Even in areas where the forest grows back, “traces of mining activity are still present in the ground ten years later, or even more,” underlines the geologist. Mining craters are visible from space and, unlike other processes that eat away at forest cover, it is not easy to reverse the earth-grinding process.
“If deforestation is like burning down a house, mining also destroys its foundations.” Consequently, the same species are unlikely to grow back in these areas given changes in soil composition, even if they are protected and given the opportunity to do so.
For John West and his colleagues, mining areas in the Amazon will not return to what they were before. They don’t even know what they might look like given their unique new landscape. Better reforestation strategies, adapted to each soil type, are needed.
The team began testing an innovative and different approach, which relies on natural solutions such as planting hardy palm species that thrive in sandy, mineral-poor soils. The goal is to encourage the growth of wetland species so they can jump-start biological processes, from carbon storage and soil regeneration to fertility and retention of microbes and nutrients.
If the pilot project, which involves more than 1,000 palm trees, proves successful, the team will significantly strengthen its collaboration with local communities to oversee the long-term restoration of the ecosystem and facilitate the rebirth of the forest and associated functions.
Imagining a future where there is no more mining is a dream, as many people depend on it for their livelihood. Greening the gold industry, however, as John West points out, is a way forward.
At the risk of sparking controversy, the geologist explains that areas that have been subject to mining do not always resemble the “apocalyptic hell” that one might imagine. The scars left by this activity are clearly visible, but “you can see jaguar prints, turtles in the mining pools and all the wildlife associated with the Amazon. She is still capable of living,” says the geologist cautiously. “This gives some hope for the future of these areas devastated by mining, but this is conditional on our understanding of these entirely new landscapes.”
However, he recognizes that the situation “can seem apocalyptic, especially on active mining sites”. We see a dichotomy of wildlife that appears at sunset to explore an aquatic system that turns out to have been gutted. But life continues as it does, proof of the resilience of nature, even if this should not obscure the fact that the system is under strain. “There is a lot of potential and a lot of resilience. For me, the question is how far we can go before we reach a tipping point.”
