The Power of Technology and Partnerships to Stop Illegal Gold Mining in the Amazon: an Amazon Conservation Side Event

October 21, 2024

Last month, we were thrilled to share that we’ll be taking part in one of the world’s most critical conservation summits— the CBD COP16 in Cali, Colombia. As global biodiversity faces unprecedented threats, this event offers a vital platform for shaping solutions to help protect ecosystems and species across the planet. 

As we dive into conversations that could redefine the future of conservation, our organization will be hosting an exclusive side event that unveils groundbreaking strategies and solutions implemented to intervene against illegal gold mining: one of the most prominent threats to the Amazon basin. 

As detailed in many of our ongoing MAAP reports, the Amazon is at risk of approaching a dangerous tipping point due to deforestation, converting itself from a lush forest to a savanna ecosystem and becoming a net carbon source. Illegal gold mining activities continue to escalate across this vital rainforest basin, devastating the health of surrounding communities, wildlife habitats, and water resources. Although protected areas cover more than 30% of the Amazon biome, deforestation and degradation continue to threaten the ecological health of millions of acres, and continued gold mining runs counter to an effectively conserved and well-connected network of protected areas in the region. 

Given the drastic environmental and social impacts of illegal gold mining, addressing this threat is essential to reducing the loss of areas with high biodiversity importance and ecological integrity, both of which are widespread in the most biodiverse ecosystem on Earth. 

For this reason, Amazon Conservation will be hosting The Power of Technology and Partnerships to Stop Illegal Gold Mining in the Amazon: a side event that will showcase the solutions devised and implemented by a constellation of civil society organizations working in the region to monitor in real-time the expansion of gold mining, compel governments to intervene against illegal mining, reduce its impacts – including through mercury pollution- and to track the illicit financial flows that fuel its expansion. 

We are eager to share our proposed efforts in combating illegal gold mining across the Amazon, inspiring advocacy and taking action to protect one of the planet’s most vital ecosystems. 

Click here for more details on this event