Near the town of Tena, the capital of Napo province, in Ecuador, craters and hills of gray sand bristle the banks of the Jatunyacu River. This lunar landscape in the heart of lush vegetation is the work of excavators from mining companies who tirelessly hunt for gold in the waterways of the Napo province.
This mining frenzy causes a lot of damage to the environment. “Gold mining East catastrophic for our region, it rots the water in the rivers, dries up the earth on the banks and affects the health of children, adults and animals”explain Fanny Shiguango, from the Federation of Indigenous Organizations of Napo (FOIN). This community member kichwa – like 70% of the region’s inhabitants – tells how the children in his village repeatedly break out in rashes and no longer bathe in the river. “Gold will end up killing tourism”also judges this employee of an agency organizing hiking, kayaking and rafting.
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