Mining Will Not Solve Poverty in Nicaragua

mining will not solve poverty in nicaragua

marcos mairena downs , foe nicaragua

Despite abundant natural resources, Nicaragua remains the second poorest country in the Americas. Its poverty is deepening despite intensified efforts to court foreign investment and broaden the exploitation of the country's natural resources, in particular through mining. Against this backdrop, FoE Nicaragua started a two-year campaign to educate the public and fight the damage wrought by mining.

unique ecological heritage
The largest country in Central America, Nicaragua possesses unique biological richness, abundant in the flora and fauna found in both North and South America. The country was one of the region's first nations to declare protected areas, and now counts 72, including the Bosawas and Indio Maíz ecological reserves. The nation's full biological wealth is still not completely known.

deep poverty
In contrast to these natural riches, Nicaragua is Central America's poorest economy, and the second poorest country in the Americas. Average per capita annual income is approximately US$450, with an average of $150 of this coming from external aid. Infant mortality is on the rise, as is poverty, with 48 percent of the population living in extreme poverty. The nation's external debt at US$6.6 billion is six times the size of its GDP, and the trade deficit is approximately US$1 billion annually. The economy is extremely dependent on external help to avert social, political and economic crisis. Against this desolate panorama, the piercing question is, “How can we harness economic devices to meet our needs and pay the external debt?” The answer has routinely been, “Exploit natural resources and increase external investment in Nicaragua.”

an old and unhealthy model
Environmental deterioration in Nicaragua has a long history, beginning with Spanish colonization, which replaced the indigenous economy with one based on raw materials exploitation, largely through mining.

Gold mining prosperity in Nicaragua peaked during the decade between 1940-50, when the nation ranked fourteenth in world gold production. Through the 1960s and 70s, copper, lead and zinc were also mined.

The entire mining industry was nationalized in 1979 under a single state corporation, which mined only gold. With the installation of a new government regime in 1990, the state returned the mining properties to their original owners and began a process of awarding mining concessions to new private nationals and offshore companies.

no trickle down of wealth
These mining companies promised the Nicaraguan people progress and development -- promises that have never been met. Workers have received instead only silicosis, tuberculosis and arthritis by labouring at mines to obtain a tiny scrap of the vast wealth that ultimately flows into the bank accounts of large foreign investors.

foe nicaragua's campaign
Since 1995, FoE Nicaragua has denounced the severe impacts of mining on the nation's ecosystems. These include pollution from chemicals highly toxic to life, including mercury and cyanide compounds. Deforestation and the loss of animal species, the massive use of explosives and heavy machinery for physical extraction, and the resulting increase in sedimentation of bodies of water are other major issues.

Recent major accomplishments include our demand to the Nicaraguan government to cease contamination of water sources in the major mining district of Bonanza. We have also campaigned for new mining legislation on environmental protection, and worked to make the public aware of mining's impacts, especially among the populations most affected.

ecological debt not accounted for
Nicaragua's development model of economic growth by natural resource exploitation has resulted in environmental damage and degradation. Tragically, the high ecological debt that developed nations owe to Nicaragua for centuries of exploitation does not figure in the current economic equation. This legacy of damage will continue until we find economic alternatives to natural resource destruction, thereby preserving these resources for future generations.

alternatives needed
Nicaragua's path of increased resource extraction and investment via large companies and mining transnationals will destroy our ecosystems under the pretext of economic development. The task of public education and creating awareness amongst national and local authorities continues to be a major challenge to those of us who resist these unsustainable mining practices in Nicaragua.