"As the World Climate Conference, COP30, is underway in Belem, Brazil, the disastrous consequences of environmental crimes are visible across the Amazon. This highlights an oft-overlooked fact in the fight to combat a warming world: Tackling organized crime is also key to safeguarding the climate. In the Amazon, criminal groups like the Comando Vermelho (CV), or Red Command in English, control the illegal trade in gold, rainforest wood and drugs."
""The CV is the most important organization involved in illegal mining and also illegal deforestation and drug trafficking," explained Rodrigo Ghiringhelli, professor at the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC) of Rio Grande do Sul and member of the Brazilian Forum for Public Security (FBSP). Gold mining is turning the Amazon rainforest into a gray, poisoned landscape. First, the trees are cut down, then mercury is added to the rocks and soil to extract the precious metalImage: Lidia Pedro/AFP via Getty Images"
Drug trafficking, illegal gold mining and human trafficking represent major threats to Amazon populations and ecosystems. Criminal groups, notably the Comando Vermelho, control lucrative trades in gold, timber and drugs across vast territories. Illegal gold extraction involves deforestation and mercury contamination that poisons soils, rivers and landscapes. Cartel activity is enabled by rising gold prices, weak government presence in remote areas, and porous borders with neighboring countries. Territorial disputes for control of legal and illegal economies have produced murders, other violent crimes and irreparable environmental damage across the region.
Read at www.dw.com
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