**5. Afro-descendant communities and mining in the Department of Cauca**

The department of Cauca is located in southwestern Colombia, between the Pacific coast, the high Magdalena Valley and the Amazon region, with an area of approximately 29.308 km2 . It limits to the north with the department of Valle del Cauca, to the northeast and east with the departments of Tolima and Huila, to the southeast with Caquetá and Putumayo, to the south with Nariño, and to the west with the Pacific Ocean. It currently has 42 municipalities [82].

The main rivers of this region are born in the Colombian massif (Cauca River, Magdalena River, Caquetá River) as well as the eastern mountain range that crosses the entire Cauca territory. The department of Cauca is recognized for its great biogeographic diversity, which is distributed among the Isla Gorgona, Munchique, Nevado of Huila, Puracé, and Serranía de los Churumbelos National Natural Parks, and the Doña Juana-Cascabel Volcanic Complex. These places increase their tourist interest and signify an important line in the country's economy [83]. In addition to tourism and the beautiful landscapes rich in flora and fauna, the economy of the population that inhabits the Cauca territory is linked to agricultural production, livestock, commerce, the exploitation of wood and gold mining. Particularly, agriculture has been developed in the north of the department. Its main crops are sugar cane, traditional corn, rice, banana, fique, yucca, potato, coconut, sorghum, cocoa, peanuts and African palm [82].

The Department of Cauca is also a strategic territory of the armed conflict. Its rich geography made up of inter-Andean valleys and jungles that extend from the Central Cordillera to the Pacific, is attractive to communities that have become responsible

*Socio-Economic and Environmental Implications of Gold Mining in Afro-Descendant… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96407*

for the illegal exploitation of resources [55]. Thus, in this region, informal gold mining is carried out mainly in the municipalities of Argelia, Cajibio, Caldono, Guapi, Lopez, Patia, Santa Rosa, Santander de Quilichao, Timbiqui, Timbo, and Totoro [84] (**Figure 2**).

Cauca is the fifth Colombian department with the highest number of population known as Afro-descendants. Thus, it has been constituted as one of the most inhabited regions by Afro-descendant populations, after the Pacific and the Colombian Caribbean [86]. Given that the majority of this population recognize themselves as belonging to this ethnicity, the analysis of the life conditions of the Afro-descendant communities that live in vulnerable circumstances is of high importance, as indicated by the MPI (Multidimensional Poverty Index of Colombia), with a total percentage of 32.5 [17].

The Afro-descendant communities in the department are organized into community councils of which the following stand out: Campesino Palenque Monte Oscuro, El Samán, Vereda La Paila y Cabecera Municipal, Comzoplan, Corregimiento Centro de Caloto Pandao Caloto, Guachené y Santander de Quilichao, Aires de Garrapatero, Cauca River Basin, Micro Basin of the Teta and Mazamorrero Rivers, Timba River Basin, Páez-Quinamayo "CURPAQ" River Basin, and de Pilamo [87, 88].

The main mining areas of the department are located in the municipality of Buenos Aires, where there exists a cooperative of miners entitled *Coomultimineros*, which, in addition to grouping them, is responsible for intermediating mining supplies [43]. Mining occupies the second most important economic activity of the region, developed by its inhabitants in a traditional way (mining of reef and alluvium).

Special attention deserves the fact that collective properties of Afro-descendant communities, become part of the mining territory, due to the acute processes of cultural change and social impacts that they entail. The definition of the country's mining areas should be made considering the vulnerability to climate change [60], and given the multiple problems that have been exposed in relation to gold mining and conditions of vulnerability and poverty of Afro-descendant communities in Colombia, governmental actions must be taken to protect such population and preserve its biodiversity.

**Figure 2.** *Map of the Cauca department representing the main illegal mining points. Source: Pares [85].*
