Indigenous river campaigner from Peru wins prestigious Goldman prize | Environmental activism

A campaign from the indigenous people and a women’s Peruvian leader Goldman gave a prestigious Environmental Activists Award, After leading a successful legal campaign that led to the river where its people, Kokama, are granted a legal figure.

Mary Luz Kanakiri Murrayari, 57, from the village of Shabaglala, on the Maronon River, led the Hynakana Kamathaura Kanha Association (HKK), with the support of lawyers from the Peruvian Defense Institute in Peru, in the river campaign. Three years later, the judges in Loreto, the largest area in Peru, the Amazon, spent in March 2024 that the Maranians had the right to be free and polluted, with regard to A A global vision of indigenous population is the river as a living entity.

It was a prominent judgment in Peru. The court in Eikitos, the capital of Lorito, found that the Peruvian government has violated the rights of the river, and ordered immediate measures to prevent future oil spills in the waterway. The court also ruled that the government must establish a protection plan for the entire river basin and recognize the Kokama community as its rulers. The government appealed the decision, but the court upheld the ruling in October 2024.

Kanakiri said: “It is” the mother of the rivers, “and Mararanians were born in the Andes Mountains and flowed in the direction of the river’s course to become the Amazon River. Kokama believes that the river is sacred and that the souls of their ancestors lie in its bed. For four decades, Kokama carries dozens of oil spills that destroy fish stocks, damage the ecosystem and water pollution with heavy metals.

Petroperú started at Petroperú in Peru with construction North Peru pipeline In the seventies of the last century, the surrounding area of ​​the Maraneon River formed 40 % of the province’s oil production since 2014 – with devastating effects. There have been more than 60 oil spills along the river since 1997, some of which are catastrophic.

My grandparents taught me that there is a giant Boa who lives in the river, BourajuaKanakiri said: “The mother of the river.” The soul represents the health and personality of the river, according to Kosmovon in Kokama.

Practically, cocoa depends on the River of Transport, Agriculture, Water and Fish, which is the main source of protein. As a result of oil drilling, however, they are very vulnerable to water pollution.

Local population has suffered from fever, diarrhea, rash and abortion after oil spills, high levels of bullets, mercury, arsenic and cadmium were found in the blood of the river community in A. 2021 studies.

Canaquiri, a mother of four children with six grandchildren, remember a happy childhood with fish and abundant animals before the oil drilling starts. She said, “There was a lot of food.

Despite the ruling, the river is not due to the danger, and HKK is asking the Peruvian government to implement the court ruling. The battle continues.

The Peru conference passed Anti -singing law Last month, which was approved by the president of the country, Dina Polwari, last week. The law prohibits civil society organizations from taking legal measures or even giving legal advisors in cases against the state due to human rights violations.

Canaquiri says the law can paralyze their legal battle. She said: “This is concerned because it means that lawyers cannot take issues to impose our basic rights,” she said.

“It is not only for us, it is also for the country and the world. Who can live without breathing? If this is not for Amazon, the forest, rivers, we will not have clean air for breathing. How can we eat food every day, our fruits, our vegetables, our animals, our fexinology?”

She says that she and HKK are driven by the future of their children and grandchildren.