The Amazon Park celebrates its 10 years under the continued pressure of illegal gold panning

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The largest park in France and the European Union, the Amazonian Park of Guyana (PAG), which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, is facing the ravages of illegal gold panning.

The president of the PAG, Claude Suzanon, called on the prefect and the armed forces to "harden the tone" in the face of gold trafficking, which leads in particular to violence, deforestation and mercury pollution.

Despite the promises "to eradicate illegal gold panning", the PAG identified "99 active sites" in the first half of 2017. The Park particularly regrets that the average number of illegal sites has hardly changed in 9 years. With the exception of one case, "no territory has been reclaimed sustainably from artisanal gold panners," he said.

In Guyana, gold mining is partly legal (the official sector employs around 500 people for a production of 1 to 2 tonnes of gold per year). Most of it is orchestrated by around 15.000 illegal gold miners, who produce nearly 10 tonnes per year, with harmful consequences for the environment and serious problems of insecurity for local populations.

Catastrophic impacts

"Despite the considerable efforts deployed, the impacts are catastrophic, and the results of the struggle unworthy of the objectives of a national park", wrote the PAG already in late 2016 in an internal note.

The south and west are particularly affected. On the other hand, in the center, in Saul, a municipality of 150 people, "the actions against gold panning are going well, and that has enabled tourist development," assures Gilles Kleitz, director of the PAG, before adding: Amazonian is to contribute so that in 50 years we will have a beautiful intact forest and above all a human, cultural, identity project ”.

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