Offering communities scientific support to stop mining’s damages | Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) Skip to content Skip to navigation

Offering communities scientific support to stop mining’s damages

Mining is an economic activity with serious environmental costs. Often, communities located near mining projects do not have access to truthful, complete and objective information on the harms and benefits of extractive industries.

This is compounded by the pollution and water depletion such activities cause in nearby rivers, lakes and other water sources. These risks often occur when mining projects are not adequately evaluated before being approved. And, too often, environmental impact assessments are not based on the best available scientific information.

Now more than ever, we must bridge the information gap between communities and the mining projects that affect them.

Review our Mining Resources Page

Learn About Our Mining Webinar Series (in Spanish)

 

What AIDA is doing: 

  • Bringing useful information to communities about mining’s potential damages.
  • Sharing information on the true costs of mining through articles, opinion pieces, and online seminars.
  • Analyzing environmental impact studies and collaborating with experts to call attention to the inherent risks of mining and avoid further harm.
  • Strengthening legal actions with scientific data, with the goal of protecting people and the environment near harmful mining projects

Partners:

Earthworks
Alejandro Arango / Flickr

The Latest

Capacity Building, Human Rights, Mining | 13 May 2020

Webinar "A Just Transition: Why should industrialized countries reduce their consumption of raw materials? The case of Germany"

We presented the proposals of an NGO network in Germany to achieve a reduction in the consumption of raw materials and to include the perspectives of producer countries.read more

Mining, Toxic Pollution | 28 January 2019

Mine tailings dams: a history of failures

It’s urgent that the governmental, non-governmental and private sectors do whatever is necessary to avoid more tragedies like those we’ve seen in Brazil.read more

Indigenous Rights, Mining, Toxic Pollution | 24 January 2019

Mining Arc threatens majestic lands of Southern Venezuela

For decades, one of the greatest socio-ecological tragedies in Latin America has been developing in Venezuela. At AIDA, we’re working to raise awareness of the issue.read more

Human Rights, Mining, Toxic Pollution | 25 July 2018

The Colombian town that’s taking on coal mining

At AIDA, we believe in a clean energy future, and our work will continue to support the move towards a coal-free Latin America.read more

Mining, Toxic Pollution | 28 June 2018

Understanding the true costs of mining in Latin America

Would you accept a business deal that offered you limited profits and infinite expenses?read more

At the entrance to Poopó, the landscape includes pools of mining waste and damaged soil.

Mining, Toxic Pollution | 12 February 2018

Bolivia: What mining leaves behind

For centuries, Bolivia has allowed its economy to depend almost exclusively on the extractive sector, an option that is entirely unsustainable in the medium and long term.read more

Mining, Public Participation | 28 April 2017

Victory in Colombia: Citizens Vote to Ban Mining in their Territory

On March 26, 2017, 98% of voters in Cajamarca, Colombia decisively rejected mining in their territory.read more

Mining, Oceans, Toxic Pollution | 17 August 2015

Watch Out! The Mining Industry Wants to Dump its Waste in the Ocean

By Florencia Ortúzar, AIDA attorney, and Karol Rodríguez, AIDA intern Mining gives rise to a serious problem: toxic waste . Tailings from ore extraction have been known to damage the environment and...read more

Andes

Mining | 23 August 2013

How we protect Andean ecosystems from mining's impacts

Few places in the world are so vulnerable to environmental degradation from mining than Colombia. The country ranks second in coal reserves in South America and is home to what could be one of the...read more

Connect With Us