Claudia Vega, CINCIA Peru
Student Run Seminar series
Coordinator, Mercury Program Centro De Innovacion Cientifica Amazonica
It is interesting how everything is connected. I work in the Peruvian Amazon, one
of the most biodiverse places on earth. The path I followed to get here was a little
unusual since before getting to my current job, I was about to quit science after
finishing a postdoc. However, when I got the offer of working in Centro de Innovación
Cientifica Amazónica, found out that even though I moved to a remote place, where
things considered basic life items are not always easy to find, I was doing something I believe
in. I am studying how the Amazon rainforest is connected with gold, one of the more
precious metals in the world, and mercury, one of the more toxic ones. We study this
relationship and the activity that influences this in the Amazon region. We are trying
to find solutions and how we can deal with Artisanal gold mining in the Amazon and
at the same time, reduce a global pollution problem, there is not just one way to
do things, and good ideas are always welcome. My institution's slogan is Science for
the People, and at the same time, we are thinking of strategies for Saving the Amazon.