“Let’s be a river. National March for Water.”
Prensa Latina reports, “The March for Water, which started in Cajamarca, confirmed it will be arriving in Lima on Thursday, and participants are scheduled to attend a forum on water resources. …The march is demanding a ban on the use of mercury and arsenic in mining, to stop mining in the basin headwaters and the declaration of the access to water as a basic human right.”
As we noted in a campaign blog earlier this week, Fox News reports, “Marco Arana, a high-profile environmental activist helping to organize the march, said that more than 70 civil society groups plan to participate in the national march. In northern Peru, the march will begin in Cajamarca and pass through the cities of Trujillo and Huaraz before arriving in Lima on Feb. 9… In total, about 1,000 participants are expected to meet in Lima, Arana said. On Feb. 10, the leaders of the march will present legislative proposals to Congress.”
On February 11, a National Forum of Water Justice will be held in which, as noted in a blog report, “the issue of water and the legal bills and policies which are being pushed forward will be debated publically and systematically.”
Ottawa-based Council of Canadians water campaigner Meera Karunananthan and Mexico City-based Blue Planet Project organizer Claudia Campero Arena have sent a message of solidarity to the participants in The March for Water. The statement (in English) says, “The Council of Canadians stands with the more than 200 communities and civil society organizations in Peru who are demanding an end to mining injustice and calling for water to be recognized as a human right within the Peruvian constitution.”
