APG urges respect for the rights of water defenders in Ecuador

The Americas Policy Group was an observer as the communities of Kimsakocha in Ecuador met with Canada's Ambassador Craig Kowalik on February 3 to express their deep concerns about the advance of the Loma Larga mine, a project of Canadian-based Dundee Precious Minerals.

Representatives of the communities handed over studies documenting the risks posed by the mine to water sources and ecosystems. They also shared the results of consultations in Girónu and Cuenca in which the majority of inhabitants voted to reject metal mining.

The Federation of Campesino Organizations of Azuay, the Junta Administrativa de Agua Potable y Riego Victoria del Portete-Tarqui and other water defenders of Kimasakocha, were accompanied at the meeting by leaders of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador who urged Canada to respect both the rights of nature (enshrined in Ecuador’s constitution, though increasingly violated by resource extraction projects) and the collective rights of Indigenous peoples and campesinos, especially in high-altitude wetland territory and water recharge zones.

The water defenders called on Canada’s Ambassador to provide no further support to the Loma Larga project in Kimsakocha and abstain from promoting any extractive investments in water recharge zones that replenish aquifers and are a vital source of water for drinking and agriculture. Furthermore, they called for a halt to a free trade agreement that Canada has negotiated with Ecuador to promote, amongst other things, more Canadian mining in the South American country. The community and indigenous leaders were clear that their rejection of both Canadian mining companies and the Canada-Ecuador Free Trade Agreement arises from their experience of dispossession, plunder of natural resources and unjust criminalization of land and water defenders. They underscored that the protection of the high-altitude wetlands of Kimsakocha is fundamental to guarantee access to water, agricultural production, biodiversity and the life of both rural and urban populations who depend on the ecosystem.

Amid militarization, violent repression and the fast-tracking of unconstitutional legislation that undermines the rule of law in Ecuador, the Americas Policy Group continues to call on Canada not to sign a free trade agreement that will exacerbate and benefit from the denial of rights, including the right to a healthy environment. We will continue to create spaces for the voices of Indigenous peoples and water defenders to be heard, particularly given that there has been no consultation with them about the free trade agreement, and no analysis of human rights and gender impacts in Ecuador. This is reckless, irresponsible conduct at odds with the values that the Canadian government claims to uphold.

For more information about the calls of the Ecuadorian water defenders, read this Boletin de Prensa.