The gold rush over the past years has not been a glittering one for the environment, with many new miners unaware of proper mining practices and others continuing to operate as they had done in the past.

The increased number of operations has seen a corresponding increase in environmental damage, says Rickford Vieira, the World Wildlife Fund (Guianas) Gold Mining Pollution Abatement Coordinator. “The sector is now bigger than it has ever been,” he pointed out in a recent interview with Stabroek News. A new set of persons with little experience  are now involved in mining as well as operators with more earth-moving equipment, resulting in a significant increase in deforestation and pollution, he said.

A report done under the Guyana-Norway forest protection partnership last year showed that deforestation increased 87% for the first year of the partnership inked in 2009 as compared to the mean average from 2000 to 2009. The report said mining is the main driver of deforestation. A Stabroek News team on a …..