Impacts on Environmental Health of Small-Scale Gold Mining in Ecuador

Betancourt, Óscar; Barriga, Ramiro; Guimarães, Jean Rémy Davée; Cueva, Edwin; Betancourt, Sebastián

doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-0517-7_11

Cited by 10 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The mercury exposure in our dolphins indicates mercury contamination in their habitat. While mercury isotopes' analyses were not conducted in this study to discriminate natural from human-made sources, possible anthropogenic sources of mercury in the Gulf of Guayaquil can include small scale and artisanal gold mining in southern Ecuador (Tarras-Wahlberg et al, 2000;Betancourt et al, 2012;Carling et al, 2013), and emissions from urbanization and industrialization in the Gulf of Guayaquil (Calle et al, 2018). Evidence of chronological emissions of anthropogenic mercury (i.e., amalgamation and cinnabar mining) during Inca, colonial and pre-industrial times (i.e., augmented preindustrial pollution by mercury from 1400 to 1600 AD) in the Andean region of South American can also corroborate the regional atmospheric transport of mercury emissions to this region since preindustrial times (Cooke et al, 2013;Alava and Ross, 2018).…”

Section: Sources and Transport Of Pops And Mercury In Dolphins' Habitatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Persistent Organic Pollutants and Mercury in Genetically Identified Inner Estuary Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Residents of the Guayaquil Gulf, Ecuador: Ecotoxicological Science in Support of Pollutant Management and Cetacean Conservation

et al. 2020

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The bottlenose dolphin is one of the most common cetaceans found in the coastal waters, estuaries, and mangroves of Ecuador. However, its population size is gradually declining in the Gulf of Guayaquil, and anthropogenic factors including habitat degradation, uncontrolled dolphin watching, dredging activities, increasing maritime traffic, underwater noise, bycatch, and marine pollution have been implicated in their decline. Very little is known about contamination by persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and mercury in bottlenose dolphins from the Pacific coast of South America. To address this research gap, the first assessment of total mercury (THg) and POPs, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), in free-ranging bottlenose dolphins in mangroves (El Morro Mangrove Wildlife Refuge) of the Gulf of Guayaquil, was conducted in Ecuador in 2018. Dolphin samples (i.e., skin and blubber; n = 9), were obtained using dart biopsy field methods for contaminant analysis. POP concentrations ranged from 0.56 to 13.0 mg/kg in lipid weight, while THg ranged from 1.92 to 3.63 mg/kg in dry weight. The predominant POPs were OCPs (50% of POP), followed by PCBs (46%) and PBDEs (6.0%); particularly, p,p-DDE, the main DDT metabolite and a potent antiandrogenic, accounting for 42% of POP, ranging from 0.12 to ∼7.0 mg/kg lw, followed by PCB 153 (8.0%) and PCB 180 (5.0%). PBDE 47 accounted for 2.0% of POP. While the POP concentrations are lower than those found in dolphins from many other regions

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Section: Sources and Transport Of Pops And Mercury In Dolphins' Habitatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Persistent Organic Pollutants and Mercury in Genetically Identified Inner Estuary Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Residents of the Guayaquil Gulf, Ecuador: Ecotoxicological Science in Support of Pollutant Management and Cetacean Conservation

et al. 2020

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“…By contrast, in rivers like Puyango, with intense mining activity, reducing the metal contamination depends of profound changes in mining practice. In the upper basin, we can get some institutional policies to control the pollution from mining [32] (creation of operating units of study and control, municipal bylaws to prevent anarchy and polluting work of processing plants and greater control with the Ministry of Environment and not Renewable Natural Resources).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mining and Seasonal Variation of the Metals Concentration in the Puyango River Basin—Ecuador

García¹,

Betancourt²,

Cueva³

et al. 2012

JEP

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The Puyango River Basin covers approximately an area of 4400 km 2 , it is located in Southern of Ecuador, with Calera and Amarillo rivers as tributaries. In this region, one of the main activities is small scale gold and silver mining. Currently there are 110 processing plants on the bank of Calera and Amarillo rivers, causing a significant degradation of natural resources. A seasonal comparison of metal concentrations in surface water, sediments and particulate matter from the Puyango River and its effluents is made. It was done a differentiation between natural contaminations with the anthropogenic one generated by mining activity. Samples were taken during dry season (2004) and rainy season (2006), and analyzed physicochemical parameters, anions and cations and the concentrations of heavy metals. The results show a clear influence of gold mining in Puyango River contamination, starting with its tributaries, Calera and Amarillo rivers, which have the highest concentrations of heavy metals from the basin, corresponding with the location of the mineral processing plants.

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“…A graphical summary of our case study is depicted in Figure 1. The elements that appear in layers 1-5 of Figure 1 are primarily drawn from published outputs of the Puyango project (Betancourt et al 2005(Betancourt et al , 2012, supplemented by insider knowledge of the project lead, an EkoSanté member and co-author of this article. In populating layers 6-8, we also draw selectively from relevant ecohealth and social scientific scholarship, which in turn also unearths additional constituents of layers 1-5.…”

Section: Journal Of Political Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem approaches to health and knowledge-to-action: towards a political ecology of applied health-environment knowledge

Brisbois

Burgos

Barraza

et al. 2017

Journal of Political Ecology

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Political ecology pushes back against the apolitical and ahistorical ecologies frequently found in mainstream scientific accounts of nature and the environment, and has increasingly focused on how scientific knowledge is 'socially constructed.' In this article, we argue for political ecological engagement with the highly influential knowledge-to-action (KTA) movement in science about health and the environment. We introduce KTA using results of a survey conducted under the auspices of a Canada-Latin America-Caribbean 'ecosystem approaches to health' (ecohealth) collaboration, and then narrow our focus to a single illustrative ecohealth project, dealing with the health impacts of small-scale gold mining in southwestern Ecuador. We employ an ecology of knowledge framework for integrating insights from science and technology studies, illustrating the interacting actors, material artifacts, institutions and discourses involved in not only the generation but also the application of health-environment science. The origins of ecohealth research in the Americas reflect interacting epistemological and political factors, as sophisticated, complex systemic analyses of health-environment interactions occurred amidst increasing neoliberalization of knowledge production. Simultaneously, corporate actors such as large mining companies influenced both the distribution of healthdamaging environmental conditions in the Americas, and the ways in which they were studied. This analysis motivates our advocacy of specifically political ecologies of health-environment knowledge, in which inequitable power dynamics and non-human actors are foregrounded in studies of the social production and application of science. The political ecology of knowledge framework that we envision would allow for simultaneous consideration of how societal contexts influence scientific knowledge production, and how the resulting knowledge can be better applied to protect the health of communities facing environmental injustice. Key words: ecohealth; mining; praxis; science and technology studies; knowledge-to-action; Canada; Ecuador Résumé L'écologie politique remet en question las explications apolitiques et anhistoriques fréquemment rencontrées dans les compte-rendu scientifiques sur la nature et l'environnement et met de plus en plus l'accent sur la manière dont la connaissance scientifique est socialement construite. Dans cet article, nous soutenons la pertinence de l'écologie politique pour le mouvement « du savoir à l'action », très influent dans les sciences de la santé de l'environnement. Nous présentons la perspective « du savoir à l'action » en nous appuyant sur les résultats d'une enquête menée dans le cadre d'une collaboration Canada-Amérique latine et Caraïbes sur les approches écosystémiques à la santé (écosanté), pour ensuite concentrer notre attention sur un unique projet écosanté, qui porte sur les effets sur la santé de l'extraction de l'or à petite échelle dans le sud-ouest de l'Équateur. Nous employons un cadre conceptuel d'écologi...

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Impacts on Environmental Health of Small-Scale Gold Mining in Ecuador

Cited by 10 publications

References 16 publications

Persistent Organic Pollutants and Mercury in Genetically Identified Inner Estuary Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Residents of the Guayaquil Gulf, Ecuador: Ecotoxicological Science in Support of Pollutant Management and Cetacean Conservation

Persistent Organic Pollutants and Mercury in Genetically Identified Inner Estuary Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Residents of the Guayaquil Gulf, Ecuador: Ecotoxicological Science in Support of Pollutant Management and Cetacean Conservation

Mining and Seasonal Variation of the Metals Concentration in the Puyango River Basin—Ecuador

Ecosystem approaches to health and knowledge-to-action: towards a political ecology of applied health-environment knowledge

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