El Salvador, The First Country To Imposed Nationwide Ban for Metals Mining

Mining has been one of the issues in every country and most of the regions have been attracted and getting interested especially from the international gold and silver mining companies. However, El Salvador, Central America's smallest state became the first country who impose a nationwide ban on the metal mining because of its fragile environment.

According to Financial Times, to ban the metal mining is a brave, extraordinary, and an enormous step to degenerate the environmental degradation of the El Salvador. By this step, it is surely be watched by an activist in other countries where the protests against mining projects have sometimes led to the loss of life. The Lawmaker in El Salvador voted to prohibit all the mining activities, and the bill was passed by 63 votes, though it is only 43 ballots are needed for it to pass.

The new law, which supports from 70 lawmakers, blocks all the exploration, extraction, and processing of metals, even if it is an open pits or underground. The ban does not apply to the mining only but also on using some chemicals that might ruin the fresh water. With the case of El Salvador, mining will be the worst case where the state has almost no clean water left in the country

The New York Times reported that the other countries might not like to follow El Salvador's national ban, but the state sets a powerful example to oppose the large mining projects and supports the case against mining to avoid destruction to those environmentally delicate areas. Mining in El Salvador may only take a small risk since it is densely populated and the second most environmentally degraded in America, but Mr. McKinley defended that the issue is all about life-or-death for the country.

The environmental impact of mining in El Salvador might include an erosion, formation of sinkholes, contamination of soil, groundwater or even the surface water by chemicals from the mining process. Aside from damaging the environment, it can also affect people's health because of there are some methods that might have significant effects on the public and the environment.