French Guiana 189 panning sites

Parc amazonien de Guyane agents counted 189 illegal gold-mining sites inside the protected park during aerial surveys conducted in early 2026, according to French public broadcaster Outre-mer La 1ère and the park’s own monitoring framework. The figure is the highest recorded since the park’s creation in 2007, according to La 1ère. The number was presented at the park board’s March 3 meeting in Rémire-Montjoly, the broadcaster reported. The count, later amplified in a regional weekly review cited on social media, has put renewed attention on the scale of illegal mining pressure inside one of France’s largest protected areas. ### Where does the 189 figure come from? Outre-mer La 1ère reported on May 26 that park agents counted 189 illegal mining sites during a multi-day overflight at the start of 2026. The broadcaster said the total was announced during the March 3 board meeting of the Parc amazonien de Guyane. (la1ere.franceinfo.fr) The park says it has used aerial monitoring since 2008 to track clandestine mining activity and assess environmental impacts on ecosystems. Since November 2015, the park has carried out those helicopter surveys on its own three times a year, supplemented by river and land missions, according to its website. (la1ere.franceinfo.fr) ### Why is this number notable for the park? La 1ère said the 189-site total was the highest ever recorded in the protected zone since the park was created in 2007. The same report said agents had counted 176 illegal sites in July 2025 and 120 in February 2025. The park’s historical monitoring page shows how unusual the 2026 number is. (parc-amazonien-guyane.fr) In November 2016, for example, the park reported 139 illegal sites and described that as the highest level observed since aerial campaigns began in March 2008. ### Where inside French Guiana is the pressure most concentrated? (la1ere.franceinfo.fr) La 1ère reported that the increase was driven mainly by Maripasoula, which it described as the most affected commune inside the park, ahead of neighboring Papaïchton on the Maroni frontier with Suriname. A separate Guyaweb report published in August said 133 of the 189 sites were in Maripasoula. (parc-amazonien-guyane.fr) The geography matters because the Maroni-Lawa river system sits on the border with Suriname. La 1ère reported that supplies for illegal miners, including engines, fuel, mercury and food, were coming from businesses on the Surinamese side of the Lawa river, and that illegally extracted gold was often sold there before moving on to Paramaribo. (la1ere.franceinfo.fr) ### How does the park say it tracks and responds to illegal mining? The Parc amazonien de Guyane says illegal mining is a priority issue and that its inspectors work with gendarmes and French armed forces in joint missions. The park also participates in an Observatoire de l’Activité Minière, which it describes as a shared information platform with the prefecture, the National Forestry Office, the gendarmerie and the armed forces in French Guiana. (la1ere.franceinfo.fr) The park says those missions are used both to provide real-time intelligence to law enforcement and to maintain periodic monitoring of mining’s environmental impacts. Its monitoring page says aerial surveys are complemented throughout the year by targeted river and land diagnostics. (parc-amazonien-guyane.fr) ### What do officials and critics say about the trend? The French state’s local services told La 1ère that, despite stronger illegal-mining pressure linked to a doubling in the gold price over two years, pressure on the park had remained broadly stable. The prefecture said the increase was within the margin of error for counting illegal sites and showed the effectiveness of Operation Harpie, according to La 1ère. (parc-amazonien-guyane.fr) La 1ère also reported that residents, Indigenous associations and environmental groups disputed that assessment and had taken the matter to the administrative court in Cayenne, alleging state failure in the fight against illegal miners on the upper Maroni. ### What comes next in the official record? (la1ere.franceinfo.fr) The Parc amazonien de Guyane says it carries out three aerial survey campaigns each year, which means the next official update should come through subsequent park monitoring or board disclosures. The park’s publications page also lists annual activity reports, including its 2025 report released on April 29, 2026, as part of its public documentation. (parc-amazonien-guyane.fr) (la1ere.franceinfo.fr)