Abstract

BAUDIN, Carole. 13 October 2013: Signing of the Minamata Convention on Mercury - Analysis from the reality of small-scale artisanal gold miners in Madre de Dios, in Peru. Laboreal [online]. 2023, vol.19, n.1, e20741.  Epub July 01, 2023. ISSN 1646-5237.  https://doi.org/10.4000/laboreal.20741.

This year will mark the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Minamata Convention on the use of mercury. This agreement, signed by 128 countries, aims to protect human health, the preservation of the environment and biodiversity, and focuses on the regulation of this substance in artisanal small-scale gold mining, identified as the main responsible for the use and contamination of the environment in the world. It is the occasion here to analyse how this international policy was reflected in the real activity of the mining communities in the Amazonian region of Madre de Dios in Peru with whom the Wanamei Project worked. By describing the impact of such an agreement on the life and work of these communities, we will discuss two lines of reflection: 1) the need to rethink the territorial and temporal dimensions of such public actions; 2) the need to shift the focus of the underlying rationalities of action from a unicentric logic to a pluricentric philosophy, valuing local practices and knowledge in order to achieve sustainable solutions.

Keywords : Mercury; artisanal mining; public policy; real activity; anthropotechnology.

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