Projektnummer

0051933

Zusammenfassung

Because of high tantalum ("coltan") prices, hundreds of larger, and thousands of small unregulated artisanal mines were worked in recent years or are still in operation in Burundi, Eastern Congo (Kivu), Rwanda and Uganda, in an area that suffered from the genocide in Rwanda and is affected by weak governance. All these operations left the land wasted, chemically and physically hazardous, and unproductive. The natural soil cover has been removed and washed away, barren rock is exposed, and natural water courses are silted up. Landslides and mudflows threaten the valleys. Deleterious (to...