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Marañon river keepers 'Defensores Ambientales del Río Marañón' - Perú

The Marañón River is one of the most important water sources in Peru and a key Amazon tributary.

The river runs through 10 distinct regions of Peru. Almost 14% of the Peruvian population lives in these regions, including Andean farmers, indigenous Amazon peoples, riparian populations, as well as urban communities. Hundreds of thousands of people depend on the Marañón River for their livelihood.
The Marañón is an area of unique biodiversity, with dry forests that extend along the upper river valley and its tributaries.
In late April 2011, former Peruvian President Alan Garcia declared the construction of 20 dams on the Marañón River a “national interest.”
the purpose of these dams would be to provide energy and secure irrigation for large scale mono-crops such as oil palm, but The harnessing of rivers on the headwaters of the Andean Amazon would have a profound effect on the live of the amazon basin and their floodplains.

In 2014, Keepers of the Marañón River organized on how to protect their ecosystems, but the criminalization started as a consequence of mobilizations and public complaints where the communities claimed how they would be harmed by hydropower, as well as the dangers of disrupting such ecosystem.

One of the major concerns was that the formulation of these projects were drafted and approved without prior informed consents of the local communities, and dismissed the richness and importance of this biodiverse ecosystem from a socio-environmental, cultural and ancestry point of view.

'Ronderos': farmers and women seeking environmental justice in their lands.

EarthRights International joined the efforts of a group of ronderos who were suffering criminal persecution and stigmatization by the company Odebrecht for their rights to access to environmental information and freedom of expression and association.

Even though there was a favorable result in court towards the claims against Odebrecht, this took several years where the 'ronderos' received threats and suffered violence against them and their families.

"The proposed dams, if they were built, would have displaced thousands of indigenous people, submerge forested lands, and impede the flow of sediment that nourishes ecosystems throughout the Amazon basin.
To win the case against a giant company as odebrecht, a brazilian company that builds mega-projects and which has been involved in several corruption scandals, is an important accomplishment for defenders to continue their work for their rights and the protection of the environment."
The construction of the dams have not advanced as promised thanks to the efforts of the marañon river KEEPERs. this is an outstanding achievement from The 'ronderos' and the people living along the river. THEY HAVE SET AN EXAMPLE ON standing for their rights and nature. MORE OVER, THEIR FIGHT IS ANOTHER RED FLAG FOR the PERUVIAN government: THEY CANNOT MAKE DECISIONS WITHOUT THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES.

Credits:

1. cliff hellis; Rio Maranon; July 14, 2008; (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). 2. cliff hellis; Rio Maranon Sunset; July 14, 2008; (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). 3. Douglas Fernandes; Mapa vial del Perú (07); October 14, 2012; (CC BY 2.0). 4. Ministerio del Ambiente; Monitoreo ambiental en la cuenca del río Marañón; September 12, 2013; (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). 5. Ministerio del Ambiente; Monitoreo ambiental en la cuenca del río Marañón; September 23, 2013; (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).