Dengue, mining, the interoceanic highway and global warming
By Augusto Mulanovich
Translated by Miguel Pretel
In 1992 I stood for the first time in Puerto Maldonado, capital of the Madre de Dios region in Peru. There, I found a city where the inhabitants dedicate their lives to collecting chestnuts, artisan fishing, selective extraction of woods, agriculture, cattle farming, gold extraction and a very small percentage dedicated themselves to eco-tourism. At that time, the effects of the eco-disaster at Huaypetue were still to be felt, the price of gold was less attractive and the mercury contamination levels weren’t as high as the dangerous levels of today.
Today, all carnivorous fish, those for human consumption such as large catfish (bagres, zungaro, mota, doncella), and some others with great potential for the sport fishing industry like the ‘toothy’ “chambira,” are contaminated with dangerous concentrations of mercury higher than those recommended by the World Health Organization.
According to recent studies carried out by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it is not just the fish in Madre de Dios that are contaminated with mercury but also the air we breathe. The miners sell their gold in many specialized shops around the streets of Puerto Maldonado. This wouldn’t normally have many negative health effects but this gold which is mined illegally still contains traces of mercury which is then liberated into the air when the gold is remelted or “burnt” in the workshops using more mercury, and all of which is done without any kind of extractor fans.
Ilegal mining in Madre de Dios | Image © Enrique Ortíz
Now, once again, high levels of contamination are being reported far beyond the ones recommended by the World Health Organization just blocks away from the gold shops and on top of the local food market (Mercado Modelo). The informal mining industry is not just poisoning the human population, the flora and fauna of Madre de Dios but it is also responsible for the deforestation of more than 2000 hectares of rainforest in the last 3 years, leaving behind lunar craters of contaminated black waters that are depriving clean water to all the make-shift communities that have sprung up along the brand new trans-oceanic highway. All of this ecological disaster is clearly visible from the road.
This new wave of mass migration of people coming from the Andes and many other regions of the country, have come with the hope of finding work to rise out of poverty. Many had started new settlements along the highway where you can now find hardware shops, restaurants, garages and even ‘prosti-bars’ (brothels). This new migration was triggered by the high prices of gold and the new access provided by the recently completed stretches of tarmac from the “interoceanica” highway.
These precarious living conditions combined with contamination and higher temperatures caused by global warming, make Puerto Maldonado a perfect place for the spread of contagious and infectious diseases.
In recent months a plague of “dengue” has been hitting Madre de Dios; it is said that the number of victims from the disease has reached some 1000 cases (that’s 1% of the population). A few months ago, me, my wife and my 2-year-old daughter all fell sick with dengue fever. In my office 10 people had already contracted the disease and we were forced to close the office for fumigation.
†Dengue fever is a viral disease transmitted by the mosquito Aedes aegypti which lays it’s eggs on clear water reservoirs or sitting waters. Due to the nature of viruses there is not much of you can do once you’ve got it aside from cooling down the high fevers with ‘Panadol’ [paracetamol] and rest. Dengue can be very dangerous and has already claimed a few deaths in Madre de Dios. A few days ago the famous surfer Andy Irons, a 32-year-old former world champion, died from dengue contracted in Puerto Rico; a reminder that even the strongest can be killed by dengue.
When I lived in Puerto Maldonado between 1996 and 2002 there was a TV advert from the Health Ministry where a deep chilling voice repeated in the background “…dengue kills…followed by the 70s disco classic “Disco Inferno.” I remember this well because of the “bizarreness” of the campaign and because it made me laugh. During those 6 years I didn’t know of any case of dengue, but I also remember the widespread fumigation campaigns from the Health Ministry. Today you can see large lines of people queuing to get the screening test, but you can’t see any of the fumigators.
Everything indicates that the laying of the Trans-oceanic highway – a promise of regional development – is generating high levels of uncontrolled migration, environmental contamination & dengue. It is said that the Eco-tourism industry has grown notably in the region, but this is not necessarily because of the completion of the new highway (the majority of tourists arrive by plane), but because of the effort of a few brave entrepreneurs and some recent policy of concessions geared towards the eco-tourism sector.
For the moment the new highway is bringing a few new investments in sustainable forestry and environmental services, but in general the real benefits of this vast motorway remain to be seen.
By contrast, the basic services provided by the government and the private sector in health, education, telecommunications, security & justice are absolutely deficient. There are no specialized doctors; the quality of medical attention is poor,
Image © Enrique Ortíz
mobile reception collapses every day, environmental crimes are a constant as is the street delinquency; just to mention a few examples of chaotic life. Puerto Maldonado seems to be the only capital of the region without broadband and surfing the net is slower than a limping turtle.
To have the positive impact we want, the Interoceanic highway must also be combined with a higher investment on basic services and carry policies that promote sustainable development as well as a considerable increase in presence from the government who need to regulate and stop illegal non-sustainable mining activities.
Very soon the presidents of Peru and Brazil, Alan Garcia & Lula da Silva will visit Madre de Dios for the inauguration of the ‘Billingurst’ bridge over the Madre de Dios river. This will for the first time, connect a tarmac road between the Atlantic and the Pacific ocean through the Amazon rainforest.
A word of advice for the presidents: …don’t stay too long in Puerto Maldonado or you may catch Dengue.
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