Huoyantu village chief holds a petition signed with villagers’ fingerprints demanding the relocation of the village. Huoyantu village in Huayuan county, Hunan province, is one of the villages in the province heavily affected by mining activities. The province’s fertile rice paddies are interspersed with heavy metal mines, a combination that has led to dangerously high levels of soil pollution.
The villagers don’t have access to clean drinking water and the agriculture produce has decreased considerably.