For many Indigenous communities across South America, the Amazon rainforest forms the foundation of their lives. Yet the same rich soils and intricate waterways that sustain this vibrant ecosystem harbor precious metals that attract illegal mining operations. A modern gold rush has taken hold of the Amazon, leaving devastation in its wake.

Mining operations tear through riverbanks and clear-cut ancient forests, releasing mercury and other toxic chemicals into the region's waterways that accumulate in the fish Indigenous communities depend on for survival.

Among the communities bearing the heaviest burden of this crisis are the Yuri-Passé, an isolated Indigenous group living in remote regions of the Colombian Amazon between the Caquetá and Putumayo Rivers. The Yuri-Passé have chosen to live without any contact with society. For at least a century, these indigenous people have been hiding in the depths of the forest and have avoided any contact with those who invade their territories.

However, their ancestral territories have become a convergence point for multiple threats: illegal mining operations strip away the forests and contaminate the waters they depend on, while drug trafficking networks carve routes through their territory, bringing violence, disease and disruption to their doorstep.

The Yuri-Passé face a devastating double assault on their survival. Outsiders carry diseases against which the community has no immunity, threatening their physical existence. Simultaneously, the systematic destruction of their environment—poisoned rivers, cleared forests, and contaminated soil—undermines the very foundation of their traditional way of life. For a people whose culture, sustenance, and identity are inseparable from their land, these combined pressures represent nothing less than an existential threat.

For nearly 30 years, The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) has partnered with indigenous communities to protect their territories and uphold their culture, sustenance and identity, which is inseparable from their land.

Recently, ACT, the Colombian government and neighboring Indigenous communities collaborated to delineate and protect over 3 million acres of Yuri-Passé territory, marking the first official recognition of the territories of isolated Indigenous peoples in Colombia. Vantor's spatial intelligence played a critical role in this process by helping to confirm the presence of Yuri-Passé settlements, providing evidence of the extent of their territories and facilitating remote monitoring strategies without risking potentially invasive overflights.

With their territories officially recognized, local efforts have turned towards mitigating the many threats invading these forests. The key to their success? Vantor's high-resolution satellite imagery, delivered at the speed of mission.

In addition to stopping illegal mining in this territory, satellite images helped with the first step -- confirming the presence of the Yuri-Passe, which neighboring indigenous communities had known for many years. Satellite images from overflights were just one tool, but a critical one in helping these communities remain in isolation ("isolation is protection") by acknowledging their existence.

Tracking Illegal Mining in the Amazon

In the remote regions where the Yuri-Passé live, it’s difficult to track illegal activities like mining. Most of the mining in this part of the Amazon is alluvial, extracting minerals from river and streambeds, via small barges. These barges are mobile and hard to see, making it easy for illegal mining to go unnoticed. High resolution satellite imagery has become a critical piece of the puzzle for overcoming these challenges.

As a Vantor Purpose Partner, ACT can leverage the Vantor Hub to task very high-resolution satellite imagery, enabling a local network of partners—the Amazon Alliance for the Reduction of the Impacts of Gold Mining (AARIMO in Spanish)—to better track environmental pressures like illegal mining and empower local governments to keep communities safe.

With Vantor's 30 cm-class resolution imagery, the local alliance can detect change as it happens on the ground, identify illegal mining barges and take action by reporting threats to local law enforcement and other government agencies. In partnership with Vantor, authorities have observed more than 900 instances of illegal mining activity, leading to the destruction of more than 130 illegal mining barges since 2020.

A Critical Moment for Action

The upcoming COP 30 conference presents an unprecedented opportunity to address these urgent challenges. For the first time in the history of UN climate conferences, the summit will be held in Amazonia itself, placing the world's largest rainforest at the center of global climate discussions. This historic setting creates a unique platform to spotlight illegal mining as one of the most pressing threats facing the Amazon today.

The timing could not be more crucial. As world leaders gather in the heart of the rainforest, they will witness firsthand the environmental devastation and human suffering caused by unregulated extraction. This represents a pivotal moment to transform international awareness into concrete action, ensuring that the voices of Indigenous communities are heard on the global stage and that meaningful protections are put in place to preserve both the Amazon's ecological integrity and the survival of its traditional guardians, including isolated Indigenous peoples like the Yuri-Passé.

About the Amazon Conservation Team

The Amazon Conservation Team partners with indigenous and other local communities to protect tropical forests and strengthen traditional culture. We envision a region of thriving biological and cultural diversity, conserved in perpetuity by local peoples able to utilize the best of traditional and western knowledge to protect their ancestral lands. With our community partners, primarily in Colombia, Brazil, and Suriname, we conduct initiatives in line with three strategies: promoting sustainable land management and protection, promoting communities' secure and sustainable livelihoods, and strengthening communities' governance and structure.