South America

September 25, 2014

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

This Bay Area Tropical Forest Network event takes place at 6pm on the Stanford Campus. Speaker Luis Fernandez, a tropical ecologist at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology and director of the Carnegie Amazon Mercury Project, 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.

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Is This US Coal Giant Funding Violent Union Intimidation in Colombia?

"BOGOTA, Colombia — Cesar Florez is often hesitant to answer his phone because there might be another death threat at the end of the line. Sometimes the threat comes in a phone call, other times in a text message or an email. In April, flyers were posted in the restroom stalls at Florez’s workplace, declaring him and his colleagues 'permanent military targets.'"

Source: Center for Public Integrity, 07/22/2014

"Are Pesticides Linked To Health Problems in Argentina?"

"Could pesticides - their use and abuse - increase levels of cancer and birth defects? It is a question asked across the vast belt of Argentina where GM crops are grown. In Chaco, the Minister of Public Health wants an independent commission to investigate a growing health crisis."

Source: BBC News, 05/14/2014

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