By violating their land rights mining companies are denying the right to life of those indigenous peoples, whose relationship to land is central to their spiritual identity and survival. We need to support the self-determination of indigenous peoples and the recovery, demarcation and legal recognition of campesinos, tribal and indigenous peoples' lands. There must be participatory processes to build and maintain sustainable economies at all levels as an alternative to the current destructive patterns of development, including gold mining. Water especially is contaminated by cyanide, acid mine drainage, heavy metals and mercury from gold mining. Additionally, the hydrologic cycle is changed and water sources are grossly depleted by pumping water from aquifers.
Most governments continue to represent the interests of mining corporations against people.
They have made laws to take away land and rights from people to facilitate gold mining. At a national level we reject the debt-ridden economic model of mineral extraction. It is the responsibility of governments of countries where the multinational corporations come from to hold them accountable, wherever they operate, to their domestic environmental and social protection requirements. This is to ensure no double standards. Shareholders and investors in gold mining companies must be held responsible for their corporations' actions.