For three months our reporter travelled Venezuela’s disputed mining areas where he was confronted with illegal armed groups, indigenous communities repressed by Colombian guerrillas and enclaves of informal miners tormented by malaria. An illegal detention by the National Guard almost prematurely ended this investigation.

In this journey, we talked to miners, companies, academics, indigenous, politicians and activists and gathered exclusive material on Latin America’s most underreported natural resources conflict.

Made possible by InfoAmazonia, Correo del Caroni in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center on Conflict Reporting.

Visit our platform on mining conflicts in Venezuela.

LAS CLARITAS, Venezuela – They gather in the hundreds, or maybe even thousands, in the early morning, their numbers perhaps tenfold the population of the town itself. Groups of miners, carrying pickaxes and gold pans, meet along the chaotic roads to catch rides by any mode of transport possible, headed to the illegal gold mines that lie outside the village.

Read my article for Mongabay.

US-fuelled conflict between coca-growing farmers and the state is threatening to undermine Colombia’s recent peace settlement with Marxist guerrillas FARC.

Read my article for The New Internationalist.

Muzo, Colombia – It is here where clouded forests overgrow the mountain slopes in which world’s most valuable emeralds are hidden. For much of history, Colombia has been the global provider of emeralds, though in the last decade it has given way to Zimbabwe and Brazil. In an attempt to organize mining and to not miss out on the profits of emeralds that often are smuggled out of the country, the government decided to formalize the sector in 2001.

Have a look at my photo essay for Resource Worlds.

Foto: Alex Kemman

Midden tussen de visserswijken van de Colombiaanse kuststad Buenaventura ligt havenbedrijf TC Buen, dat zich niet erg druk lijkt te maken om mensenrechten en milieu. De Nederlandse investeerder FMO is zich van geen kwaad bewust.

Lees mijn artikel voor De Groene Amsterdammer.

MAGDALENA MEDIO, Colombia – It is a usual hot and humid day at one of the oil palm plantations in Magdalena Medio, Colombia. Beneath the two-story canopy of the plantation, Francisco Calderón* sweats while carrying a wobbly 12-meter (40-foot) iron pole he uses to slice the precious fruit free. The work is long and back-breakingly arduous.

The sheer weight and length of the pole makes balancing it an art. Calderón tightens his muscles and once more steers the pole towards the palm fruit to show the practice that has been damaging his body for more than two decades.

Read my article for Mongabay.

PUERTO LEGUIZAMO, Colombia – Already infamous for coca production and conflict, Colombia’s southwest department of Putumayo borders Ecuador and Peru and is ripe for a variety of eco-crimes.  In 2016 there were 45 arrests in the region connected to wildlife smuggling, gold mining and the illegal timber trade.

These crimes pose serious threats to local biodiversity in the Colombian Amazon and its native populations, especially given the fact that Putumayo is home to enormous expanses of jungle that are difficult to monitor.

Read my article for Mongabay.