In the Chocó region of north-west Colombia, only sediment and pebbles remain around the small riverside community of Bernardino Mosquera. Only a year ago, healthy shrubs and trees used to fill this important biodiversity area full of native species. But then, illegal miners used heavy machinery to dig for gold in the riverbed.
‘This is the desert,’ Mosquera said. ‘Illegal mining affects the ecosystem in every way …… leading to land degradation. There are no trees, water sources have dried up and the water is contaminated with mercury.’ Mosquilla is a river guardian, a title he and 13 others have been given. As unpaid guardians, they act as the eyes and ears of the Atrato River: in the face of encroachment by armed groups, they liaise with government agencies to deal with environmental and social issues and, hopefully, to reverse the destruction of the river they have seen. However, after eight years, they have become increasingly frustrated with the lack of institutional support and the constant threat from the armed groups that control the area.
The legal status of the Atrato River
Colombia’s Atrato River is considered so important that Colombian courts have said it has the same rights as humans. But illegal gold mining has led to deforestation and left the river polluted.In 2016, Colombia’s Constitutional Court declared that the Atrato River, which flows through the town of 2,500 people, is so important to life that it will have rights equal to those of humans. According to the United Nations Development Programme, the region is home to thousands of species and 25 per cent of plant and bird species are endemic. The legal status of the river was the first case of its kind in Latin America, and it was on that basis that the Guardians had been founded.
‘It’s an inseparable union between the residents and the river,’ said Mosquera, 62. ‘That’s why we must defend the Atrato River.’ Illegal gold mining has become the fastest-growing criminal economy in South America over the past decade. The boom began in Colombia and Peru and expanded to Ecuador, Venezuela and Brazil.

Challenges and hopes for the community
Like many towns in the Chocó region, Paimado is a centre for illegal mining, firmly in the hands of the country’s largest criminal organisation, the Gulf Gang. Early each morning, small wooden boats carry plastic petrol containers to fuel mining machinery scattered along the Atrato River, which winds some 750 kilometres (470 miles) through the jungle of northern Colombia.
Dozens of illegal mines dot the river near Mosquera’s home, in the Rio Quito, a major tributary of the Atrato. Large rafts supported on stilts penetrate deep into the riverbed to extract metallic materials that have been sifted by machines. Deeper in the riverbanks, another type of mining activity is taking place, using heavy machinery and cutting down trees is evident. Drone footage taken by the Associated Press shows traces of large clearings stretching behind the riverbank.
‘A lot of people think because it looks very green there’s no deforestation,’ said Maryuri Mosquera, a 42-year-old riverkeeper and agronomist. High unemployment has forced many people into gold mining, a job that destroys the land and pollutes their rivers. This destruction further destroys the local economy and makes communities more dependent on mining.
The Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman of Colombia said in April that the government had failed to protect the river, saying there was ‘no evidence of progress’, especially since the river gained human rights. It called on the Environment Ministry to comply with the 2016 ruling. In a written response, Colombia’s environment ministry said Minister Susana Muhamad had coordinated efforts with the defense ministry to ‘protect this important ecosystem.’ The latest updates indicate that a plan will soon begin to work with communities to restore the Atrato River basin and its tributaries.
The Atrato River has long been an important source of water, food, and transport for its rural, largely Afro-Colombian inhabitants, who built the communities that line its banks. El Arenal, a small village located along the Atrato, is home to riverkeeper Juan Carlos Palacios, 33. ‘When I see the machines keep passing through, I feel very sad and without control. They come to our land and we can’t even say anything because the miners are travelling with armed men,’ Palacios said.
At times in his life, Palacios has been involved in artisanal gold mining. Crossing the river in a canoe, on the other side is his mother, bent over working with a hoe and a wooden gold sieve. This has been her life for as long as she can remember.