Marí Luz Canaquiri Murayari Wins 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize for Securing Legal Rights for Peru’s Marañón River

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 21, 2025

Media Contacts:

Constanza Prieto-Figelist, ELC Latin America Legal Director, cpfigelist@earthlaw.org, 202-621-3877

Grant Wilson, ELC Executive Director, gwilson@earthlaw.org, 510-566-1063

Earth Law Center Celebrates a Historic Victory for Indigenous-Led Environmental Justice

San Francisco, CA – Earth Law Center (ELC) proudly congratulates Mrs. Marí Luz Canaquiri Murayari, a Kukama Indigenous leader from Peru, on receiving the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize. She received this global recognition for her landmark achievement in securing legal personhood for the Marañón River, a critical tributary of the Amazon. As President of the Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana (HKK), a federation of Kukama Indigenous women, Canaquiri led the legal battle to recognize the river’s inherent rights, ensuring its protection from industrial threats such as oil drilling and infrastructure projects.

Marí Luz Canaquiri Murayari

ELC, which supported the legal case alongside Peruvian Indigenous organizations and environmental advocates, hails Canaquiri’s courageous leadership and deep commitment to Indigenous environmental stewardship.

"Mariluz embodies fearless leadership, standing up to powerful adversaries to defend the voice of the Marañón River, her Kukama sisters, future generations, and all of humanity,” said Constanza Prieto-Figelist, ELC’s Latin America Legal Director. “Her courage inspires me every day—I can only be grateful and honor her in this moment." 

A Groundbreaking Legal Precedent

In March 2024, Canaquiri and the HKK, with the support of Instituto de Defensa Legal (IDL), ELC, International Rivers, and other allies, filed a constitutional lawsuit asserting the Marañón River’s right to exist, flow freely, and be free from pollution. This historic case culminated in a ruling by the Mixed Court of Nauta, which recognized the river as a legal entity and established the Kukama people as its guardians.

Despite pushback from Peru’s government and Petroperú, the Civil Court of Loreto upheld the ruling in October 2024, reinforcing the legal standing of the river’s rights and affirming Indigenous stewardship. ELC played a key role in developing legal arguments, providing technical expertise, and advocating for the river’s recognition in collaboration with Peruvian partners.

“The rights recognized for the Marañón River improve its protection, to the extent that they establish limits for the State and private enterprise,” said Juan Carlos Ruiz, a lawyer at IDL who represented Canaquiri and HKK in the case. “Any action by the State that violates or ignores these rights is null and void. Thus, for example, the discharge of acidic waters into rivers after extracting oil, instead of reinjecting those waters into the wells, will be null and void.”

A Lifelong Advocate for the Marañón and Indigenous Rights

For over three decades, Canaquiri has worked to empower Indigenous women and defend Kukama lands and waters. She co-founded the Federation of Kukama Indigenous Women, bringing together women from 30 Indigenous communities to promote cultural survival, environmental protection, and legal recognition of their ancestral territories.

In addition to her legal advocacy, Canaquiri has been a cultural and political leader, raising international awareness about threats to the Marañón River. She co-produced the documentary Karuara, People of the River, which highlights the spiritual and ecological importance of the river to the Kukama people. In 2023, her work was recognized with the Terre de Femmes International Award, celebrating women dedicated to environmental protection.

A Global Movement for the Rights of Nature

ELC has long advocated for the legal personhood of rivers, forests, and ecosystems worldwide, contributing to landmark developments such as a national law on the Rights of Nature and ecocentrism in Panama, the inclusion of support for the Rights of Nature and Mother Earth-centric actions in the Global Biodiversity Treaty, and now the legal personhood and Indigenous co-guardianship of the Marañón River in Peru. Marí Luz Canaquiri’s victory is part of a growing global movement recognizing that Nature has rights, just as humans do.

“The landmark victory for the rights of the Marañón River demonstrates that those who have long served as river guardians in a cultural sense are perfectly suited to serve as Nature’s legal guardians, as well, once the rights of rivers are recognized,” said Grant Wilson, Executive Director of ELC. “Humans are part of, not separate from, the natural world—and the law is finally beginning to reflect that reality through the Rights of Nature movement.”

About Earth Law Center

Earth Law Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming legal systems to recognize and uphold the Rights of Nature. Through litigation, policy work, and global advocacy, ELC partners with Indigenous Peoples, governments, and legal experts to represent Nature in courtrooms and legislatures worldwide.

For more information about Earth Law Center’s work and the Marañón River case, visit https://www.earthlawcenter.org/latam-program.