Rights of Rivers Champion Marí Luz Canaquiri Receives 2025 Goldman Prize

Marí Luz Canaquiri Murayari

“May all people become more humane, more respectful of Nature. That is the message of buen vivir—of good living—for both the present and the future.” – Marí Luz Canaquiri Murayari

Marí Luz Canaquiri Murayari, a Kukama leader from Perú’s Loreto region, has won the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize, often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of environmentalism.” As president of the Federation of Kukama Indigenous Women — Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana (HKK) — Canaquiri has spent decades defending her people, their culture, and the sacred Marañón River that sustains them.

“It's incredible to receive this news—and even more so for the value accorded to us as women,” said Canaquiri in an interview with Earth Law Center (ELC). 

Her leadership has culminated in a historic legal victory: in 2024, the Peruvian judiciary recognized the Marañón River and its tributaries as living beings with legal rights – including the rights to exist, flow, and remain free from contamination – and ordered Indigenous co-guardianship of the watershed.

This is the first time a Peruvian court has affirmed such recognition, and it stems from a groundbreaking lawsuit filed in 2021 by HKK on behalf of the River. Representing 28 Kukama communities, the Federation argued that the River’s health is inseparable from the wellbeing of the people who have lived alongside it for generations. 

“For the Kukama people, the River is sacred. It is like a father who nourishes us. The stones are the mother of the River, and its spirit is a being, a person, to us Kukama. That’s why we asked that it be recognized and respected as a person,” said Canaquiri.

The Cost of Contamination: Oil, Injustice, and Indigenous Lands

For decades, the Northern Peruvian Oil Pipeline has carved a toxic path through the Amazon, leaving behind a trail of spills and suffering. In just the years between 1997 and 2022, according to OSINERGMIN data, 87 oil spills were documented. These have contaminated the Marañón River and surrounding ecosystems, turning a once-thriving lifeline for the Kukama people into a source of illness, displacement, and despair. Children have bathed in oil-slicked waters, families have watched as fish stocks collapsed, and communities have faced skyrocketing rates of miscarriages and chronic illness—yet rarely seen accountability or remediation.

“Early on, I worked on health issues, supporting children and pregnant women through community programs,” said Canaquiri. “And that concern for human life was connected to my desire to defend the rivers from oil pollution.”

The Marañón River. Photo credit: Miguel Araoz Cartagena.

The despoiling of the Marañón River is not an isolated incident. Across South America, Indigenous territories are disproportionately affected by extractive industries, from oil and gas to mining and logging. The Amazon basin, home to hundreds of Indigenous Peoples, is one of the most ecologically rich and politically vulnerable regions on Earth. Despite international agreements protecting Indigenous rights and the environment, weak enforcement and powerful corporate interests often mean that these communities bear the brunt of pollution and exploitation.

In Perú and beyond, Indigenous Peoples are frequently excluded from decision-making processes that directly impact their lands and waters. Environmental regulations are poorly enforced, cleanup efforts are minimal, and the burden of proof falls unfairly on communities already stretched thin. The Marañón case is thus not just about one river—it is emblematic of a broader pattern of environmental injustice. But it also signals a turning point, as Indigenous voices rise to demand recognition and a future in which their rights—and the Rights of Nature—are fully upheld.

From Resistance to Legal Revolution: The Rise of the Kukama Women’s Federation

Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana (HKK), the Federation of Kukama Indigenous Women, was born out of necessity and courage in the early 2000s. At a time when oil spills were becoming a grim routine and government institutions turned a blind eye, Kukama women—led by Marí Luz Canaquiri—came together to protect their families, territory, and culture. “Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana” means “Our Women Are Strong” in Kukama, a name that reflects both the urgency and resilience of their mission. 

Canaquiri was born in the Kukama Indigenous community of Shapajilla along the Marañón River in Perú’s northern Amazon. After spending time working in Iquitos, the capital city of Perú's Maynas Province and Loreto Region, she returned to her village and became a mother and community activist. She describes the history of the founding of HKK:

Canaquiri works as a river defender in the Marañón River.

“There was a major oil spill in 2000, and we protested. At that time, Huaynakana didn’t yet exist as an organization, but we were sent to Iquitos to protest the spill and confront the company that was responsible, Pluspetrol. While I was there, the media interviewed me, and that moment changed everything.

People in our community were suffering from illnesses—that’s what drove me to help form the organization. . . . What motivated me most, what really made me act, was the role women play in caring for our families. We’re the ones most concerned about food, about our children’s health, about our families’ well-being. That’s where it all began: the need to organize so our voices could be heard, so we would be respected, and so no one could come and destroy our home—our habitat of life.”

What began as a grassroots effort to speak out against contamination and neglect eventually evolved into one of the Amazon’s most influential Indigenous women’s organizations.

After years of documenting environmental damage, advocating for healthcare access, and defending land rights, in 2014 HKK met Dr. Juan Carlos Ruiz, a lawyer at Instituto de Defensa Legal (IDL), and began to consider filing lawsuits as part of its strategy. The first case, related to the governmental budget for the people of Parinari, was filed in 2017, and a second case came soon thereafter. Canaquiri says that though both cases were won, her community is still awaiting their implementation.

HKK took an even bolder legal step in 2021, filing its lawsuit to recognize the Marañón River as a living being with inherent rights. Representing 28 Kukama communities, the lawsuit argued that the River’s spiritual and ecological value entitled it to legal standing—and that its degradation violated both Nature’s rights and Indigenous rights. The case broke new ground by combining Perú’s commitments to international human rights law, Indigenous autonomy, and emerging Rights of Nature frameworks.

The lawsuit also made a powerful case for Indigenous guardianship, demanding that the River’s rights be protected by those who have lived alongside and cared for it for generations. Represented by IDL, and with Earth Law Center and other allies providing legal support, the suit navigated a complex judicial path before ultimately prevailing in Perú’s Mixed Court of Nauta in March 2024 and being upheld by the Civil Court of Loreto in October of that year. It was a landmark win—not only for HKK and the Kukama people, but for Indigenous river defenders, in the Amazon and beyond, who are transforming grief into justice and resistance into rights.

Canaquiri and other HKK members are now working to spread word of the ruling to communities all along the Marañón River by holding informational workshops in collaboration with IDL, Forum Solidaridad Perú, and the Water Committee of Iquitos. The objective is to raise awareness that the River has been recognized as a subject of rights and that leaders from these Indigenous communities can monitor the river’s well-being and take action in its defense.

The 2025 Goldman Prize is the most prominent, but not the first, international award won by Canaquiri for her work: in 2023, she was recognized with the Terre de Femmes International Award, celebrating women dedicated to environmental protection.

“I want to share this message with all women activists—of all ages, whether mothers or young women: We must unite in this great struggle to defend our territories and our rivers, because for us—and for all of humanity—they are part of our lives. . . . We also have a responsibility to set an example for future generations. We must leave behind something good, something positive. Let’s keep encouraging one another, committing ourselves fully, because defending life—our water and our land—is essential,” said Canaquiri.