the associations hope that Emmanuel Macron “will not give in to the sirens of local industrialists”, warns the NGO Wild Legal

Visiting Guyana for two days, the President of the Republic must notably address the issue of illegal gold panning.

“We hope that the president will not give in to the sirens of local industrialists who are demanding to be able, through accelerated procedures, to benefit from permits in areas destroyed by illegal gold miners”, alerted Marine Calmet on Monday March 25, founder and president of the NGO Wild Legal, a program for the ecological transition of law and the rights of nature, while Emmanuel Macron, on a two-day visit to Guyana, must notably address the issue of illegal gold panning. Six associations, including NGO Wild Legal, announced on Wednesday January 17 that they had filed an appeal against the State before the Cayenne administrative court to denounce its “culpable deficiencies” in the fight against illegal gold mining in Guyana.

Marine Calmet recalls that“sustainable exploitation” gold is “a dogma, a fantasy”. “There is no sustainable gold mine. Gold is not renewable, and the environmental consequences of mining activities, whether legal or illegal, are always dramatic for nature.” The associations believe that the legal exploitation of gold acts as “a magnet” for illegal gold miners who are “attracted by the facilities, the roads, the electricity, brought by legal gold miners”. According to the representative of NGO Wild Legal “signals” have been “envoys saying that this is unfortunately the direction that the President of the Republic’s announcements could take”.

Operation Harpie, “a bandage on a wooden leg”

During his visit to Guyana, the Head of State must take stock of Operation Harpie, launched in 2008, intended to eradicate illegal gold panning. For Marine Calmet, this operation “it’s not enough” and the “strategy needs to be reviewed from top to bottom”. According to her, “the estimates produced by the Amazonian park show a 50% increase in sites in one year, sites which are now located in the Amazonian park, which were nevertheless intended to eliminate illegal gold panning”. She judges, like “the specialists on the ground”that “the strategy that is being implemented is a bandage on a wooden leg”.

“The gold miners bypass the dams. The inhabitants, who demand protection of their village, are not listened to even though this protection is absolutely necessary from a human point of view.” Marine Calmet calls for “rethink cooperation, both between the armed forces, the Legion, and managers of natural environments”. And it needs “above all, ensure that citizens can actively participate in governance in this territory, because they are the eyes and ears of the river, of the forest and unfortunately we never listen to them”adds president of the NGO Wild Legal.