Soldiers Now Replant Peru's Gold-Mine Wasteland: 40,000 Seedlings in Tambopata

Illegal alluvial gold mining has stripped forest and left mercury-laced pits in Madre de Dios, in the Peruvian Amazon. CINCIA, a science center working in the region, developed restoration methods with native species and trains the Peruvian Army to apply them. In January 2025, 124 soldiers were certified in restoring mining-degraded land and 12 hectares were recovered in La Pampa in the first phase. By late January 2026, with the Army's Second Jungle Brigade, UNAMAD university and CINCIA, 20 hectares in the Balata sector of the Tambopata National Reserve had been reforested with about 40,000 native seedlings. CINCIA was still training brigade members in restoration in 2026.