Amazon Gold Flows: improving traceability and accountability to protect Colombian Amazon forests

Header photo: boat on a river in the Colombian Amazon (by way of illustration) © Andrés Ramírez from Pexels 

Informal gold mining in Colombian Amazon 

An estimated 80 percent of Colombia’s gold exports are illegally sourced ^[1]Takeaways on illegal gold mining and illicit financial flows: from the Amazon basin to destination countries – Countering Environmental Corruption Practitioners Forum, and a significant share of this extraction occurs within protected areas. Gold mining is one of the key drivers of deforestation, ecosystem degradation, and socio-environmental conflict in the Colombian Amazon. Amazon rivers have become hotpots of illegal gold mining. Mercury used in gold mining leads to river pollution, for example, which has a direct impact on the lives of Indigenous peoples and local communities.  

The increasing global demand for gold and record-high prices have contributed to a rise in informal gold mining. This includes illicit activities that are deeply embedded in complex transnational criminal networks. Corruption, legal loopholes, limited access to reliable information, and weak prosecution capacity have created a context in which illegal extraction and trade flourishes. Furthermore, poor traceability systems and opaque supply chains enable illegal gold to be laundered onto formal global markets, thereby reinforcing criminal revenues and sustaining deforestation. On top of that, gold has become strategic for money laundering, with billions of dollars in illicit proceeds using gold as a financial vehicle to enter formal financial systems. 

Prevent, detect, and respond to illicit gold flows 

Addressing  the challenges related to the impacts of gold mining in the Colombian Amazon requires shared responsibility and coordinated action among producer and consumer countries, including Colombia, the EU, and the UK. Closing enforcement, knowledge, and regulatory gaps is essential to curb illicit gold flows and to mitigate its impacts. 

Against this backdrop, our long-term ambition is to strengthen institutional and community capacities to prevent, detect, and respond to illicit gold flows from the Colombian Amazon to Europe and the UK. By generating actionable evidence, improving gold traceability, and enhancing collaboration among judicial, enforcement, and environmental authorities, our aim is to reinforce enforcement efforts and reduce incentives for illegal gold mining. The ultimate objective is to protect forest ecosystems and safeguarding the rights and territories of Indigenous and local communities depending on the forest.  

Amazon Gold Flows, a collaboration of Fundación para la Conservación y el Desarrollo Sostenible (FCDS) and IUCN NL, translates this vision into action through evidence generation, capacity building, and policy strengthening to reduce deforestation, ecosystem degradation, and socio-environmental conflict in the Amazon. 

‘With Amazon Gold Flows we aim to protect Colombian Amazon forests by shedding light on illicit gold flows and tracing how illegal gold enters transnational supply chains. By exposing these, the programme aims to support policy action to protect biodiversity and human rights.’ 

• Marc Hoogeslag, project lead

Project approach 

The project combines strengthening institutional and community capacities with coordinated action between Colombia, the EU, and the UK, to establish effective barriers to the lucrativeness of the crimes associated with illicit gold flows and mercury use. Applying this transnational approach, we combine technical evidence, institutional cooperation, and stronger regulatory frameworks, which will jointly improve gold traceability and accountability and reduce pressure on Amazonian forests. 

The project partners apply three interconnected pathways contributing to reduced illicit gold flows and deforestation in the Colombian Amazon. The activities stem from the following pathways:  

• research and generating evidence; 
• strengthening capacity, and 
• policy activities. 

Project partners

Amazon Gold Flows is implemented by FCDS Colombia and IUCN NL. The NGOs work jointly on the project activities, especially  those related to transnational supply chains, criminal networks, and territorial impact of illegal gold mining and trade. We have been working together with FCDS for many years, for example in the project Amazon Rights in Focus and the Forest for a Just Future programme of the Green Livelihoods Alliance.  

This project is funded by the Jacobs Futura Foundation. 

Aligning with IUCN NL strategy 

Our projects align with the three interlinked pathways set out in our 2024–2026 strategy update. The project Amazon Gold Flows aligns all three pathways:  

• climate-resilient landscapes with rich biodiversity and nature policy 
• environmental justice 
• nature policy