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A surge in unlawful mining has wiped out 140,000 hectares of tropical forest in the Amazon region of Peru, accelerating as armed foreign factions move into the region to profit from all-time high gold values, as per a recent study.

About five hundred forty square miles of land have been cleared for mining in the South American country since 1984, and the ecological damage is growing at an alarming rate throughout Peru, investigations revealed.

The gold rush is also polluting its rivers and streams. Unlawful extractors use dredges – equipment that disrupt and displace riverbeds – leaving toxic mercury used to extract gold from sediment in their path.

Detailed satellite photographs enabled researchers to identify dredges alongside forest loss for the initial instance, showing that the ecological disaster previously limited to the south of the country was creeping northward.

“We used to only see it in the Madre de Dios region but now we’re seeing it everywhere,” commented a director involved in the research.

Gold values surpassed four thousand dollars for the initial occasion this week on international markets as global anxiety increased about financial fragility. Indigenous groups have sounded the alarm that as the price soars, armed groups were more frequently destroying their forests and poisoning their water sources in pursuit of the valuable mineral.

Satellite photos show that previously lush forest areas are being transformed into barren landscapes of grey earth marked by stagnant pools of green water.

“This small section is just a minor example,” an expert remarked, indicating a limited area of the vast red patchwork of deforestation mapped in the report. “Imagine this multiplied to one hundred forty thousand hectares.”

Mercury contamination build up in aquatic life and pass to the populations who eat them, leading to neurological and developmental problems such as congenital disorders and developmental delays.

An ongoing investigation of communities along riverbanks in Peru’s far north of the Loreto region found the average concentration of mercury was nearly four times the World Health Organization’s recommended limit.

Analysis found that 225 rivers and streams have been affected, with 989 dredges spotted in Loreto since 2017 – among them 275 this year alone on the Nanay River, a branch of the Amazon River that is the lifeblood of ecosystems and dozens of Indigenous communities.

“They are poisoning our rivers – it’s the water that we consume,” said a representative of several riverside communities in Loreto.

Local communities began blocking miners from moving along the River Tigre in Loreto 40 days ago, leading to armed clashes with militant groups. “We are forced to defend ourselves but we are unsupported. Government authorities is absent,” he stated with anger.

Extraction activities remains concentrated in the Madre de Dios region in the south of the country but new hotspots are developing farther north in multiple provinces.

These areas are limited but once mining is established it could expand quickly, an expert said, stating that the report was a insight into what was occurring across the rest of the Amazon.

“It marks the initial occasion we’ve been able to look in this detail at a country but I think in neighboring countries we are going to see similar patterns,” he added.

Findings showed more dredges appearing on Peru’s jungle frontiers with adjacent nations.

With gold prices surpassing $4,000 an ounce, foreign, armed groups are increasingly venturing across the border into unregulated forest areas where government officials are taking minimal action to halt their activities, according to an expert on crime.

Illegal organizations, including factions from neighboring countries, are more involved across the border.

“International crime networks involved in drug trade and concealing illicit gains through illegal gold mining – now with peak prices yielding high profits – are alongside a government that has failed to act decisively against criminal enterprises,” the analyst stated.

An intergovernmental group of South American countries instructed Peru to address unlawful extraction or it could face economic sanctions.

But a researcher commented: “Gold is just so profitable right now. There are no indications of prices going down, so it’s likely going to get worse before it gets better.”