Pollution, obligation, and care: perspectives from artisanal and small-scale gold mining and farming in rural Colombia

ABSTRACT

People making a living in rural Antioquia, Colombia, find themselves in a double bind: they require a healthy environment to farm and grow food, but many turn to artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) to supplement their incomes. The significant environmental harms associated with ASGM – from mercury and other heavy-metal contamination to deforestation and habitat loss – have led to both academic and popular discourse treating ASGM as an environmental problem to be understood and remedied scientifically. Our research in the small town of Andes (Antioquia region in Colombia) investigated how local residents themselves understood “pollution.” Drawing on a literature review, archival research, site visits, and interviews with experts and local residents, we show that rural people understood pollution as emergent from complex webs of relationships and longer histories of government neglect. Exploring how people made sense of harm and expressed care builds on research in STS that demonstrates both the potentials and pitfalls for scientific concepts and tools to understand and intervene in compromised environments.

RESUMO

As pessoas que vivem na zona rural da região de Antioquia, na Colômbia, encontram-se em um dilema duplo: elas precisam de um ambiente saudável para cultivar e produzir alimentos, mas muitas recorrem à mineração de ouro artesanal e de pequena escala (ASGM) para complementar sua renda. Os danos ambientais significativos associados à ASGM, desde a contaminação por mercúrio e outros metais pesados até o desmatamento e a perda de habitat, levaram o discurso acadêmico e popular a tratar a ASGM como um problema ambiental a ser compreendido e remediado cientificamente. Nossa pesquisa na pequena cidade de Andes (região de Antioquia, Colômbia) investigou como os próprios moradores locais entendiam a “poluição.” Com base em revisão da literatura, pesquisa em arquivos, visitas a campo e entrevistas com especialistas e moradores locais, mostramos que a população rural entendia a poluição como emergente a partir de complexas redes de relacionamentos e histórias mais longas de negligência governamental. Explorar como as pessoas entendem o dano e expressam o cuidado baseia-se em pesquisas em STS que demonstram os potenciais e as armadilhas dos conceitos e ferramentas científicos para entender e intervir em ambientes comprometidos.

RESUMEN

Los habitantes de las poblaciones rurales de la región de Antioquia, en Colombia, se encuentran en una encrucijada: por un lado, necesitan de un medio ambiente saludable para cultivar y producir alimentos; por el otro, necesitan de la minería artesanal y de pequeña escala de oro (MAPE) para generar ingresos para sobrevivir. Los daños ambientales asociados con la MAPE – desde el uso del mercurio y la contaminación por otros metales pesados hasta la deforestación y la pérdida del hábitat natural—han llevado a los discursos académicos y populares a tratar la MAPE como un problema ambiental a ser entendido y solucionado científicamente. Nuestra investigación en la población de Andes, Antioquia, busca entender cómo los residentes de esta localidad entienden la contaminación. Partiendo de la revisión de literatura, investigación de archivos, visitas y entrevistas con expertos y residentes locales, demostramos que en poblaciones rurales se entiende la contaminación como un concepto que emerge de complejas redes de relaciones y una larga historia de abandono por parte del gobierno. Partiendo de la literatura de STS que trata este tema, aquí exploramos cómo estas poblaciones entienden los daños ambientales y expresan un sentido de cuidado por el medio ambiente. Asimismo, demostramos los posibles beneficios y limitaciones de conceptos y herramientas científicas para entender e intervenir en entornos comprometidos con la minería y la agricultura.

KEYWORDS:

• Artisanal and small-scale mining
• Colombia
• pollution
• environment

PALAVRAS-CHAVE:

• Mineração artesanal e de pequena escala
• Colômbia
• poluição
• meio ambiente

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• Minería artesanal y de pequeña escala
• Colombia
• polución
• medio ambiente

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1743749. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The authors also extend their appreciation to the on-the-ground research team that made this work possible, including Casey Gibson, Dina Julieth Serna Restrepo, Erika Sierra Molina, Maria Camila Sanchez Posada, and Esteban Cortes Palacio.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 One study found that 55% of ASGM miners who provided hair samples had mercury levels higher than the US EPA standard, and that miners who worked around amalgam burning had mercury levels six to eight times higher than miners who performed other activities (Calao-Ramos et al. 2021).

2 For excellent studies of mining in Colombia that draw from more traditional extended fieldwork, see Caraballo Acuña (2023); Ferry and Ferry (2017); Jaramillo (2020); and Jonkman (2022).

3 “No tenemos recolección de basura … La verdad la quemamos.”

4 “ … el cambio ambiental … . si ha cambiado, pero a mal … porque de tal manera sí que se puede contaminar más las aguas … ”

5 Council of Communal Action.

6 “ … de algunos entables tenemos colaboración … con la carretera … la escuela.”

7 “Pero la verdad, como a las tres, a las tres faltas. O sea, como que lo borran a uno del libro y ya.”

8 “Será falta de tiempo.”

9 “La verdad es que esta gente no es discriminada, pero tienen otra forma de ser. Lo que pasa es que a ellos casi no les gusta socializar con otra gente que no sea de su gremio.”

10 “Pero la agricultura también es muy importante porque es parte de la vida también, porque usted puede sacar mucho oro, pero si tiene … mucha plata, pero no hay agricultura, no hay quien la cultive, pues no hay que comprar. Entonces como que las dos cosas van de la mano.”

11 “ … como problemas personales no tanto, sino por lo de que la misma gente que se va a necesitar para trabajar o que se necesita para trabajar el campo agrícola es la misma gente que trabaja en la minería.”

12 “ … a ellos no les importa cuán haya creado la tierra y cuanto se va a demorar todo esto que yo hice aquí para empezar a repoblar en la historia de vegetación.”

13 “Se sienten bien. Hemos ido como tratando de copiarlos y acatar las reglas que nos pone.”

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Science Foundation grant number 1743749.

Notes on contributors

Jessica Smith

Jessica Smith is Professor of Engineering, Design and Society at the Colorado School of Mines. Originally trained as an anthropologist, her research examines the intersection of engineering and public accountability. She is most recently the author of Extracting Accountability: Engineers and Corporate Social Responsibility (MIT Press, 2021).

Cecilia Schroeder

Cecilia Schroeder completed a master’s degree in Humanitarian Engineering and Science at the Colorado School of Mines, with a focus on environmental engineering. She is currently an environmental engineer at the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, specializing in social and environmental justice.

Kathleen Smits

Kathleen Smits is chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Solomon Professor for Global Development at Southern Methodist University. Water, energy, and the environment are common themes of her research, specifically land/atmosphere interactions, greenhouse gas emissions from infrastructure and the integration of sustainable environmental remediation and local knowledge.

Juan Lucena

Juan Lucena is Professor of Engineering, Design and Society at the Colorado School of Mines, where he also directs the Humanitarian Engineering undergraduate program. He is an engineer and STS scholar by training and focuses his research on engineering, sustainable community development, and social justice.

Oscar Restrepo Baena

Oscar Restrepo Baena is Professor in the Ignea Reaseach Group in the Department of Materials and Minerals, School of Mines, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín. His research examines how artisanal and small-scale mining in Colombia can be made healthier and more sustainable.