Home Institution
Georgetown University
Publication Date
Spring 2020
Abstract
Usando un marco teórico de justicia medioambiental y de colonialidad, este informe describe, analiza e interprete los impactos ecológicos de la minería aurífera en Madre de Dios, una región amazónica del Perú. Específicamente, este informe trata las consecuencias de la deforestación y la contaminación por mercurio causadas por esta industria para la salud y el bienestar de los pueblos indígenas de Madre de Dios. A través de investigación secundaria de la literatura existente y los estudios ya realizados sobre el alcance de la degradación ecológica resultante de la minería aurífera en esta región, este informe examina la manera en que estas actividades mineras representan una injusticia medioambiental para las comunidades nativas que viven allí. Ya que la deforestación extensa ocasiona la devastación de sus tierras tradicionales y disminuye sus fuentes de alimentos y agua potable mientras los niveles altos de mercurio en el ambiente provocan numerosos problemas graves para la salud, argumento que esta destrucción de la naturaleza viola los derechos naturales de estas personas. En esta situación, es claro que los pueblos indígenas desproporcionadamente soportan las cargas ecológicas de la minería aurífera a pesar de que no son los beneficiarios primarios de las ganancias de esta industria. Para transformar esta realidad y lograr justicia medioambiental en Madre de Dios, propongo que estas comunidades se deben empoderar políticamente para ampliar sus voces en las decisiones que impactan a ellas y sus territorios. También, es preciso alejarse activa y deliberadamente de la mentalidad colonial en que son percibidos los pueblos indígenas y su ambiente como prescindibles y en cambio reconocer su indispensabilidad y la necesidad de proteger sus derechos humanos y ambientales.
Using theoretical frameworks of environmental justice and coloniality, this report describes, analyzes, and interprets the ecological impacts of gold mining in Madre de Dios, an Amazonian region of Peru. Specifically, this report addresses the consequences of deforestation and mercury pollution caused by this industry on the health and wellbeing of the indigenous peoples of Madre de Dios. Through secondary research of the existing literature and studies already completed about the extent of the ecological degradation resulting from gold mining in this region, this report examines the way in which these mining activities represent an environmental injustice for the native communities that live there. Because the extensive deforestation devastates their traditional lands and diminishes their sources of food and drinking water while the high levels of mercury in the environment provoke a plethora of serious health problems, I argue that this destruction of nature violates the natural rights of these people. In this situation, it is clear that the indigenous peoples disproportionately bear the environmental burdens of gold mining even though they are not the primary beneficiaries of the profits of this industry. To transform this reality and achieve environmental justice in Madre de Dios, I propose that there is a need for greater political empowerment of these communities in order to amplify their voices in decisions that impact them and their territories. It is also imperative that there be an active and deliberate shift away from the colonial mentality in which indigenous peoples and their environments are perceived as expendable and instead recognize their indispensability as well as the necessity of protecting their human and environmental rights.
Disciplines
Environmental Health and Protection | Environmental Studies | Human Ecology | Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law | Indigenous Studies | Inequality and Stratification | Latin American Languages and Societies | Natural Resources Management and Policy | Place and Environment | Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies | Social Justice
Recommended Citation
Scully, Madison, "La justicia medioambiental y la minería aurífera: Las implicaciones de la deforestación y la contaminación de metales pesados en Madre de Dios, Perú" (2020). Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection. 3334.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/3334
Included in
Environmental Health and Protection Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Human Ecology Commons, Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Latin American Languages and Societies Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Social Justice Commons
Program Name
Peru: Indigenous Peoples and Globalization