Illegal gold mining deforestation increases by up to 660% inside protected areas in Brazil’s Juruena River Basin

August 6, 2026

In just eight months illegal gold mining deforestation increased by up to 660% inside protected areas in Brazil’s Juruena River Basin. Rapid expansion of illegal mining inside Juruena National Park highlights persistent challenges for environmental enforcement and protected area governance. Source: MAAP (Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program), Amazon Conservation.

Cuiabá, Brazil — August 6, 2026 — Illegal gold mining inside Juruena National Park, in the Brazilian Amazon state of Mato Grosso, increased dramatically over an eight-month period, with mining-related deforestation expanding by 660%, according to a new analysis released today by Amazon Conservation and the Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV).

The study also examined illegal mining in the neighboring Igarapés do Juruena State Park, where the area affected by mining-related deforestation increased by 408% during the study period.

Together, these protected areas form a critical conservation mosaic in the southern Brazilian Amazon, helping preserve biodiversity, maintain essential ecosystem services, and slow the advance of deforestation across the region.

However, the findings show that the rapid expansion of illegal mining is placing increasing pressure on these protected areas, threatening both their ecological integrity and the effectiveness of existing legal protection and enforcement mechanisms.

The analysis is based on mining deforestation alerts generated by MAAP (Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program), an initiative of Amazon Conservation, using the interpretation of very high-resolution satellite imagery. These alerts were then combined with publicly available geospatial datasets, according to Vinícius Silgueiro, Coordinator of the Territorial Intelligence Center at ICV. “Mining deforestation alerts are validated using satellite imagery with an extremely high level of detail, allowing impacted areas to be accurately mapped and measured. These locations are then cross-referenced with environmental violation records and embargoes issued by IBAMA, ICMBio, and Mato Grosso’s State Environmental Secretariat (SEMA-MT), making it possible to identify where enforcement actions have taken place against illegal mining operations,” said Silgueiro.

 

 

Illegal mining deforestation continues to rise

In Juruena National Park, illegal mining activity is concentrated primarily in the park’s southwestern region. Between August 2025 and April 2026, the area deforested by illegal mining increased from 10.5 hectares to 79.5 hectares. The 660% increase in just eight months reflects an intense and rapid expansion of mining operations, including the use of heavy machinery, construction of access roads, and establishment of mining camps. A similar trend was observed in Igarapés do Juruena State Park, where illegal mining is concentrated in the central-southern portion of the protected area. Between June 2025 and March 2026, mining-related deforestation increased from 8.6 hectares to 43.7 hectares. These activities have severe environmental consequences, including forest loss, river sedimentation, increased sediment and organic matter loads in waterways, and the potential contamination of aquatic ecosystems by mercury, threatening biodiversity as well as the food security of local communities.

Repeated enforcement, continued expansion

The increase in illegal mining has not occurred unnoticed by public authorities. Data from Brazil’s Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) and the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) show that 15 enforcement operations targeting illegal mining have been conducted inside Juruena National Park since 2010.

Meanwhile, Mato Grosso’s State Environmental Secretariat (SEMA-MT) carried out enforcement actions related to environmental crimes in Igarapés do Juruena State Park in 2020, 2025, and 2026. “Satellite monitoring is already an essential tool in the fight against illegal gold mining. The next step is to connect these alerts with up-to-date information on mining concessions and protected area boundaries, strengthening authorities’ ability to respond and making enforcement actions even more effective,” said Matt Finer, Director of MAAP (Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Project) and Senior Research Specialist at Amazon Conservation.

Read the full report

https://www.maapprogram.org/illegal-mining-juruena-brazil/ 

Available in English and Portuguese.

Press contact: communications@amazonconservation.org