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Satellite images show the widespread impact of mining on tropical rivers

A careful analysis of satellite images has revealed marked changes in the suspended-sediment concentrations of many rivers around the world. The study links these changes directly to river mining activities in the affected areas.
  1. Bryony Walmsley

    1. Bryony Walmsley is a freelance environmental consultant based in Cape Town, South Africa.

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Less than 1% of water on Earth is both fresh and in liquid form, and about two-thirds of this water lies underground1. Climate change, deforestation and rapid urbanization all threaten the remaining surface water, as do increasing population pressures and changes in land use, so news that river mining has a pronounced effect on this resource comes as a shock. Writing in Nature, Dethier et al.2 report that some 35,000 kilometres of large tropical rivers (those that are more than 50 metres wide) have been severely affected by sediment from river-mining activities (Fig. 1). An estimated 24,000 kilometres of smaller rivers are also affected, bringing the length of mining-affected water courses to a total that would stretch almost one and a half times around the Equator.

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Nature 620, 729-730 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02349-3

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 11 September 2023: An earlier version of the caption for Figure 1 in this News & Views article erroneously stated that the photo was taken in Argentina. The photo was actually taken in Peru.

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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