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Article by Correo del Caroní, Pulitzer Center, Prodavinci, Infoamazonia
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Gold Mining Devastation Beneath the Eyes of Roraima Tepuy
By Maria Ramirez Cabello, June 5, 2020
Officially, Canaima National Park is located outside the Orinoco Mining Arc, yet more than one thousand hectares of its surface are being subjected to gold mining operations. Venezuela’s current humanitarian crisis is compelling the indigenous people of the Gran Sabana to participate in an activity that threatens one of Earth’s most biodiverse corners. Read article
*This report was produced with support from the Rainforest Journalism Fund in association with the Pulitzer Center
Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela, 05 June 2020
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PRESS RELEASE
on the occasion of World Environment Day
World Heritage Watch Report 2020 alerts to tourism and mining as increasing threats to the world heritage
Mining remains a major threat to UNESCO's World Heritage sites but is increasingly joined by tourism, according to a new report issued by World Heritage Watch, a global network of more than 170 NGOs, indigenous peoples and civil society activists who monitor sites on the ground.
While some sites in Siberia such as the Forests of Komi and the Altai Mountains have been of concern for years, new plans for uranium mining have been reported near the Grand Canyon and in southern Greenland, and a Venezuelan activist group has uncovered devastating gold mining in Canaima National Park, one of the world's gems for biodiversity and harbouring Angel Falls, the worlds highest. Although UNESCO has a No-Go-Policy in place for mining in World Heritage sites, this is often ignored or evaded by its member states following what they perceive to be their national interest.
Meanwhile, tourism has grown to an extent that it is becoming an increasing factor of threat to UNESCO's World Heritage, and often promoting tourism, not protecting the site, is now the motivation for seeking inscription in the World Heritage List. While visiting the sites is expressly encouraged, there is a risk that World Heritage status will morph from an instrument of protection to a factor of threat.
Until the Covid-19 pandemic, World Heritage sites were particularly affected by the excesses of overtourism because they are preferred tourist destinations due to their importance and attractiveness. Tourist numbers skyrocketed as soon as sites were inscribed in the World Heritage List, and the large numbers of visitors quickly collided with the particularly strong protection requirements of the World Heritage sites. The advocacy network now calls for using the worldwide standstill in tourism to rethink this development, and requests UNESCO to adopt strict guidelines for tourism planning before new sites are inscribed in its prestigious list.
World Heritage Watch provides information to UNESCO unreported by its member states in order to help the agency having a more comprehensive assessment of the real situation at the sites under its tutelage, and take more appropriate decisions to eliminate threats. Since its founding in 2014 it has earned a reputation with UNESCO to be the global voice of civil society in World Heritage matters.
Berlin, 4 June 2020
Contact:
Stephan Doempke
contact@world-heritage-watch.org
Tel. +49 (151) 1167-4691
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2020 Satelite images of illegal mines in Yapacana National Park
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These January 5, 2020 Sentinel 2A satellite images reveal that mining in Yapacana National Park, increased from 2035 to 2227 hectares (ha), & from 36 to 69 mining sites in just over a year
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Videos & photos of illegal mining in Guaiquinima Tepuy Natural Monument, Bolivar State, Venezuela
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Video of illegal mining at Guaiquinima Natural Monument, Bolivar Sate, Venezuela - Part I
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Video of illegal mining at Guaiquinima Natural Monument, Bolivar Sate, Venezuela - Part II
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Devastation and deforestation due to illegal mining on the Paragua River, North of Guaiquinima Tepuy Natural Monument, Bolivar State, Venezuela
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Visit our #StoryMaps of Canaima, Yapacana & Alto Orinoco-Casiquiare Biosphere Reserve. These are summaries of our in depth reports on these Protected Areas:
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VISIT WWW.SOSORINOCO.ORG FOR MORE INFORMATION
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