Informal mining uncontrollably progresses destroying the biodiversity of Madre de Dios.

Servindi, September 16, 2010 - "The Tambopata National Reserve is threatened by the imminent invasion of informal miners," stated Luis Alfaro Lozano, Head of the National Service of Protected Natural Areas (SERNANP).

Alfaro reported that informal miners are found in the buffer zone of the national reserve at Kilometers 98, 108 and 117 of the Interoceanic Highway.

The director of SERNANP indicated that he had asked local authorities to destroy access roads to the Malinowski River, but received the following answer: "There is nothing we can do; the road has existed for many years."

The road that was built at Kilometer 107 crosses a reforestation concession and goes to the Manuani River, a tributary of the Malinowski River, in the buffer zone of the reserve.

Last year, this access road was closed with the help of the Forestry and Wildlife Department, but it has since been reopened by unscrupulous people.

"This situation of informality and illegality present in the buffer zone endangers the integrity of the Tambopata National Reserve," states Alfaro Lozano.

This event undoubtedly shows that the informal mining activity has intensified in Madre de Dios, as a result of the progressive advancement of this activity nationwide.

On July 23, 2009, the newspaper, La República, reported that the Ombudsman's Office found, in its last visit to Madre de Dios, that the buffer zones of the Bahuaja Sonene National Park and the Tambopata National Reserve, despite being considered intangible, are slowly being taken over by the unstoppable mining activity.

Goodbye to Biodiversity

The Tambopata National Reserve, known as "the forest teeming with life", will no longer be vital or biodiverse if concrete actions are not taken, as requested by Iván Lanegra, representative of the Ombudsman's Office, through Official Letter 158 forwarded in July, when he visited Nueva Arequipa at Kilometer 108 of the Interoceanic Highway.

Lanegra stated that this event, which constitutes a serious attack on the environment, should be addressed promptly by the government.

Tambopata National Reserve

The national reserve is located in the Department of Madre de Dios. It has an area of 274,690 hectares and was created on September 4, 2009.

The reserve takes its name from the Tambopata River Basin, which has one of the highest rates of biodiversity in the world.

It contains a variety of ecosystems such as marshes, swamps, bamboo forests and riparian forests.

Furthermore, major habitats include aquatic habitats that serve as a resting place for more than 40 species of transcontinental migratory birds.

It also houses species considered to be endangered such as the river wolf (otter) and endemic species of amphibians, mammals and even trees, such as the chestnut.

The Palma Real, Sonene and Infierno native communities of the Ese`Eja ethnolinguistic group and the Kotsimba native community of the Puquirieri ethnolinguistic group are also found in the adjacent buffer zones.