French Guiana：金の違法採掘摘発にフランス外人部隊が捜索を

　環境問題・環境破壊問題・水銀汚染・水俣病。検索用タグはこんなかんじか。

BBC The elite soldiers protecting the Amazon rainforest 10 May 2019　By Claire Press

「For centuries, prospectors have been lured into these forests in the hope of finding a fortune. But just over a decade ago, when the economic crash of 2008 caused the price of gold to skyrocket, a gold rush began all over the Amazon jungle.」

　で違法採掘が相次いで大変だ、と。
　そしてその手の小規模違法採掘だと、水銀を使って精錬するのが便利ではあり、結局これに用いた水銀は垂れ流しなので環境を汚染し―魚に蓄積されて、人間がそれを食べて水俣病になる、と。

「Scientists estimate one third of all the mercury produced by human activity on the planet comes from small-scale gold mining.」

　といわれるほどで、黄金を求める人間の欲と言うのはたいしたものだなあと。

「Operating here requires perseverance as it much as it does a machete. Lying in wait, in this inhospitable labyrinth is a menagerie of poisonous insects, frogs, spiders and snakes. Mosquitoes carry malaria, dengue, yellow fever as well as zika, while in the rivers, caiman compete for space with piranhas.」

　…やっぱり川の危険な魚というと、ピラニャなのだなあと。
　しかし

「"In the river there is also an electric eel with enough volts to kill a horse," says Sgt Vadim with a wry smile.」

　ある意味、もっとコワいのはコイツだ、という。電気ウナギ君にも言及があって、ちょっとうれしい。