The biodiversity in Peru is enormous and unique, 3000 to 4000 varieties of potatoes, 52 varieties of corn, 163 varieties of tomatoes, 7590 varieties of flowers that exist only there, 4400 varieties of butterflies, 3 varieties of cocoa, avocados, cotton. We use only a few varieties of each crop in Europe. If these were to get infected with diseases, we would have to return to Peru to use another one.

The Amazon is the largest river in the world, the largest source of plant biodiversity. Most of our medicines come from the Amazon.

But this biodiversity is in danger. To extract gold, all it takes is a bulldozer and mercury to separate the earth from the gold. This mercury is not recovered in containers but is rejected into the Amazon, giving it a gray color. It is a poison that destroys everything. The companies that exploit the gold scrape the land down to the rock, destroying everything with no chance to grow back because the rock is bare, expelling without further ado the inhabitants who are exiled to Lima, a metropolis in the desert with 9 million inhabitants that can not decently accommodate them. 6000 hectares of Amazonia are destroyed every year.

The companies that exploit these resources have more means than the government itself; they use violence and are not held responsible in their countries of origin.

The UN intervenes through an education program and there are draft laws in the countries of origin to hold these companies accountable.

Biodiversidad en el Peru – Lima 2019: https://www.lima2019.pe/biodiversidad-en-el-peru

Catalogo-Papas – Ministerio de la agricultura del Peru: https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/89110/CIP-Catalogo-Papas-Junin-FINAL.pdf?sequence=6&isAllowed=y

Oro y bosques, incompatibles en la Amazonía peruana – El Pais: https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/11/22/planeta_futuro/1511358033_282056.html

Biopirates loot the Amazon – The Irish Times: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/biopirates-loot-the-amazon-1.284575

Owed to Nature: Medicines from Tropical Forests – Rainforest Trust: https://www.rainforesttrust.org/owed-to-nature-medicines-from-tropical-forests/

Peru Scrambles to Drive Out Illegal Gold Mining and Save Precious Land – New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/world/americas/peru-illegal-gold-mining-latin-america.html

Gold mining leaves heart of Peruvian Amazon a wasteland – PBS: https://youtu.be/FrHuqT1zpVM

Why Switzerland stuggles with dirty gold: tales from Peru – swissinfo: https://stories.swissinfo.ch/gold-peru-switzerland-mining-metalor#234887

Pandora or Peru: Resisting the mining multinationals – Aljazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2012/8/30/pandora-or-peru-resisting-the-mining-multinationals

Mathieu Henderson (@Mat__Henderson) Tweeted: Alors que l’initiative “Entreprises responsables” est rejetée à la maj. des cantons, les sympathisants du texte parlent déjà de nouvelles propositions. Ils comptent aussi “regarder si les multinationales ne commettent pas de violations graves”. Le cons.national PS Baptise Hurni: https://t.co/KQ2jlkS5ff