Paris

Dirty tricks: illegal mines damage the Amazon. Credit: P.-C. DOMINIQUE/CNRS

Tropical ecologist Pierre-Charles Dominique will be out in a helicopter over the Amazon this month, helping to track down illegal gold-miners.

The ‘garimpeiros’, who have been wreaking damage on the environment for years, have now had a more direct effect on ecological research in the area — last month they ransacked Dominique's research camp, taking material worth €75,000 (US$92,000) and delaying an ambitious new project.

According to witnesses, illegal gold-miners arrived by canoe at a camp belonging to the Nouragues research station in French Guiana on 12 June. They stripped it bare, taking everything from hydraulic pumps and diesel engines to solar panels and food.

The material was intended for the first trial of the Canopy Operation Permanent Access System (COPAS) — a European project designed to allow researchers easy access to the treetops of a tropical rainforest. When completed, a huge helium balloon will float above the trees suspending a basket that can hold two scientists, who will be able to move vertically and horizontally within the canopy along a system of cables. This will be a boon for researchers who have had to climb trees, swing on aerial walkways or hang from giant cranes to get their data.

The ransacking will delay the project for several months, predicts Dominique. The researchers will also have to ask the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) for extra funds to replace equipment.

Mining has flourished in Guiana over the past two years; there are now at least 10,000 clandestine miners. More than 25 illegal mines are though to operate in the 1,000 square kilometres of Les Nouragues natural reserve.

These cause substantial ecological damage: river beds are suctioned for gold nuggets, trees are felled, and mud and mercury pollute waterways. Studies show that some 280 tonnes of mercury compounds have accumulated in the environment because of mining in Guiana over the past century, and illegal mining continues to add 5 to 10 tonnes annually. Mercury levels in fish and the local population are also high.

“Without massive intervention by the gendarmerie, it will soon be impossible to pursue the scientific research, carried out since 1986, at the Nouragues station,” warned the World Conservation Union following a meeting in Paris on 22 June. On 28 June, the local government in Guiana called on the French president, Jacques Chirac, to establish an emergency plan that “mobilizes all human and material means to have the law respected”.

The police have already been given some powers to tackle the situation. In September 2002, they were authorized to destroy on sight all miners' equipment. Special intervention squads have also been created. But search-and-destroy missions are not easy, says Dominique. Illegal sites are readily spotted from the air, he says, but miners deliberately fell trees in nearby clearings to prevent helicopters from landing. This forces the police to make risky rope descents or to approach inland, giving the culprits time to escape.

Several sites have been destroyed in a recent intensification of operations, and the police are also working to dismantle the criminal networks that organize the mining. Dominique says his discussions with local officials have reassured him. “It's too soon to have an official response” from the French government, he says. “But I'm working closely with the local gendarmerie, and they have made Nouragues a priority.”