Guyana, a land of rare species and rich minerals, is in deep trouble -- not because its GDP is decreasing, but because the region’s water is poisoned, because the fish they eat is contaminated, and because malaria is spreading.
One of the poorest countries in the Northern hemisphere, Guyana natives have always been grateful for gold mining, the backbone of their economy.  However, the country’s legal system is unsettling the natives’ livelihood and tormenting their lives. 
A report entitled “All that glitters: Gold mining in Guyana,” prepared by Harvard law School’s International Human Rights Clinic, gives insight into the gold mining scenario in Guyana.  The document is a shocking account of how gold mining has devastated the country’s natural resources and jeopardized the natives’ human rights.  Focusing at the root of the problem, the report also cites certain measures to mollify the country’s problems. 
The findings of the report are revealing.  Unlimited and unmonitored mining has wreaked havoc on the region’s forests, vegetation, and soil.  Unregulated gold mining has poisoned rivers.   Sedimentation and mercury deposits have contaminated the water, so that people cannot fish, drink, wash clothes, and bath in rivers without jeopardizing their health. 
Uncontrolled human interference with natural resources has led to severe birth defects, childhood deformities, mysterious skin diseases, and neurological and mental damage. 
Sadly, the inhabitants don’t have the resources to fix this problem.  Even worse, regulators are lenient in their approach in adopting and implementing remedial measures. 
This tragedy is not caused by greed, but flaws in the Guyanese legal structure.  The government has failed to enforce 2005 environmental regulations.  Furthermore, with only 11 officers enforcing mining regulations in the whole region, even current environmental regulations are lax. 
The recommendations given in the report can make a major difference in rectifying the region’s environmental devastation.  As suggested in the report, the foremost task is to educate the miners and the Amerindians about safety norms, and then international communities will have to use their resources to uphold human rights standards and save the region.
However, in order for anything to happen, the Guyanese government must take the lead.  Measures like limiting the locations of mining, increasing the scope of monitoring, and improving the collaboration between miners and locals can ameliorate the region’s devastation.  Regulators must understand that poor implementation will not do any good at all. 
The IHRC report was produced with the help of Harvard Law School clinical instructor Bonnie L. Docherty.  The observations in the report are based on Docherty to Guyana’s research and field missions.