The study’s design was meticulously crafted to capture the impact of ASGM. Researchers strategically selected five study sites, each approximately 50 kilometers apart, in the Madre de Dios region. These sites represented a gradient of mercury exposure: one near a gold mine without burning practices, two near mines where burning was prevalent, and two remote, unimpacted areas serving as controls. This setup allowed the team to directly compare mercury accumulation in trees across varying levels of mining activity.
read more... https://www.forwardpathway.us/global-mercury-pollution-crisis-environmental-and-socio-economic-impacts-of-artisanal-gold-mining-and-the-minamata-convention