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The soil of the Amazon preserves undefinable amounts of gold. In Ecuador’s rainforest, both legal and illegal miners carve roads into previously undisturbed and pristine jungle, dig deep into sacred land, poison rivers with mercury, and cause irreversible damage. Forests vanish, wildlife dies, and indigenous communities risk their health. “One day we heard that the river had mercury, that fish were contaminated and that children could get sick.,” says Meliza, leader at Sinchi Warmi.
The volume of mining has increased rapidly over the past years, pushed by an increasing gold price and the government reopening concessions all over Ecuador to dig for minerals.
The impact of Gold Mining
Gold mining (both legal and illegal) is rapidly expanding in Ecuador’s Amazon
Mining infrastructure (roads, machinery) opens access to previously intact forest areas
Forest turns to wasteland in days
Mining poisons rivers with mercury
Indigenous land rights are ignored
The True Cost of Gold
Behind every cheap gold bracelet and cheap electronics is a broken rainforest. Gold mining can damage the soil so severely and strip it of nutrients that the forest may never grow back.
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The Land is changing
Meliza, Community Lead at Sinchi Warmi
„One day we heard that the river had mercury, that all the fish were contaminated and that th children could get sick. They told us their skin would change, that their bodies would no longer be as strong.
When the Earth stopped bearing fruit as before, it was as if the forest began to weep in silence. It terrifies me to think that one day the forest will live only in our memories, transformed into stories or legends.“
Courageous Women stepping up for protection
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The Sinchi Warmis live in the middle of these mining zones. The water of the nearby Napo River has been polluted, putting at risk the provision of water for drinking, agriculture, and fishing. They raise their voices for conservation. They step up and become indigenous guardians of the forest. By turning rainforest into a tourism-based conservation model, we hold their back, giving visibility to the struggle and developing non-extractive alternatives. Together, we safeguard ancestral knowledge and seek to inspire youth and neighbouring communities to resist.
Be Part of the Resistance
This affects us all, as we breathe the same air. Through Forest Guardians, you can help protect Amazonian forest land. This isn’t charity. It’s a solid partnership with the indigenous community Sinchi Warmi resisting for all of us. Together, we protect threatened rainforest, turning it into conservation land, and secure ownership of indigenous women who’ve defended it for generations. The gold must stay in the ground and the forest must stay alive.
You can sponsor forest land once, and only once. It will always stay protected as Community Conservation Land, and your name will be tied to it. You can travel, visit, and meet the guardians. Or simply stand with them, map in hand, and say: This piece of Amazon was protected by me.