Sept BATFN: the impacts of gold mining in the Amazon

Illegal Gold Mining, Mercury Contamination and Deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon

 

Peru gold mining

Join us on Thursday, Sept. 25 at 6:00pm at this academic year’s first Bay Area Tropical Forest Network (BATFN) event, held at the Carnegie Department of Global Ecology (260 Panama Street) on Stanford Campus.

Luis Fernandez, Director of the Carnegie Amazon Mercury Ecosystem Project, will discuss the dynamics that have made artisanal gold mining both the primary driver of deforestation in the Western Amazon and the number one source of anthropogenic mercury in the world today, and describe its effects on forests, wildlife and humans.

    Title: Illegal Gold Mining, Mercury Contamination and Deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon

    Speaker: Luis E. Fernandez is a tropical ecologist at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology, and is the director of the Carnegie Amazon Mercury Project (CAMEP), a multi-institution research initiative that examines the impacts of artisanal gold mining, mercury contamination and deforestation on natural and human ecosystems in the Madre De Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon.

    Description: Luis will discuss the dynamics that have made artisanal gold mining both the primary driver of deforestation in the Western Amazon and the number one source of anthropogenic mercury in the world today, and describe its effects on forests, wildlife and humans.

Food and drinks will be served starting at 6pm, and Luis will speak around 7pm with discussion to follow.

The event is free and open to all—please feel free to forward to your friends. To RSVP, please visit the BATFN Facebook page or reply to Kelly McManus ([email protected]). We hope to see you there!