, and hotspots of persistent mining expansion to support accountability and inform policy responses across the region. It highlights the results provided by the Amazon Mining Watch platform, an AI-powered monitoring system that detects gold-mining deforestation across the entire Amazon Basin.
Get access to the full report: https://amazonminingwatchpanorama.org/
About Amazon Mining Watch
Developed through a partnership between Amazon Conservation, Earth Genome, and the Pulitzer Center,
Amazon Mining Watch platform aims to strengthen transparency and help decision-makers respond more
effectively to one of the Amazon’s fastest-growing drivers of deforestation, as well as to help the media
report on escalating threats to nature, people, and wildlife.
About Amazon Conservation Association
Amazon Conservation is an international conservation nonprofit working for the past 25 years toward
building a thriving Amazon. The organization’s holistic approach focuses on working with local partners
and allies to protect wild places, empower people, and put science and technology to work for
conservation. Visit amazonconservation.org for more information.
Press Contacts
Priscila Steffen, Communications & Public Relations Manager: psteffen@amazonconservation.org
Ana Folhadella, Philanthropy and Communications Director: afolhadella@amazonconservation.org
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