WORKING DOCUMENT
Inputs on the defense of rivers to be considered at the Summit of Amazon’s Presidents and Pre-forum Rurrenabaque-Bolivia
June 26, 2023
“For us, the sky is the waters of our rivers, over there our spirits go when we leave physically» Iremar Ferreira, defender of Madeira river (Brazil).
This document provides valuable contributions from the defenders of rivers in Peru, as well as a comprehensive proposal by the networks of the Pan Amazon Social Forum (FOSPA, for its acronyme in Spanish), the Pan Amazon Ecclesial Network (REPAM, for its acronyme in Spanish) and the World Assembly of the Amazon (AMA, for its acronyme in Spanish). The purpose of these contributions is to serve as a reference for the Summit of Amazon’s Presidents, which will take place on August 8 and 9 in Belém do Pará, Brazil. Previously, it was incorporated into the work groups of the Pre-Panamazonic Social Forum in Rurrenabaque-Bolivia held from July 19 to 23 of this year 2023.
In Peru, since 2020, a network of river defenders has been promoted. In 2021, this network developed a Minimum Agenda for the defense of rivers, which was set out before the Minister of Culture. Another Minimum Agenda was also prepared to be presented at FOSPA 2022 in Belén do Pará, Brazil. Finally, in the year 2023, this network of river defenders updated the Minimum Agenda prepared in 2021 for Peru, with the aim of sharing it as a reference at the Summit of Amazon’s Presidents to be held on the 8th and 9th of August in Belém do Pará, Brazil.
One of the key points that has been collected in all the groups is the recognition of rivers as subjects of law. In Peru, the Kukama women have sued the Peruvian State for this purpose, while in Colombia there is a judicial ruling from the Constitutional Court of Justice that recognizes the Atrato River, just to mention a few examples. The Kukama women in Peru had a hearing in Nauta (Loreto, Peru) on July 13 in relation to the lawsuit filed, in which expectations are placed to achieve recognition of the Marañón River as a subject of law. A new hearing was scheduled for mid September 2023.
We subscribe the proposal of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Rivers, which requires governments to consider the dismantling of all dams that lack a compelling social and ecological purpose.
Furthermore, there is an urgent need for an «Universal Declaration of River Rights», that provides a legal framework to the world’s states to protect the lives of rivers, which are the true veins of the planet’s body and feed and sustain the life. This proposal has already been drafted by international civil society and must be accepted by the United Nations. We have urged governments, in the Amazon and around the globe, to abide by the protection of rivers in accordance with the principles considered in the Declaration.
Attached hereby you will find the following documents:
- Minimum Agenda of the defenders of rivers in Peru for the Peruvian State (prepared in 2021 and updated in 2023).
- Minimum Agenda of the defenders of rivers in Peru for FOSPA 2023 in Belem do Pará – Brazil.
- Proposals on water for the Summit of Amazon’s Presidents, whereby we underline the issues that we consider specific to the defense of rivers.
Exhibit 01
Proposal
MINIMUM AGENDA FACING THE EMERGENCIES OF THE MOMENT
THE DEFENDERS OF WATER, RIVERS AND TERRITORIES STATE
April 29, 2023
The defenders of water, rivers and integral territories of various regions of Peru, gathered in May 2023 in the city of Lima, in our III Meeting, we agreed to update our Minimum Agenda according to the current emergencies, as follows:
- Promote Laws in favor of the defense of water, rivers and territories, as well as the recognition of environmental monitors (monitores ambientales) as authorized technicians to give an opinion on the pollution situation.
- Promote environmental remediation of legal and illegal extractive activities such as mining, oil, logging and more.
- Promote the comprehensive territorial assessment of the new concessions, with a public awareness campaign as a starting point.
- Promote a series of protection criteria in basin headwaters through Bills or Regional regulations.
- Faced with the El Niño Phenomenon, it is necessary to promote urgent mitigation measures, as well as to control the reconstruction with changes; and promote a Minimum Plan. In the same way, we propose to promote the organization of the citizens of risk areas, or strengthen their organization if it already exists, in the process of mitigation. We cannot allow more deaths because a State and Governments that do not take care to this emergency.
- Recognize the Integral Territory as a fundamental basis for the policy of environmental protection, such as the recognition of basins, sub-basins, rivers, etc.
- Articulation with young environmentalists and campaigns, various activities, for environmental education and advocacy for budgets in sewage systems and other public policies in cities should be promoted because the pollution in them.
- Promote the protection of defenders of water, rivers and territories taking into consideration the criminalization of social protest. We propose having an updated report and dissemination of the murdered environmental defenders, to raise awareness and prevent further impunity.
- Promote a food security policy, reactivate family agriculture, through regional regulations, community projects, among other measures. Part of this is the enforcement of Law No. 30355 and its respective budget allocation, as well as the regulation of Law No. 31315 on food and nutrition security.
- Promote awareness in the Educational Institutions in the defense of water, rivers and territories as a cultural commitment in which we understand their core cultural value.
- Finally, this Minimum Agenda in the same way adds to a process of supporting for great reforms, including constitutional ones, such as the rights of nature and of rivers, as subjects of law.
Amanda Longinote from Amazonas, Grecia Ruiz from Piura, José Manuyama from Loreto, Frevaldo Pape from Amazonas, Alejandro Dominguez from Loreto, Pablo Haro from La Libertad, Mariluz Canaquiri from Loreto, Mirtha Villanueva from Cajamarca, and Elmer Ujukam from Amazonas. Perú.
Exhibit 2
Agenda of the II Interregional Meeting of Defenders of Rivers and Territories – May, 2022
Lima, Perú. May 25, 2022.
The leaders of social organizations, heads of native communities, family farmers, indigenous peoples, all participants of the II Interregional Meeting of Defenders of Rivers and Territories held on May 25, 2022, identified our problem and debated a set of demands and proposals as part of the articulation that we have been building since last year (in the I Meeting) as well as to reach our voice at the Panamazonic Social Forum – Pre FOSPA Nacional Peru and the respective X FOSPA International to be held in Belem do Pará , in Brazil between July 28 and 31 of this year.
Under the slogan «WATER IS LIFE LET’S DEFEND THE RIVERS AND THE TERRITORIES», we have identified that we are ourselves in a situation characterized as follows:
• A prevailing system that, currently, with its extractivist and predatory economic model, is destroying the planet and the lives of all species and at the same time putting people’s lives at risk.
• In our life we are exposed to pollution and to a consumer society that constantly pollutes the environment, particularly rivers.
• There is an economic and social crisis that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, added to this is an agri-food and climate crisis that puts people’s subsistence at risk.
• War in Ukraine is generating a possible recession and economic inflation that particularly affects food and transportation; just as it alerts us to a possible world war.
• The existing rules of the game, that is, the Political Constitution and the institutional framework respond to the interests of big corporations and not to life in the different territories.
• We noted that more intergenerational and intercultural dialogue is needed, this creates difficulties for collective action.
• Pollution is generated by multinational companies, States and wealthy people; at the same time, there are emerging extractivisms that also depredate the environment.
• Those who live in the Amazon and the Andes, but also on the coast are and live in constant resistance against predation and contamination.
• Our rivers and forests are polluted; And we find ourselves in a climatic crisis that threatens the savannaization of the Amazon, and therefore the death of the entire planet.
Given this situation in which we find ourselves, we believe that we must promote and do the following:
- The attendance of congressmen, ministers and deputy ministers, local authorities, and more authorities is required in activities in which social organizations defending water, rivers, and territories meet.
- Promote a law to recognize environmental monitors.
- Just as there are bonds for forest conservation, the figure of the bond for river conservation can be promoted.
- Involve more and more sectors including women’s and youth organizations in the defense of water, rivers and territories.
- Make society aware of the importance of decontamination.
- Organize environmental committees for the surveillance of water quality in the territory and preservation of the territories.
- Dialogue between the different sectors to be able to coordinate and articulate the struggles and demands.
- Declare rivers as subjects of rights from Municipal regulations and Regional regulations in the different territories.
- The government must be required to comply with defending the territories against various threats such as illegal mining, indiscriminate logging and other polluting activities.
- Enforce international conventions that promote the rights of indigenous peoples.
- It is necessary to create and articulate communication platforms to achieve a greater impact.
- It is required to declare in emergency the rivers that are polluted.
- The Promotional Committee for the Defense of Rivers must continue to be promoted and expanded.
- A river recovery policy is required.
- From our national organization and gathered in this II Meeting, we call on FOSPA Peru to ask to declare the rivers of the Amazon in a global emergency and promote a respective alert call in FOSPA – Brazil.
To implement these tasks we plan to organize ourselves as follows:
- We ratify ourselves in promoting the National Promotion Committee: Water is Life – Let’s Defend Rivers and Territories, created last year at the I Meeting, and renamed at this II Meeting.
- We will promote the formation of Regional, Provincial and District Promotion Committees: Water is Life – Let’s Defend Rivers and Territories, where it can be done.
- We ratify Pablo Julian Haro Quispe and Mariluz Canaquiri Murayari in the general coordination as representatives of this National Promotion Committee, and to which the regional representatives must be added.
- From the organizations we have to do a job of call and training with more women and young people, teaching the latter the conservation of forests and rivers.
- Following-up the proposals and demands that have been raised.
- Intensive work is being done in some regions, it is necessary to have a facilitator or coordinator to achieve a greater impact.
- Use alternative media and social networks to disseminate our experiences and initiatives.
- Organize ourselves before the municipal and regional government elections in order to position food issues such as agroecology and the protection of rivers and forests in the political campaign.
- Convene promoting committees in the regions.
- Include comrades for the dissemination of information.
- Disseminate Regional regulation No. 003-2017.GRL-CR «Approves regulatory framework to recognize indigenous environmental surveillance and monitoring in the Loreto region.»
Besides, in the final part of our II Meeting we agreed to ratify the demands we made in November 2021, which we redraft below:
- Bill for the defense of rivers and recognition of environmental monitors
- Environmental remediation of legal and illegal extractive activities such as mining, oil, logging.
- Comprehensive territorial assessment of new concessions.
- Development of protection criteria for Basin Headwaters (no more concessions).
- Reconstruction with changes and respect for the initial plan for the comprehensive management of the basin under the responsibility of the National Reconstruction Authority with changes, considerations regarding climate change, FEN and environmental contamination (incorporate monitoring against corruption and detected irregularities).
- Recognition of territories (integral) (basins, sub-basins, rivers, etc.)
- Problems regarding pollution in the city. (wastewater, solid waste and industrial waste).
- Protection of river defenders against the criminalization of protest.
- Policies for food security violated by contamination and environmental impact.
- Implementation of Law 30355 on Family Agriculture and budget allocation.
- Regulation of Law 31315 on Food Security and Nutrition.
- Awareness and training about rivers and cultural issue: understand where it comes from, what will happen in the future and cultural value.
- Communal, orderly and comprehensive management in front of basins and riverbanks.
- Constitutional changes: water as a human right, rights to nature and rivers as subjects of law.
National coordinators
- Maryluz Canaquiri Murayami
- Pabo Julian Haro Quispe
Lima, Perú. Date: May 25, 2022
Exhibit 3
Proposals on water for the Summit of Amazon’s Presidents
Proposals
- Promote the creation of protected aquatic areas to conserve aquatic biota and the health of rivers and lagoons in the Amazon.
- Establish cooperation agreements to manage the sustainable and multidimensional use of transboundary aquatic systems in the Amazon.
- Forbid the construction of hydroelectric dams with an installed capacity greater than 10 MW (proposal of the Scientific Panel for the Amazon).
- Promote coordination between States for the protection of Ramsar sites in the Amazon.
- Promote renewable energy alternatives, especially small-scale solar for consumption by local populations.
- Promote research in the hydrographic basins throughout the Amazon for the protection of the genetic diversity of the different species.
- Adopt the measures proposed to avoid the point of no return in the Amazon and achieve zero deforestation before 2030 (see proposals on deforestation).
- Develop a Transition Plan to leave legal and illegal mining and reduce the use of mercury until it is eliminated (see proposal on mining).
- Forbid the use of agrochemicals classified as toxic and dangerous (WHO Classification I and II) in agricultural activities.
- Guarantee the effective application of the Free and Informed Prior Consultation in accordance with ILO Convention 169, international standards and the opinions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, respecting the autonomous consultation protocols of the Amazonian peoples (see proposal on peoples of The Amazon).
- Carry out comprehensive and cumulative strategic environmental impact assessment studies by independent entities for all works, activities and projects that may have an impact on the aquatic system of the Amazon.
- Define and incorporate the crime of ecocide into the laws of the Amazon countries to punish the perpetrators of this massive and high-impact crime against nature, including acts of devastation of rivers by hydroelectric plants, mining, and other predatory activities.
- Declare the rivers, lagoons and the aquatic system of the Amazon as subjects of law and guarantee their rights to exist, not to be contaminated, to flow, to preserve their vital and regeneration cycles and to the timely and effective restoration of their life systems.
Spanish: Presentan propuestas para la defensa de los ríos en el marco de la Cumbre Presidencial Amazónica
