{"id":1116805,"date":"2019-05-19T16:53:45","date_gmt":"2019-05-19T16:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=988355"},"modified":"2019-05-19T16:53:45","modified_gmt":"2019-05-19T16:53:45","slug":"venezuelan-ngo-says-illegal-mining-runs-rampant-in-protected-indigenous-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1116805","title":{"rendered":"Venezuelan NGO says illegal mining runs rampant in protected, Indigenous land"},"content":{"rendered":"

Human rights group Kap\u00e9-Kap\u00e9 denounced this week that illegal mining continues to destroy the traditional territory of the Pem\u00f3n Indigenous tribe in southeastern Venezuela.<\/p>\n

The civil society association issued a media statement<\/a> this week saying that unregulated gold extraction is polluting the Carrao river and its tributaries within the Canaima National Park, in the Bol\u00edvar state.<\/p>\n

This is the area that surrounds the so-called Mining Arc of the Orinoco River National Development Strategic Zone<\/a>, a 111,843 square-kilometre concession area that is equivalent to 12.2% of the country\u2019s landmass and where gold, diamond, iron ore, copper, bauxite, coltan, among other resources are allowed to be mined. <\/p>\n

The creation of the Arc has been controversial since it was announced in 2016. Environmental and human rights groups have repeatedly called<\/a> for a total halt of extractive activities in the area.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Illegal mining encampment in southern Venezuela. Photo by Kap\u00e9-Kap\u00e9.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

According to Kap\u00e9 Kap\u00e9, in and around the Mining Arc<\/a> resources are being extracted indiscriminately and at the expense of the safety and livelihood of the Indigenous communities that have lived there for centuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rivers in the Canaima National Park are usually crystalline with a slightly reddish colour. From afar, these waters tend to look dark, blackish, but this is because of a lack of sediments and a high content of certain acidic substances. Nowadays, however, we see that these waters look brown and murky,\u201d the communiqu\u00e9 states. \u201cThe reason behind such a transformation is no other than illegal mining, which is proliferating in this area that is protected by law and that occupies some 3 million hectares.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NGO goes on to say that Canaima is not the only protected area in southern Venezuela devastated by illegal mining. The Imataca forest reserve, the biosphere reserve of the High Orinoco, the Yapacana National Park and El Caura National Park are also threatened.<\/p>\n

Kap\u00e9-Kap\u00e9 noted that even though artisanal gold mining has been taking place in the Bol\u00edvar state for at least three decades, the practice has experienced a revival in recent years due to the presence of dissident guerrilla men from Colombia, who create alliances and gangs with the miners.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndigenous and non-Indigenous communities in the region have denounced this problem many times. They estimate that there are up to 2,000 gangmen carrying out criminal activities related to the exploitation of mineral resources in the southern part of the country,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

Besides deforestation and water pollution, the organization suggested the combination of illegal mining and organized crime is also causing social, cultural and economic degradation in Indigenous communities.<\/p>\n

During consultations with local leaders, representatives of Kap\u00e9-Kap\u00e9 were informed that the Pem\u00f3n\u2019s complaints usually fall on deaf ears as the area\u2019s MPs and councillors, the Indigenous Ministry and the Advocacy Office for Indigenous Peoples don\u2019t even respond when they are approached about these issues.<\/p>\n

The post Venezuelan NGO says illegal mining runs rampant in protected, Indigenous land<\/a> appeared first on MINING.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NGO Kapé-Kapé says that guerrilla groups and illegal miners have joined forces and are destroying protected areas in the southern Bolívar state.<\/p>\n

The post Venezuelan NGO says illegal mining runs rampant in protected, Indigenous land<\/a> appeared first on MINING.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[404,369,440],"tags":[48,112],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116805"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1116805"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1116807,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116805\/revisions\/1116807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1116805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1116805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1116805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}