‘We’re flooded with trash’: pollution crisis as 500,000 migrants a year attempt perilous Darién Gap crossing

“It’s something that we did not expect, as the migration took off from one day to the next and suddenly we found ourselves flooded with trash,” says Yenairo Aji, a community leader, or “noco”, in Nueva Vigía, a village close to the Darién’s northern frontier where about 1,400 Emberá people live. “It’s worrying because we depend on our local ecosystem for everything. It’s our source of life.”