Gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon has done more damage to peatlands in the last two years than in the previous three decades

Gold mining in Peru’s Amazon is now destroying carbon-storing peatlands at an alarming rate. In just two years, over half of all recorded peatland destruction has occurred, releasing vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.

There’s a chance the gold ring on your finger or the chain around your neck has a link to the prolific destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Peru. In a new study, scientists have looked at the impact of small-scale gold mining in the southern Peruvian Amazon and found that it has led to a massive uptick in peatland destruction in recent years.

New research published in the journal Environmental Research Letters reveals that artisan gold mining in the southern Peruvian Amazon has caused more destruction to carbon-rich peatlands in the past two years than in the previous three decades combined,