118/119 Biodiversity and Tropical Forest Assessment for Angola

Common Name Scientific Name StatusWATTLED CRANE Grus carunculatus VUWHITE-HEADED ROBIN-CHAT Cossypha heinrichi VUWHITE-HEADED VULTURE Trigonoceps occipitalis VUCR = Critically Endangered, EN = Endangered, VU = VulnerableC5. Diamonds and RiversAs reported in the IUCN (1992) report, Angola’s rivers were in good condition in1992. Save for areas near urban centers and selected estuaries, this is still the situationin most of Angola with one serious exception: the rivers in the diamond producingareas, especially in Lunda Norte, particularly the Cuango River.Mining practices in Angola show no regard for the environment. To mine diamondsfrom riverine alluvial deposits, the mining companies, with the acquiescence ofENDIAMA, move the river into artificial channels and use high pressure hoses towash and sift the alluvium in the original channel for diamonds. The long-termenvironmental impacts are drastic and, in a time scale relevant to humans,irreversible. There are no measures to avoid, mitigate, or reverse the impact ofdiamond mining. In the words of one high-ranking ENDIAMA official, “If it isbetween money and the environment, money wins.” Public relations materialdisplayed on ENDIAMA’s office wall reflect this attitude: they proudly displayphotographs of large earth moving equipment amid ravaged landscapes.The north-flowing diamond bearing rivers in Lunda Norte are fringed by galleryforests that have species composition representative of the Guineo-Congolian biome,in sharp contrast with the surrounding dystrophic savannahs and woodlands thatdominate the landscape on the region. From a biodiversity conservation perspective,they are far more important than their relatively small extension suggests.34 118/119 BIODIVERSITY AND TROPICAL FOREST ASSESSMENT FOR ANGOLA