Green Gold Exhibition Flyer

To see how my search for 'Green Gold' and a beautiful, ethical piece of jewellery ends, come and visit us at the Art Workers Guild in London next week (8-14th June). The exhibition is part of Coutts London Jewellery Week and Respond! An RSA Arts & Ecology Initiative.

The exhibition is funded by Cordaid & CAFOD.

http://www.the-candescent-project.co.uk/

Bogotá to London

Having purchased 40g of gold from Oro Verde ® and with a suitcase full of mining tools for the Green Gold exhibition, I headed back to London.


Detail of the painting inspired by trompe l'oeil by Francis Martin.

A Successful Model

As the Oro Verde ® model has been successful, the next step is to replicate and scale up this initiative, both within Chocó and also nationally and internationally. Around 13 million people around the globe depend on artisanal mining for their subsistence, and very often environmental degradation and poverty accompany the reality of these communities. In 2005, the Oro Verde ® programme joined forces with international institutions to create the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) with two purposes. Firstly to adapt the Oro Verde ® programme to be applicable to other artisanal mining communities in the world and, secondly, to set an independent organisation that would develop an international standard to certify responsible artisanal mining practices. Both of these purposes have been met.

Oro Verde ® is the brand name of the first environmentally certified and socially responsible gold in the world. The Oro Verde ® programme continues to grow and expand, and is in part possible due to the existence of an independent, global label developed by ARM to certify fair trade gold, FAIRMINED, that while in the process of gaining market recognition, has gained a positive reputation in development spheres for leading a transparent and inclusive process in developing a fair trade standard for artisanal gold.

There is great potential for the expansion of the programme within the Chocó Bioregion, as 32 of the 93 municipalities have vocation for mining precious metals. In this context, the programme has great opportunities of enhancing the lives of thousands of families in the eco-region that depend on mining for their livelihoods.

http://www.communitymining.org/

48 hours in Tadó

View of the San Juan River from my hotel

The highly decorative church ceiling

Tree tomatoes

Tadó

A traditional Chiva bus.

Lucas, our taxi driver, whizzing past.

Three inquisitive locals.

Children´s Land (Tierra de niños-TINI-)

Another project is the Children´s Land (Tierra de niños-TINI-) which works to foster environmental conscience, and empower children between the ages of 6 and 12 by giving them a plot of land and helping them to care and manage it during a 12 month period. Through workshops and activities that focus on environmental education, artistic expression, children´s rights and the proper use of natural resources, the project seeks to promote in children an active citizenship and give them the necessary skills to make an appropriate use of their natural resources and act as agents of development and change within their communities.


Maribel Marquez is the co-ordinator of the project.

Gualdino Perea's Mine

Manual Mosquera and Jose Octaviano took us to meet Gualdino Perea, a miner who is part of the Oro Verde ® programme and who has been mining gold for most of his life. He explained that after extracting the gold, the land gains ecological stability within three years, and proudly showed us green plantain, cassava (yuca), and chacarrá, the fruit of which tastes like coconut. Other forest products include cocoa, ginger, achiote (a natural colourant), borojó, lulo, pineapple, banana, cucumber, chontaduro (peach-palm) and avocado.

Manuel Mosquera & Jose Octaviano

Gualdino Perea

Mining tools

Gualdino Perea's Mine

Gualdino Perea's Mine

Gualdino Perea's Mine

The Farm

The Oro Verde ® programme works from a farm situated in the municipality of Tadó. Various productive projects are administrated from here, including mining, forestry and livestock.

The Farm

As a complimentary project to the certified green gold, the programme has been supporting Analogue Forestry projects that involve the local communities in the administration of their lands, from the restoration of ecosystems to the creation of food security and independence.

Once a mine, and now a lake, we watched the fish jumping to the surface.

Seeds and cultivated seedlings are grown on the farm. The plants are then used for the rehabilitation of degraded areas and for agricultural purposes.

Bees

Our taxi waits to take us back to Tadó.