Does formalizing artisanal gold mining mitigate environmental impacts? Deforestation evidence from the Peruvian Amazon

Abstract

A global surge in ‘artisanal’, smallscale mining (ASM) threatens biodiverse tropical forests and exposes residents to dangerous levels of mercury. In response, governments and development agencies are investing millions (USD) on ASM formalization; registering concessions and demarcating extraction zones to promote regulatory adherence and direct mining away from ecologically sensitive areas. The environmental outcomes of these initiatives are seldom systematically assessed. We examine patterns of mining-related deforestation associated with formalization efforts in a gold-rich region of the Peruvian Amazon. We track changes from 2001 to 2014 when agencies: (a) issued 1701 provisional titles and (b) tried to restrict mining to a >5000 km2 ‘corridor’. We use fixed-effect regression models and matching methods to control for gold price, geology, and accessibility. Mining increased dramatically during this period, clearing ∼40 000 ha of forest. After the mining corridor was declared and enforcement increased, new mining sites were opened more frequently within titled areas and inside the corridor than elsewhere. However, mining also increased in protected area buffer zones and native communities, and the proportion of mining area occurring outside the corridor grew, concentrated in a few hotspots. Interviews (n = 47) revealed that the hoped-for regulatory adherence failed to materialize because miners who were issued provisional titles started operations without complying with attendant environmental rules. Overlapping land claims for agriculture and forest extraction proved a major obstacle for obtaining full legal rights to mine. Miners resented the slow, costly formalization process but many sought titles to bolster territorial claims, avoid policing, obtain credit and recruit paying ‘guest’ miners who generally ignored regulations. We find that responses to formalization varied with changing context and while formalization may curb mining in some circumstances, it may exacerbate it in others. Without adequate enforcement, interagency coordination, and attention to competing land claims, formalizing ASM may accelerate ecological destruction.

Secondary forests in Peru: differential provision of ecosystem services compared to other post-deforestation forest transitions

“…Oil palm plantations account for approximately 11% of the deforestation from agricultural expansion from 2007-2013 (Vijay et al 2018). In contrast, gold mining was responsible for 1.12 Tg/yr of carbon emissions (Csillik and Asner 2020), and its influence is largely growing in Peru, particularly in Madre de Dios (Caballero Espejo et al 2018, Álvarez-Berríos et al 2021. Andean forests: The Andean region (27% of the country) comprises a longitudinal mountain range that crosses the region from north to south (Fig.…”

Operation mercury: Impacts of national‐level armed forces intervention and anticorruption strategy on artisanal gold mining and water quality in the Peruvian Amazon

“…However, alternative‐livelihood interventions also have a sporadic record of success (Hilson & Banchirigah, 2009; Prescott et al., 2020; Roe et al., 2015), and formalization of ASGM has been challenging in the absence of robust enforcement. Miners often return to banned locations or practices as enforcement wanes and are deterred from formalization by the lack of clear mining policy, mining policy that changes frequently, multilayered bureaucracy, and fees (Alvarez‐Berrios et al., 2021).…”

Hiding in Plain Sight: How a Fallow Forestry Supply Chain Remains Illegitimate in the Eyes of the State

“…While formalization on this supply chain could be beneficial, we feel it is important to debunk the pervasive notion in development discourse that shifting to formality is automatically necessary for bringing about change, since, as we have shown, formalization and authorizations do not necessarily translate to equity, access and sustainability (Sears et al, 2018). The environmental, social and economic stakes in formalizing farm forestry and its associated supply chain are very low in comparison to the artisanal, small-scale mining, where any activity there has nearly irreversible deleterious environmental outcomes (Álvarez-Berríos et al, 2021). Nevertheless, it is inevitable that the Peruvian state will move forward with attempts to formalize all economic sectors.…”

“…Where implemented, formalization can also have negative outcomes, among them elite capture of benefits from access to resources, exclusion of economically vulnerable and marginalized populations, reconfiguration of existing work arrangements, criminalization of customary land use practices, and economic loss (Putzel et al, 2015). In the mining sector, attempts to formalize small-scale actors have resulted in documented increase in unauthorized deforestation (Álvarez-Berríos et al, 2021).…”

“…This was the case with the original proposal to include assisted natural regeneration in the National Forest Plantation Registry in its first iteration (which was later removed) (Sears et al, 2018). Some precedent for this fear might be found in the evidence of an increase in deforestation from mining after the implementation of strict regulations and zoning for artisanal, small-scale mining in Madre de Dios, where miners took advantage of regulatory loopholes, coupled with strong support from a resistance movement (Álvarez-Berríos et al, 2021). On the other hand, the implementation and enforcement of new forestry regulations between 2008 and 2010 had a clear negative effect on the income of small-scale forestry operators when they were unable to comply with the new rules (L'Roe and Naughton-Treves, 2014).…”