AMAZON
PERU
Madre de Dios: Tropical Peatlands in the Amazon
The tropical peatlands are ecosystems found in regions with high temperatures and abundant rainfall.
They are inhabited by a variety of herbaceous plants, bushes and trees, that create a distinct vegetation: home to a wide variety of species who have adapted to humid conditions—including birds, amphibians, insects, humans and other beings. These swampy lands have stored information for millenia through slowly decomposing organic matter that create layered soil structures, a peat swamp—wetlands of decomposing life.
Hinsby Cadillo Quiroz is a Microbial Ecologist and associate professor at the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. Alongside a team of explorer scientists, he investigates the peatlands of Madre de Dios, seeking to find other invisible universes of the peat: the microbial world that kneads its network. They study different impact zones to understand and quantify how the mining process changes the soil.
According to what Hinsby tells us, there are days in which the spirits dwell closer to the earth, making them more visible. The microbes dominate this universe: the peatland is a microbial environment, where they rule and control. Peatlands are a reservoir of carbon that mitigates climate change due to its characteristics of sedimentation and flooding, as well as freezing near the poles. “Carbon, microbes, future, present,” Hinsby enthusiastically says.
The peat isn’t an easily accessed terrain. It thrives in the middle of soil and water.
It communicates between Earth and sky, the underworld and the world as we know it. During expeditions through the tropical peatlands of the Amazon, one should make offerings with all the spirits of the jungle.
The wise ones of this adventurous terrain, the ones who know it the most, are the señores aguajeros (the water guardians). They are the ones who really know the labyrinth’s depths. They know how to decipher the language of the peat.
Baquean specialists from the area that know the territory well and accompany the scientists. Without direct support as well as political and diplomatic relationships with the communities, scientists would not be able to complete their quest. The “aguajeros” respect the nature that provides for them and knows of the dangers it carries. Entering the peatlands means going through a muddy and shifting terrain where the danger of sinking is constant.
The desert between the jungle
The natural ecosystem of Madre de Dios has been destroyed by illegal and extractivist gold mining, which leaves deserts of sandbanks where a variety of ecosystems once existed. These excavations destroy the life of the forest. “We want to advocate for the regeneration of the peat network,” Hinsby tells us. At the end of the day, it’s about rebuilding a network and a corresponding emotional relationship with a superior being that is visible and metaphysical—the peatland.
Jennifer Ángel Amaya, a Geologist and Doctoral candidate at Columbia University, studies the ecological impacts of gold mining in the Amazon basin’s soil and water.
Jennifer tells us that it’s possible to work with extracting gold in a more sustainable way for the soil itself and for the local communities. Even though the use of mercury has been prohibited as a result of international agreements, and its adverse health effects for all beings are now well known, there hasn’t been any change in the Amazon nor have there been lasting decisions taken to deal with illegal business. She says that the coffee industry, cacao production and even some diamond industries are models to look up to.
Gold is a natural element in the ecosystem, it comes from the Andes Mountain Range, and is part of the debris that travels through the river.
In addition to its commercial use, it has been used in many local communal traditions
The capitalistic world has given it a very high value, and communities can benefit from it. Part of the solution that Jennifer proposes is to include the miners as active agents, connected to their territory.
She believes that they will be the ones most willing to work under certain conditions and regulations (such as the total elimination of the use of mercury), and to establish working conditions and rights that will bring dignity to the workers. This project creates strong bonds between the government, institutions, communities and consumers. The consumers would need to be willing to make a higher investment based on the value and awareness of this new sustainable process. It is fundamental to create this network to achieve localized and sustainable mining activity.
A river destined to be seen
Julissa Barrios is a biologist and works at the Cinco Rebeldes de Huaypetue mining concession—which has belonged to her father since 2000—in the region of Bamberme, next to natural reserves. Her family does artisan mining jobs with a suction pump. Ever since she was a child, she grew to know the reality of mining first hand.
Out of seven siblings who studied in Cuzco, she went back to the land that she believes helped her grow up. She feels a responsibility to give something back to the land. Nowadays, she is creating a research station in the mining camp with different NGOs.
It may sound contradictory, but Julissa tells us that with her mother and father’s support, she went back to Cinco Rebeldes to begin investigating the mining areas, and collaborated with universities and scientists. Her wish is to protect the territory and to help transition to a more sustainable mining practice in the Madre de Dios. She works to restore areas with pilot tests that analyze how the peatland is reforested, and to also understand how the mining families can work with other economic activities such as agriculture, cattle, and tourism amongst others.