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An illegal gold rush has wiped out one hundred forty thousand hectares of rainforest in the Peruvian Amazon, accelerating as foreign, armed groups move into the region to capitalize on all-time high gold values, as per a recent study.

About 540 square miles of land have been cleared for mining in the Peruvian nation since the mid-1980s, and the environmental destruction is growing at an alarming rate across the country, research found.

The gold rush is also poisoning its waterways. Unlawful extractors use dredges – machines that disrupt and displace river bottoms – leaving toxic mercury employed to separate gold from soil in their path.

Ultra-high resolution aerial images enabled analysts to detect dredges together with forest loss for the initial instance, showing that the ecological disaster previously limited to the southern part of the country was creeping north.

“Initially, it was only observed in Madre de Dios but now we’re seeing it everywhere,” stated an official involved in the research.

The price of gold topped $4,000 for the first time this week on international markets as worldwide concerns rose about economic instability. Native communities have sounded the alarm that as the value climbs, armed groups were increasingly tearing down their woodlands and contaminating their rivers in pursuit of the valuable mineral.

Satellite photos show that once dense swathes of green jungle are being transformed into lifeless moonscapes of grey earth pocked with stagnant pools of green water.

“This small section is just a minor example,” a researcher noted, indicating a small section of the vast red patchwork of forest clearance mapped in the report. “Consider this expanded to 140,000 hectares.”

Mercury contamination build up in fish and pass to the populations who consume them, causing neurological and developmental problems such as congenital disorders and developmental delays.

A recent study of riverside communities in Peru’s far north of Loreto found the average concentration of mercury was nearly four times the World Health Organization’s recommended limit.

Research found that hundreds of waterways have been impacted, with 989 dredges spotted in Loreto since recent years – including 275 this year alone on the Nanay River, a tributary of the Amazon that is the vital source of natural habitats and many native populations.

“Our waterways are being contaminated – it’s the water that we drink,” said a spokesperson of several riverside communities in Loreto.

Residents began blocking miners from moving along the Tigre River in the region recently, resulting in gunfights with militant groups. “We have no choice but to fight back but we are alone. Government authorities is nowhere to be seen,” he stated with anger.

Extraction activities is mostly located in the Madre de Dios region in southern Peru but emerging zones are developing in northern regions in Loreto, Amazonas, Huánuco, Pasco and Ucayali.

These areas are limited but once mining is established it could expand quickly, an expert said, stating that the report was a insight into what was occurring across the rest of the Amazon.

“This is the first time we’ve been able to look in this detail at a nation but I think in Brazil, Bolivia and Colombia we are going to see similar patterns,” he commented.

Research showed more dredges being detected on Peru’s forest borders with Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia.

With gold prices surpassing $4,000 an ounce, foreign, armed groups are more frequently entering into Peruvian territory into unregulated forest areas where local authorities are doing little to halt their activities, according to a criminologist.

Illegal organizations, such as groups from neighboring countries, are more involved in the region.

“Global criminal syndicates involved in drug trade and concealing illicit gains through illegal gold mining – now with peak prices yielding high profits – are alongside a government that has not been a serious obstacle against organised crime,” the expert remarked.

A political coalition of Latin American nations told Peru to address unlawful extraction or it could face economic sanctions.

But an expert said: “Gold is just so profitable at present. I don’t see any signs of prices going down, so it’s likely going to deteriorate before it improves.”