Gold Mining in the Amazon and COP16: The Importance of a Binding Global Agreement on Mineral Trade

This week, the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) for the Convention on Biological Diversity began in Cali, Colombia. The organizers expect the participation of more than 12,000 people from around the world, including official delegations and civil society representatives. For Colombia, one of the most “megadiverse” countries in the world, this is an opportunity to showcase its international leadership in advancing policies to protect the planet’s biodiversity. The biodiversity COP in Cali precedes the climate COP30, which will take place in Belém do Pará, Brazil at the end of 2025.

Both events offer a forum for high-impact solutions from Latin America in response to global environmental crises. The worldwide decline in biodiversity is just as critical as global warming. According to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the state of nature is in freefall, and planetary resources are so depleted that we are on the brink of species extinctions and massive human migrations. Phenomena such as deforestation, overexploitation of oceans and soils, and air and water pollution are disrupting the natural functioning of the planet, pushing humanity and life itself to the edge of an abyss.

One of the most emblematic regions in terms of biological diversity is the Amazon rainforest. A major threat to the Amazon is the expansion of gold mining, which is characterized by high levels of informality, illegality, and connections with criminal groups that challenge state control over vast territories.

Illegal gold mining in the Colombian and Peruvian Amazon

The MAAP Initiative estimates that, “as of 2018, there was a historical mining deforestation footprint of over 963,000 hectares across the entire Amazon. Between 2019 and 2023, [the MAAP Initiative estimates] that the mining deforestation footprint grew by over 944,000 hectares (2.3 million acres). Thus, of the total accumulated mining deforestation footprint of over 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres), about half has occurred in just the past five years (...) of the total accumulated mining, over half has occurred in Brazil (55 percent, covering over 1 million hectares), followed by Guyana (15 percent), Suriname (12 percent), Venezuela (7 percent), and Peru (7 percent, covering 135,625 hectares)”. Expert Timothy Killeen describes illegal gold mining in the Amazon as an “ecological disaster for floodplains and local communities.”

In recent years, this phenomenon has grown exponentially. Illegal gold mining has become one of Peru’s most pressing issues, with severe economic, social, political and environmental consequences. Deforestation, water and soil contamination, and the destruction of natural habitats are just some of its serious environmental impacts.

Another recent MAAP report indicates that between 2021 and September 2023, gold mining deforested 23,881 hectares in Peru’s Madre de Dios region, affecting Indigenous communities and protected areas. In Colombia, deforestation in the Amazon is closely tied to the presence of illegal armed groups that control areas where illegal mining takes place. In 2023, the country recorded a historic drop in deforestation, with a 38 percent reduction in the Amazon alone, from 71,185 hectares in 2022 to 44,274 hectares in 2023—the lowest in the past 23 years. However, the Ministry of Environment has warned that deforestation could increase in 2024 due to threats from illegal armed groups against local communities and public officials from the National Environmental System, who are responsible for monitoring protected areas and combating deforestation.

In the Colombian Amazon armed groups funded by illegal mining, local communities, Indigenous peoples, and gold trading companies converge, creating a complex landscape for addressing illegal economies and deforestation in a context of violence. According to the Organization of American States, as of 2022, 80 percent of the country’s gold production came from illegal extraction.

Illegal mining is also linked to child labor, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and the murder of multiple environmental defenders. In Peru, various reports highlight the presence of illegal armed groups controlling mining operations in different regions, fostering insecurity and fear among local communities. In Loreto, areas such as Nanay have seen an expansion of gold mining, even in territories where the Peruvian state can no longer maintain control.

In both countries, illegal gold mining is a multimillion-dollar business. In Colombia, illegal actors forced officials to leave the Amacayacu National Natural Park (in the Amazonas department), resulting in a lack of state presence and governance in the area. In Peru, this illicit activity, which generates higher profits than drug trafficking, causes annual losses of more than 22.7 billion soles (approximately USD 6 billion), according to a report by V&C Analistas. A Global Financial Integrity report estimates that the illicit gold trade in Colombia exceeded USD 5.6 billion between 2010 and 2018.

The complexity of this issue deepens when related crimes and the legal and political factors that enable its perpetuation are considered. Illegal mining does not operate in isolation but is closely tied to criminal networks that thrive on impunity, corruption, and infiltration of state institutions.

There are discrepancies between the reported amounts of production and exports of gold in these countries. In recent years, India and the United Arab Emirates have increased their imports of gold from Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Brazil, alongside other main gold importers like Switzerland, the United States and Canada. According to an investigation by Ojo Publico, there are many shortcomings in the stated due diligence policies from companies buying gold from Amazonian countries.  

Opportunity to advance a binding global agreement on mineral trade

What measures can be taken at an event like COP16 to address a phenomenon like this? COP16 is raising awareness of the issue through dozens of official and civil society events dedicated to sharing information and presenting solutions. The Colombian government is also promoting a concrete official initiative: a "Joint voluntary declaration on responsible mining practices for the protection of life and the environment," which officials will present on 29 October as part of the official activities.

The Colombian government expects that various countries will join the declaration through a declaration of intent to promote the signing of a global agreement. This initiative builds on other efforts related to traceability and socio-environmental standards in mining. Recent guidance from the United Nations Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals includes an actionable recommendation is to establish a “global framework for traceability, transparency and accountability along the entire mineral value chain—from mining to recycling—to strengthen due diligence, facilitate corporate accountability and build a global market for critical energy transition minerals.”

Thus, the Colombian initiative aims to create a multi-stakeholder group that will ultimately result, among other things, in a proposal for a binding international agreement to operationalize this recommendation for traceability, transparency and accountability.

This is a great opportunity to strengthen the implementation of social, environmental, and accountability standards in mining. Implementing traceability mechanisms and due diligence is essential to prevent minerals from being sourced through extraction processes that involve environmental destruction, child labor, organized crime, and other unacceptable practices in any value chain. While this initiative is not limited to the case of illegal gold mining and has broader ambitions, including transition minerals, it can contribute something fundamental: ensuring that gold extracted under conditions of environmental destruction and organized crime is not traded with impunity on the global market.

The diplomatic path to advance this initiative, as well as its alignment with other processes like the one initiated by the United Nations Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals, remains to be defined. However, the opportunity is on the table, and countries—especially those committed to protecting the planet’s biodiversity—should seize it.