The NGO Cooperacción has published a useful instrument for all those interested in the spread and geographical incidence of mining concessions in Peru. It is an interactive map of the data pulled together by the NGO, covering 2010 to 2017. It is helpful in allowing us easily to assess where the current increase in concessions is occurring, in which region and at what altitude above sea level. Concessions granted in the headwaters of river basins are a particularly important piece of information.

The various maps show that 38% of community territory is now under mining concession. And 56% of concessions are at over 3,000 meters and, within that, 35% at over 4,000 meters. This provides a first approximation to the concessions that may threaten headwaters of river basins. The data show that the declining tendency in the number of concessions authorised in the last two years (a function of declining prices) was reversed in the second half of 2017.

The ‘Mapa Interactivo sobre Concesiones Mineras en el Perú’ is available at Cooperacción.