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\u00c0ngel Pasuy stayed on his tribe’s land in the Colombian cloud forest, listening to a symphony of birdsong. An indigenous land use planner of the Kaments\u00e1 Biya reserve of Sibundoy, Pasuy and his people have called the steep slopes of the area Mocoa for centuries.<\/p>\n
Its reserve borders a nationally protected forest reserve that connects the Amazon Basin with the Andes Mountains, home to hundreds of plant and animal species and the source of dozens of waterways.<\/p>\n
But Pasuy is now worried about the future of the forest. In the past year, exploratory drilling for a possible copper mine has been revived on the outskirts of the reserve’s eastern border, two miles from its reserve boundary. A Canadian mining company, Libero Copper & Gold, has the rights to conduct exploratory mining in an area of \u200b\u200b30 square miles that partially overlaps the reserve, its reserve and another.<\/p>\n
The proposed mine would be the first legal metal mine in the country’s Amazon, part of Colombia’s push to become a major copper producer. Its development is being driven by the global push for metals for green energy, and in part by the family of New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu.<\/p>\n
Sununu’s politically connected father and climate change denier, John H. Sununu, and brother, Michael Sununu, are more than just investors in Libero Copper & Gold. Michael is a board member<\/a> de Libero, and he and his father sit on the board of directors of the company’s largest shareholder, Anglo Asian Mining PLC, which operates in Azerbaijan. John Sununu is the second shareholder<\/a> of this company, with a stake of almost 10%. He and Michael Sununu declined to comment and referred all questions to Anglo Asian Mining.<\/p>\n Read the full story at NBCNews.com here<\/a>.<\/p>\n