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A group of researchers from Berlin’s Humboldt University published a study where they say that mining activities are the leading cause of social conflicts in Peru.
According to the study, which is titled “Alternatives for the development of Peru’s mining regions,” one of the reasons that explains the unrest is the fact that the country’s economic policies do not allow for a large royalty collection from resource extraction and, therefore, there are few opportunities to reinvest those funds in mining cities and towns. On top of that, the experts say that the fall in commodity prices in the past years has worsened the situation.
Interviewed by Deutsche Welle, the mining and development advisor for the German episcopal organization Misereor, Susanne Pries, said that for the past 20 years most community groups in the South American country have been complaining about mining activities polluting their environment, poisoning them, displacing people and intensifying poverty.
Together with local NGO Red Muqui, Misereor’s team visited the northwestern Cajamarca region and, while observing the expansion project of a gold mine, they witnessed how the town of 130,000 people is competing with companies for water resources. This creates environmental conflicts that even though are balanced out by the regional government’s stand on regulating mining operations, are always present due to the antagonistic position of the federal government.
The experts expressed concerns over the fact that some firms are mining up to 660 metres deep, where the water table falls, and thus entire towns run out of water.
In the central Junin region, on the other hand, they noticed how half of the residents make a living by working in the mining industry while the other half do so in agriculture. The two worlds, they write, also tend to collide because everyone wants to have access to the Mantaro river, which is one of the tributaries of the Amazon river.
The German-Peruvian report states that if this situation is allowed to continue, the environmental consequences may go beyond the country’s borders and might affect the continent’s freshwater reserves.
The authors criticize the fact that the National Service of Agrarian Health, which is supposed to inspect and regulate mining operations, is led by someone with deep connections in the mining industry.
Peru is the world’s No.2 copper producer and the sixth largest producer of gold.
9 Comments
Manco Capac
Why no comment about the illegal mining in Madre de dios which is putting enough mercury into the amazon its being picked up in Brazil ? The big problem is with the royalties being collected and funds added to the infrastructure funds ( the Canon fund I think it is called), is that the distribution is controlled by the beaurocrats in Lima. If they want to keep the money they just say none of the proposals were good enough, which has been going on for many years, specifically in Cajamarca. About 5 years ago there was about Us$3b in the cannon fund which was collected over the previous 15 years and only a couple of projects were ever approved. In the mean time the money clocks up interest which is used in Lima. What for no-one knows. Mining companies dont do themselves any favor either.
Jaime Sanchez
It’s a non-neutral point of view, this network of ONGs deal with poverty and human pain as a source of money for their pocket that’s true un Cajamarca where more than 60 years the representatives of this institutions (and only them) live a better life but communities not, for example GRUFIDES.
Nordbird
La Oroya has been a ghost town for the past 10 years, and the photo of rusted out rail cars full of gravel leads little credibility to this story.
Claudio González
I never expected to read a non-neutral article like this here, full of the non based ideas that all the NGO’s use against mining and that we know are not true. Of course those kind of notes sell on TV channels and create drama on auddience, but here you must be more critical with all the stupidity journalists and NGO’s say against mining activity.
Mario Ardito
It is a new fake news, based on misinformation. Mining conflicts in Peru are mainly related to illegal mining. This is what the study does not mention. In a peruvian election year this kind of studies appear to feed political interests.
Ana juarez
Can you please share a link of the published document?
Andres Recalde
Without access to the research paper any reasonable commentary to this article is void. It is so easy to blast economic alternatives to increase wealth distribution, especially if you are a non profit with academic interests. A credible analysis will open alternatives, therefore the need to access the research paper.
patentbs
One of the biggest causes of social conflict is the interference by German financed agitators. There is little of use in this story… it is more a waste of electrons!
Guillermo Muñoz Portugal
The majority of the accounts that they think against the NGOs are false accounts, therefore they are the spreaders of fake news. The report is interesting and has a lot of truth.