The Amazon region in South America extends over nine different countries. It contains vast bauxite deposits, which have been exploited since 1915. During the Second World War, Suriname – then a Dutch colony – was the largest bauxite exporter worldwide, helping the Allied aircraft industry to victory. Aluminium has been produced in the Amazon since the late 1960s, when the first hydroelectric dam was built in Suriname.
Simon Lobach, Centre for International Environmental Studies, Geneva Graduate Institute (Switzerland), discusses and evaluates the impact that the aluminium industry has had on the Amazonian region, following on from his presentation at the Future Aluminium Forum 2023.