Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Asner GP
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3832012 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Asner Gregory P GP Llactayo William W Tupayachi Raul R Luna Ernesto Ráez ER
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20131028 46
Gold mining has rapidly increased in western Amazonia, but the rates and ecological impacts of mining remain poorly known and potentially underestimated. We combined field surveys, airborne mapping, and high-resolution satellite imaging to assess road- and river-based gold mining in the Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon from 1999 to 2012. In this period, the geographic extent of gold mining increased 400%. The average annual rate of forest loss as a result of gold mining tripled in 200 ...[more]