Illegal Gold Mining, Mercury Contamination and Deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon

Luis E. Fernandez is a tropical ecologist at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology, and is the director of the Carnegie Amazon Mercury Project (CAMEP), a multi-institution research initiative that examines the impacts of artisanal gold mining, mercury contamination and deforestation on natural and human ecosystems in the Madre De Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon.
Description: Luis will discuss the dynamics that have made artisanal gold mining both the primary driver of deforestation in the Western Amazon and the number one source of anthropogenic mercury in the world today, and describe its effects on forests, wildlife and humans.
http://tropicalforestnetwork.org/sept-batfn-the-impacts-of-gold-mining-in-the-amazon/