.Abstract
The extraction of minerals has been the most rewarding economic activity in Peru. Since the price of minerals raised, the profits obtained by the trade of minerals also showed an increment, benefiting the Peruvian economy. However, the impact and consequences of mineral extraction have caused many indigenous people to protest against the execution projects in the places they live. This research identifies the main reasons why local people are against mining, such as the environmental impact and the violation of populations’ rights. This paper also proposes new measures the government should take in order for mining concessions to operate without impediments, and eventually allowing the economy to grow.
During the last decades Peru has been acknowledged for its fast growing economy. This growth was possible primarily because of the mineral industry. Peru ranks as the second largest producer of silver and copper. Besides, Peru is known for being the sixth largest producer of gold (KPMG International, 2013). The profits obtained by the exportation of minerals caused the Peruvian economy to grow at a rapid rate from 2002 to 2012. However, some of the problems involved with the mining industry such as environmental damage and conflicts between local population and miners, have caused the entire economy to start decreasing gradually. As environmental and social conflicts increased, 15 mining projects were stopped. As mineral production stops, Peru GDP starts to decelerate. Economists expect Peruvian economy would decline, if the mining projects are not set up. Clearly, economy growth is dependable on the mining industry. As laws are enforced and new measures are implemented, the environment, local population and mining concessions would be benefited allowing the Peruvian economy to grow.
Issues
Environmental Damage
Deforestation
The environmental damage by the mining industry in Peru is causing a negative impact on the Amazon forest. As gold production increased the last ten years, mining industry has grown causing great damage in the environment. Since 2004, mining concessions have decided to invest in Peru because of its open market economy (Grumendi, 2004). At the same time, the price of minerals especially gold raised, attracting foreign concessions to come to Peru. Since gold has been the most demanding and valued mineral, mining corporations have opted to explore in places where gold can be found. The majority of gold settlements take place in the Amazon forest. Unfortunately, the process of mining involves the deforestation of many species of threes. The Peruvian Amazon is considered bio diverse because of its great number of species such as plants and animals living there. Phillips et al. (2003) made a study that proves the biodiversity in the Amazon forest; he concluded that from 88 samples of mature forests, between 63 and 136 tree species are found per 0.1 –ha. Not only does this mean a great lost of three species but also the habitat destruction of animals and plant species. However, neither the Peruvian government nor the mining concessions have considered this as sufficient reason to stop deforesting the Amazon. While the mining boosted the entire Peruvian economy, the hectares of forested Amazon were decreasing. During the years from 2003 to 2009, the price of gold was higher than ever before, enticing both the illegal and legal mines to destroy 16,000 acres of forest in order to obtain minerals. In 2011, Swenson et al. estimated that the rate of deforestation had enlarged from 220 ha per year to 1915 ha per year. The World Wild Life organization (2015) estimates that by 2030, the Amazon will be regarded as one of the 11 regions to have more deforestation than any other place. The consequences of mining, whether illegal or legal, are devastating the Amazon. Not only is this deforestation affecting the habitats of many plants and animals, but also the homes of the indigenous people who have lived there for many years.
Mercury Footprint
One of the controversies of the mining industry in Peru is the fact that most of them are operating illegally. Approximately, 300,000 miners work without formal authorization (Amazon Conservation). The conditions they work in are deplorable; without machines or equipment the formal mining concessions have, artisanal miners make use of mercury in order to obtain gold. This process involves mixing mercury “with gold-containing materials, forming a mercury-gold amalgam which is then heated, vaporizing the mercury to obtain the gold” (US EPA). Artisanal miners are exposed to the residuals of mercury during this process. As shown in the picture below, the miner is standing in contaminated water without any kind of protection, being totally exposed to this poisonous chemical.
This mercury remains in the air and settles in rivers contaminating the environment, and eventually gets into the human body. According to Fraser (2011), “elemental mercury—the type released into the air and inhaled at the shops—can damage the nervous system, causing tremors, memory loss, muscle weakness and twitching, irritability, insomnia, headaches and reduced mental abilities.” She affirms that mercury can cause death if high levels are found in the body of a person. Not only are the miners at risk of getting poisoned by this chemical, but also the communities around the mining settlements. According to Bose O-Reilly et al. (2010), some ways that communities are exposed to mercury are by ingestion and inhalation. He states that mercury found in food, such as fish, is digestible. Therefore, consumers in the surrounding communities have higher risk of ingesting mercury when eating fish. As a consequence, the risks of getting a stomach diseases are increasing among the population. Some communities in the amazon forest have as a daily diet the consumption of fish and other species which also eat fish. This food chain demonstrates how the mercury can be transferred within species and generations. On the other hand, inhalation is another entry of mercury in the human body as demonstrated by Sandborgh-Englund (1998) who proved that from inhaling “400 g/m3 mercury vapor (Hg0) for 15 min”, 69 percent of it remains in the body. As part of their daily job, miners are exposed to mercury for many hours during the day. Clearly, the miners are not the only affected by inhaling the mercury, but also the surrounding communities. The mercury released into the air can be life threatening because of its rapid spread, increasing the risk in all people, not regarding age, to get contaminated. The inhalation and ingestion of this chemical can cause severe diseases among the population such as lung cancer, asthma, bronchitis, and stomach diseases.
For example, one of the most affected regions in Peru is Madre de Dios, which not only is considered one of the most bio-diverse regions in Peru, but is also one of the highest producers of gold. Therefore, many illegal concessions operate here, causing high levels of contamination among the population and in the environment. In 2013, a Carnegie Institution for Science study found that in Puerto Maldonado, the capital of Madre de Dios, more than 50 percent of fish sold in the markets contained high levels of mercury. This information is alarming since fish is part of the daily diet of the local population. Also, as the fish in this area is exported to other regions, population in other areas are concentrating mercury in their bodies. This institution also found that approximately 75 percent of adults in the capital of Madre de Dios have shown levels of mercury concentration. As shown in the graph below, around 226 adults were tested to know the levels of mercury concentration in their bodies. Compare to the normal levels of 1ppm, this is indeed an indication of how seriously the contamination is affecting the population in Madre de Dios. In the four categories, adults, men, women, and women of child bearing age, we can observe that the reference limit of mercury concentration has exceeded almost three times.
Although there is no a huge difference between the four groups, one can perceive that men have the lowest level of mercury concentration while woman of child bearing age present 3ppm of mercury concentration. The fact that woman of child bearing age have the highest mercury concentration level means that future generations have risk to be contaminated with mercury. A long term consequence of the transfer of mercury over generations can result in the vast majority of the population being contaminated, and getting ill.
The miners working illegally are undoubtedly the most contaminated with mercury; however, since this work is the only way they can provide for their families, they do not have other options than to work, even if it involves being exposed to dangerous chemicals.
Affected Population
Confiscated land and property
The Amazon forest is not the only area that is being affected by the mining industry in Peru. Concessions also operate in the coast and highland of Peru. Mining areas are located in remote areas, where the indigenous people still live. In the case of highland, rural communities and populations can be still found in distant areas. These have caused many dissensions between the mining concessions that want to operate and the living communities in these places. During the last years, many conflicts occurred between the mining concessions and the rural communities because mining forced many people to leave their lands in order to operate. Some of these rural communities did not have documents that certified the ownership of their lands, and made the concessions to claim those lands easier. However, the indigenous people refused to leave their homes, causing violent confrontations between police officers, who defended the miners, and people from the rural communities. In September 2015, local news reported 4 deaths in one of these conflicts.
On the other hand, some people had their land tittles proving ownership. However, the government supported the mining intentions rather than the indigenous people rights, allowing the concessions to take possession of the lands. In many occasions, police officers were sent by the government to support miners when dealing with the indigenous people who resisted leaving their homes. The government has shown its support of the mining industry on many occasions. Three sources reveal the partiality of the government towards the mining industry. According to IBC (2015), only 50 land titles were approved during 2007 and 2015, while 35,658 mining concessions were approved during the same time period (INGEMMET, 2015).
While mining companies have professional people such as lawyers working especially on legal processes, the indigenous people are not even well informed on the process of land titling. As a consequence, many indigenous communities do not have the required documentation to defend their land claims. Unfortunately, many of the lands where mining concessions want to operate are already occupied by rural communities. Even though these communities do not have the certification to show the legal ownership of their lands, they refuse to leave their homes, causing violent conflicts. In these cases, the government prefers to let the mines operate because of their legal authorization and the profit they gain from allowing these companies to operate. One example on how the government supported the mining claims took place in 2011, one of the biggest mining concessions called Yanacocha requested to buy the land of Maxima Acuña de Chaupe, who was an indigenous farmer. Her lands were valuable to Yanacocha because it was a potential gold mine. Since she refused to sell her land she had bought in 1994, Yanacocha took extreme measures to obtain this land. On 2011, police officers and other government officials came to the house of Acuña and the surrounding community and destroyed their property. After she reported these terrible events to the authorities, she received no support nor aid for her community and family, leaving her homeless and without property. As her story became public, some organizations began to support Maxima Acuña in her fight to defend her rights. Fortunately, after legal processes she won the lawsuit, eventually keeping the ownership of her lands. However, other people do not have the same happy outcome.
Human exploitation and trafficking
The US Department of State reported (2015) revealed that in Peru woman, children and workers are vulnerable to sex trafficking and labor trafficking. The report points out that principally informal gold mining is behind the exploitation of men, women, and even children.
Gold mines controlled by criminal organizations force people to work for these mafias. As miners and other workers do not have formal authorization, there is no regulation nor control. Therefore, miners are exploited by the employers to work more than the required shift. Since there is no documentation or law regulation, miners do not have protection from the government. They are forced to enter the mines and extract gold without protection being totally exposed to chemicals. Some people are force to work by these criminal organizations while others are deceived by false promises of a high paying job. For example, in Puno, a mining region, sex trafficking has been reported in La Rinconada, a small town located near the Bolivian border. This town has a population of approximately 40, 000 inhabitants. Cawley (2013) reveals that police believes that between 1,500 and 4,000 minors were are sexually exploited, half of them are from Bolivia. Thousands of women are brought to this place to work as prostitutes. “In September, Peruvian officials reported that 42 percent of the 2,000 human trafficking victims rescued in the past two years were minors.” (Cawley,2013).
Poverty cycle
As Puno and Madre de Dios, mines are located in the cities with less economic growth in Perú. Although the profits of mines bring money and economic growth, this wealth is not perceived in the cities where mining operates. Even though their social responsibilities as company force them to do some works such as roads, building schools, and offering formal jobs, poverty still remains as a main issue, especially in the indigenous communities. For example, in mining cities, we can perceive improvement in downtown or capital cities, but the rural communities still struggle to get the basic needs. The government may invest this money in the rural communities in order to improve the life quality by providing water channels, lighting and other basic needs for the population. Unfortunately, many communities still suffer from the lack of these needs. The question that leads these facts is where all the mining taxes go. This leads to the assumption that bad management in the regional governments can be a cause since they are given this money as part of the budget. The responsibility of the government should be to primarily benefit the indigenous population. They were forced to leave homes, lands, family and ae not given what they deserve. Therefore, they protest when mining projects are going to be set up in their cities, what they claim is help and not to be forgotten by the government.
New Measures
If the indigenous populations and the environment are protected, mining industry will continue operating, contributing to economy growth. Passing laws and implementing new measures to benefit the indigenous as well as protecting the environment will allow economy to grow without impediments.
New methods of the exploration and extractions of minerals should be enforced to reduce the contamination impact on the environment. Government should train the artisanal miners, who still make use of mercury, to obtain gold by reducing mercury amounts in the obtaining gold process. Being successfully implemented in Colombia, it was possible to reduce mercury concentration in the process of amalgation, and eventually its impact on people’s health and the environment. This methodology involved firstly the assessment of the amount of mercury used and wasted. Then, miners and owners were trained to know the enough mercury amount needed. Also, in order the reduce the mercury vapor, miners were trained on how to build gold shop condensers and retorts. (Garcia et al. 2015) Education can make difference in the way artisanal miners make use of their resources. Not only would they reduce costs, but also the mercury footprint would be reduced. Also, before governments approves mining projects, mining concessions should have a plan to recover deforested areas once the projects are finalized. Lugo, Parrota and Brown (1993) suggest that successional processes can be speeded up trough tree fast growing plantations. Mining concessions can repair damage they caused by implementing plantation practices. On the other hand, mining corporations should make make a study before mineral extraction to protect water resources and make sure they do not get contaminated by chemicals. As they do that, the surrounding communities do not get in risk to be contaminated.
Additionally, indigenous populations should be the primary concern of the government. Mining concessions should be required to provide with health centers, schools, water and lightning services and roads that will improve the life quality of the indigenous people. In order to end with labor exploitation and trafficking, government should send the military forces along with police to carry out investigations and dismantle criminal organization as well as illegal mining. New legislation on severe punishment for these organizations should be passed to support this measure. Punishment also must be applied for legal mining concessions, if they force miners to work many hours, do not provide suitable working conditions or confiscate lands owned by the indigenous people. Lastly, as a way to benefit the rural communities, processes of land titling should be faster, allowing them to show proper documentation when mining corporations claim their lands.
Conclusion
Indigenous people claim their voices to be heard. They speak for the damage mining is bringing to their lives. The environment they live in, and their own lives are under threaten for mining practices such as chemical releases and deforestation. They want the government to respect their rights as well as the environment which they call home, to be conserved. For many years, their voices have not heard due to the government’s interest in wealth provided by mining industry. Since they are not satisfied, more protests are taking place to impede mining projects to be set up, causing the entire Peruvian economy to decrease. However, if government and mining concessions work together to prioritize peoples’ rights and environment conservation, the mining industry will not have to stop projects, leading to the development and growth of the Peruvian economy.