Plastic pollution in focus as 500,000 migrants attempt Darién Gap crossing to reach US

Last updated on September 19th, 2024 at 09:17 am

Estimates differ, but at least 8,000 people live in the Darién Gap. For centuries, the secluded rainforest’s inaccessibility was used to protect it from development and environmental degradation. But a surge in illegal migration since the COVID pandemic has changed things.

In 2019, 24,000 migrants undertook the perilous 97 km trek. By 2022, that number had reached 250,000. It doubled the next year, surpassing 500,000 people for the first time. Isolated indigenous community are sounding the alarm over the surge in migrants.

Several human rights groups have also raised serious concerns over the humanitarian crisis as dozens of poorly equipped, malnourished people succumb to the rainforest’s natural perils every year, and armed bandits rob, exploit and sexually abuse several more people.

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Plastic pollution and people smuggling haunt Darién Gap

Less reported is the serious environmental damage that the surge in migration to the US is bringing to one of the best-preserved forests on the planet. The rainforest is no longer largely untouched and is battling a major problem of contamination.

The once pristine stony banks of Turquesa River in Nueva Vigía currently are full of discarded drink cans, t-shirts and plastic food containers, according to local people. Gasoline leaking from boats and the human waste of the thousands of migrants have poisoned rivers.

Before the rise in migration, the main business for the armed groups used to be pushing cocaine north. But crime analysts have estimated that the boom in the number of migrants has turned people smuggling into a multi-million dollar industry.