A year ago, an organization of Kukama women in Peru’s northeastern Loreto region celebrated a court ruling recognizing the Marañón River, a key tributary of the Amazon, as having rights. On April 21, the group’s leader, Mari Luz Canaquiri Murayari, received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for defense of the environment. “I want to send a message to the entire world to protect Mother Earth, nature, rivers, the territory that gives life to all,” she said in her acceptance speech. “For the Kukama people, rivers are very sacred, they are fundamental for life for my country and the world.” The very name of her people shows how closely they are tied to the earth, she explained, as “ku” means “chacra,” the Peruvian term for a small family farm plot, and “kama” means “breast,” she told the audience at the Goldman awards ceremony. And in her people’s origin story, a gigantic... [Log in to read more]