Addressing Illegal Gold Mining in the Amazon Region: From Recognition of the Problems and Challenges to Collective Action

The Igarapé Institute, along with various civil society organizations from Brazil, Colombia, the United States, and Peru, presented seven key recommendations to combat, mitigate, and prevent the damages caused by illegal gold mining in the Amazon basin. The proposals were discussed during the event “Illegal Gold Mining in the Amazon: Transnational Environmental Crime,” held at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in Cali, Colombia, in October 2024. 

 

Due to the diversity and reach of the organizations that contributed, the document presents a wide range of recommendations, addressing issues from combating money laundering to citizen and climate security, territorial rights, and autonomy of Indigenous peoples, as well as preventing illegal gold mining:

 

• Promoting shared responsibility among both source and destination countries in addressing illegally mined gold;
• Strengthening governance in cross-border areas;
• Advancing collective, community-led actions under a “watershed approach” to address mercury contamination in affected areas; 
• Combating illicit finance to prevent environmental criminals from profiting off of the destruction of vulnerable ecosystems; 
• Establishing a minimum legal and regulatory framework for gold supply chains across the Amazon region; 
• Strengthening due diligence and financial monitoring in the gold supply chain;
• Promoting a shift towards a sustainable development model that includes alternative livelihoods for affected communities.

 

“The growing global demand for gold is putting the entire Amazon at risk. Illegal gold mining is part of a complex ecosystem of environmental crimes that leaves a trail of destruction, threatening both our biodiversity and the people living in the region. We have witnessed how organized crime has been strengthening, taking advantage of the gaps and vulnerabilities in the gold supply chain”  added Melina Risso, research director at Igarape Institute. “The responsibility to reverse this phenomenon is collective and must involve all nations. The policy brief we are launching today outlines the path to reversing this situation.”.

 

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Learn more about this topic in the following Strategic Papers Follow the Money: Environmental Crimes and Illicit Economic Activities in Brazilian Amazon Production Chains and Dynamics of the Ecosystem of Environmental Crimes in the Brazilian Legal Amazon