Last Updated on Sunday, 20 April 2025, 20:40 by Writer
Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, and Guyana are to conduct a joint operation later against two major environmental crimes, according to a top French Guiana official.
That decision was taken at the first operational meeting of the Guyana Shield working group that brought together representatives of police and justice services in Cayenne, French Guiana, from April 3 to 4, 2025. The objective of the meeting was to set in harmony the best practices of each country in the fight against illegal mining and mercury trafficking and to prepare a common operational action to be developed in 2025, supported by the European Union’s (EU) EL PAcCTO (Europe Latin America Programme of Assistance against Transnational Organised Crime) 2.0 program.
“During the meeting, the subjects of international cooperation and information exchange were highlighted as the major challenges to fighting strongly against organized environmental crime in the region. A first common operational action was agreed upon for this year, to work conjointly and improve cooperation,” French Guiana’s Coordinator to Combat illegal gold mining, Frédérique Longin told Demerara Waves Online News.
EL PAcCTO 2.0 facilitated this month’s meeting by providing financial and logistical support and also technical expertise on the cooperation and coordination models that they have been working with in the fight against organized crime.
Guyana was represented by Assistant Police Commissioner, Mahendra Singh.
EL PAcCTO 2.0 is assisting in the fight against transnational organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Ms Longin said illegal gold mining in the Guiana Shield is artisanal and subsistence-based, with economically disadvantaged populations being attracted by an easily extracted metal (gold) whose price increases almost daily.
The French Guiana official said Brazil has created a monetary assessment tool for environmental damage which allows the courts to impose fines on individuals convicted of illegal gold mining.
Ms Longin said in French Guiana, a study was conducted on the impacts of mercury contamination in the villages most affected by illegal gold mining.
She said among people affected by mercury exposure, epidemiological studies show decreased performance on tests measuring coordination and speed of fine movements, and a loss of sensitivity to visual contrast. These neurological alterations can be observed in individuals with mercury exposure levels in their hair as high as six micrograms per gram (µg/g).
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that mercury exposure not exceed 10 µg/g. In the villages most affected by illegal gold mining, Ms Longin said the study found an average of 12.8 µg/g among residents, with levels as high as 49 µg/g.
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