Monday, January 25, 2016

Peru takes steps to protect its parks from illegal mining

Peruvian business journal La Republica reported on the Peruvian government’s ongoing fight against illegal mining. In particular, the Peruvian department of Madre de Dios has been one of the hotbeds of illegal mining activity in the country, and the government as a result has focused its operations in this department.

Over the weekend, La Republica reported that, come Monday, there would be almost 50% more forest rangers in the three national parks in the Madre de Dios region. The number of park rangers will increase from 50 to 73, and the new rangers previously worked as park volunteers in other parts of the country, so they should be able to hit the ground running. The new rangers will focus on carrying out additional patrols of the parks to catch illegal miners.

El Comercio provided another piece of good news in Peru’s fight against illegal mining, as the Peruvian armed forces carried out their first operation against illegal miners in a national park. The report noted that news of the interdiction came two months after the release of satellite imagery showing that illegal miners had started operating in the Tambopata national park. The Peruvian authorities were able to destroy equipment and machines used in illegal mining, but were not able to capture any illegal miners.


In oil-related news, Transportadora de Gas del Peru, the operator of Peru’s largest natural gas liquids pipeline, told the press that it had started repairs on a leak that had forced the shutdown of the pipeline last week. The report did not mention whether the leak resulted in any environmental damages.

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