The two faces of the Orinoco Mining Arc are, for tourists, a nice place to vacation and visit, a curious place because of the different way of making transactions for goods or services.

The other side that is not shown is the uncontrolled destruction of flora and fauna in this territory, the mafias, drug traffickers, unworthy forced labor, water and land contamination consumed by the citizens and indigenous people of these towns.

In 2016, mineral extraction was approved on an area equivalent to 12.2% of the national territory, where 54,686 indigenous people live and has great ecological diversity.

Since 2016, a decision by the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has allocated all 111,843 square kilometers for mineral exploitation, a decision that has endangered the biodiversity of the Venezuelan Amazon and the lives of indigenous communities in the area. This area is as large as the total extension of countries such as Cuba, South Korea, Austria, the Czech Republic or Switzerland. https://youtu.be/i9yqBKgBUxU?si=nwQ-KhRK0454VIOs

The environmental cost of a surge in gold mining in Venezuela has been exposed by satellite images, showing dozens of mines on the summit of a remote mountain in the state of Amazonas, in the south of the country. https://youtu.be/xXIQHmB8aF0?si=fUrXYkHplELQmuJ5

This video is from a traveler telling about her experience in this place and showing the prices of items priced in gold. The video has the option to place English subtitles.

https://youtu.be/jyWeqE6N85A?si=BKBvEGReGP9l1alM • • "The Orinoco Mining Arc (AMO) territory covers an area of ​​111,843,000 km2, where environmental impacts have been identified that potentially affect climate change, according to the report Venezuela's Commitments to the Paris Convention (Part I).

The AMO is the mining project of the largest territorial magnitude and intensity of destruction in the history of Venezuela, according to the report, a territory from which gold, diamonds, coltan, copper, iron and bauxite are extracted with the incorporation of national and transnational companies.

This is a dangerous bet on large-scale mining that affects a territory of extraordinary biodiversity, hydrological wealth and ethnic diversity that includes 429 towns and 14 indigenous ethnic groups, which represents approximately 34% of the indigenous groups in the country.

Among the potential impacts on climate change found in the AMO territory are the elimination of forest cover, which is limiting the carbon sequestration process and favoring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and the occurrence of vegetation fires at mining sites, which is causing GHG emissions.

Likewise, the removal of soil due to open-pit mining activity, which is generating the release of CO2 from the surface horizons of the soil where organic matter accumulates and has affected the carbon dioxide sequestration capacity, would have an impact on climate change.

The report proposes a series of general recommendations, including declaring a moratorium on mining activity throughout the Guayana Region, until a responsible mining development plan is formulated, with solid socio-environmental foundations and the environmental damage generated in the region is assessed.

The report on Venezuela's Commitments to the Paris Convention was prepared by the Academic Secretariat for Climate Change (SACC) of the Academy of Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, in collaboration with national research experts from universities and national research centers."

The full report at https://www.wrm.org.uy/bulletin-articles/predatory-mining-in-venezuela-the-orinoco-mining-arc-enclave-economies-and-the-national-mining-plan