Colombia: Toxic River: Mining, Mercury and Murder Continue to Plague Colombia’s Atrato

Oct 10, 2019 | Frederick Gillingham and Melisa Valenzuela, Mongabay
View Original

Snaking its way through Colombia’s northwestern department of Choco, for centuries the Atrato River has been the lifeblood for Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities living along its banks. But decades of internal conflict have fueled an unprecedented surge in illegal mining, decimating the river basin and provoking an environmental and humanitarian crisis in one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth.