Frederic Masse of the Toledo Center is worried about the environmentally damaging conditions under which the illegal mining takes place. "This story can turn into a curse for the country, unless appropriate standards are maintained," he said.
Masse is one of a group of academics who have been spending the last few months interviewing people in the mining areas to gain an insight into the world of illegal mines.
One serious issue is that rivers and ground water are being polluted with banned chemicals. According to the Toledo study, the influence of the mafia has become so great that around 86 percent of the gold mined in Colombia comes from illegal sources that do not conform to environmental standards.
No comments:
Post a Comment