"The uncertain future of the Peruvian Amazon Waterway" 29th January 2021

...For two and a half years, fourteen indigenous communities of the Peruvian Amazon have been waiting for a new prior consultation that would allow them to decide on the future of a project that could change their lives: The Amazon waterway. A long wait that could be over in the coming weeks...The first transitory constitutional court of the Supreme Court of Justice of Lima must issue a ruling on the amparo action filed in May 2018 by Aidesep and Orpio, two indigenous federations representing the communities in the project's area of influence and asking to be able to pronounce on the Detailed Environmental Impact Study (EIA-d)...The Amazon Waterway project, concessioned on 7th September 2017 to the consortium Cohidro S.A. (formed by the Peruvian firm Construcción y Administración S.A. (CASA) and the Chinese Sinohydro Corporation), plans to convert 2687 kilometers of the main rivers of the Amazon (Marañón, Huallaga, Ucayali and Amazonas) into an immense and unique waterway passable all year round. With an initial investment of around US$ 95 million, it is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious and controversial projects of the Peruvian government...On January 21st, the Federation of Native Communities of Ucayali (Feconau) and the Regional Amazonian Organization of Ucayali (Orau), with the technical advice from the Institute of Legal Defense (IDL), filed an injunction action before the Judicial Authorities to request the cancellation of the Amazon Waterway project. The lawsuit has been filed against Senace, the concessionaire Cohidro, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MTC) and the Private Investment Promotion Agency (Proinversion), due to the fact that to date the project does not have an approved EIA-d and the communities do not know what the impact of this mega project will be...