UPDates
November 2022
Ríos to Rivers Alumni Make the Case Against Dams and for Bio and Cultural Diversity at COP27
November, 2022 - Rios to Rivers Alumni from North and South America attended COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt to continue our UnDam the UN campaign aimed at showing the United Nations and politicians that dams equal methane emissions, displaced communities, and extinction. Dams do not equal Carbon Offsets and energy produced by dams should not be eligible to count towards a countries NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions).
The Ríos to Rivers delegates presented this information at formal COP27 presentation on November 15th.
In 2020 Ríos to Rivers co-founded the Rivers for Climate Coalition which formally submitted a declaration to the United Nations which was signed by more than 350 organizations from 78 countries asking the UN to reject the use of climate funds to build new dams. The coalition is made up of our partners at Waterkeeper Alliance, International Rivers, Rivers Without Boundaries, Water Climate Trust and others.
Learn more and sign a petition to ask the United Nations to stop recognizing dams as clean energy here: www.UnDam.org
Press about our work at COP27
Global Rivers Coalition Exposes Severe Climate and Human Rights Risk of New Hydropower Dams
Aspen Delegates Advocate for Climate Action at COP27 in Egypt
October 2022
Ríos to Rivers Completes the First Exchange Program in the Beni River Basin in the Bolivian Amazon
In October, 2022 a team of 28 individuals from four different countries completed a three week exchange program in the endangered Beni River Basin in the Bolivian Amazon. Youth representatives came from Bolivia, the USA, Chile and Peru. In total participants represented 9 distinct indigenous groups and 12 different rivers from North and South America.
Why a program in the Bolivian Amazon?
The Chepete-Bala mega-dam proposal threatens one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world: Madidi and Pilon Lajas National Parks in the Bolivian Amazon. This three-week intercultural exchange program in the Beni River Basin brought native youth from North and South American river basins to gather in solidarity to learn, share, paddle, and document these sacred rivers together. This group not only bore witness to the unparalleled beauty and biodiversity as they traveled the threatened tributaries of the Beni River, but they actively participated in the conservation efforts of the region by gaining critical skills that can help share their voices with the world.
The program consisted of three segments:
(1.) A week-long rafting/kayaking expedition and training course on the Tuichi River, (2.) A five-day stint in the town of Rurrenabaque to conduct a stewardship and advocacy curriculum and media course, and (3.) A five-day trip to explore the Beni River basin via motorized canoe to visit indigenous communities threatened by the Chepete-Bala mega hydroelectric project and legal/illegal gold mining operations.
The Tuichi River
Our original plan was to descend the Tuichi from upstream of its exciting rapids. This is still our ultimate dream and we hope we can accomplish this on the next program. However, the upper basin of the Tuichi is now controlled by mining operations that did not consent to let us descend the upper section. Even the inhabitants of these indigenous territories have lost access these regions. For safety, we decided to change our plans and instead ascend the river from the bottom via Peque Peque (motorized canoes) until we arrived at the biggest rapids and descended the river in rafts and kayaks from there. It was an incredible journey through the jungled canyons and participants learned how to packraft and raft from our head instructor Melissa DeMarie (also the founder of California Watersport Collective).
Rurrenabaque
This break between jungle voyages was packed with activities for our stewardship and advocacy and media curriculums, where students painted banners to represent each basin, heard lectures from Madidi Park directors and scientists, learned how to use social media platforms, and learned about documentary filmmaking. In the future, we hope to gain more support from camera company sponsors to further develop the documentary filmmaking and social media training curriculum.
Beni Basin Exploration
After regrouping in our Rurrenabaque base, we traveled via motorized canoe upstream twelve hours to the town of Mayaya. Ten years ago, Mayaya was a beautiful jungle gem nestled in the upper reaches of the Kaka Amazon tributary. Now, it is unrecognizable as mining has taken hold of the region. There, we spoke with local inhabitants and even mining operators and even visited a mine to see how it operated- an opportunity we had not anticipated. This was an extremely powerful experience for every member of the program. Most of our youth come from downstream communities that all have some degree of mercury contamination. One of our youth, Pacheco, comes from the Ese Ejja community Eyiyoquibo, which has the highest levels of mercury contamination in the region. Many of his family and community members have been directly affected by it, with many passing on at young ages from their mercury-related illnesses. While conversing with the mining operators, it became clear that there was very little knowledge of the downstream impacts of the mercury. After debriefing our experience in Mayaya, the youths gathered together and formed a beautiful idea to start an information campaign and create an open dialogue between the upstream and downstream communities. This idea will be built upon in future R2R exchanges, and we plan to edit a short informational video about the mining that they can share and use.
Final arrival in Rurrenabaque
As we began our final voyage back to the town of Rurrenabaque, we got back in our rafts, kayaks and packrafts and floated the final stretch of river. We could not have anticipated what our group’s presence and arrival back to town would mean for the region. As we floated down the river towards Rurrenabaque, we were accompanied by the Bolivian Navy, journalists, and children in traditional balsa wood rafts in traditional clothing. Our reception in Rurrenabaque was overwhelmingly beautiful. The press came, we made national news in two news channels here and here, as well as dozens of smaller stories. To the surprise of our indigenous comrades, the mayor of Rurrenabaque came as well, avidly and publicly spoking out against the gold mining and the dams, and commending the team for our work. As our indigenous colleagues explained, when there are only a few people speaking out, many authorities won’t speak. But when it is a large international group with momentum and excitement, they are more encouraged to participate. It was the first time the mayor had spoken out publicly against such issues.
Closing the program was emotionally and spiritually powerful. Despite the challenges, everyone who participated and instructed is excited and committed to watching this program blossom and flourish into something truly impactful in the future. The potential to make a lasting difference has already begun to unfold. The ball is in motion, and now we must continue the momentum!
July 2022
Maqlaqs Paddle and Ríos to Rivers complete the first stage of Paddle Tribal Waters
The First Descent of the Klamath River: When the largest dam removal in history begins, a group of indigenous youth learn to whitewater kayak in hopes of becoming the first people to paddle the restored river from source-to-sea. As the young paddlers reconnect sections of the Klamath River that have not flowed freely for more than a century, they use kayaking to galvanize a movement while reconciling a stolen history and building a future of hope and healing.
In July of 2022, Paddle Tribal Waters launched. Maqlaqs Paddle Club, with the support of Ríos to Rivers, World Class Kayak Academy, and Otter Bar Kayak School, conducted a two-and-a-half-week kayak and river advocacy training program for 15 indigenous youth, ages 12-25, from the Klamath Basin.
Students gained a solid foundation, establishing confidence on the water, awareness, and capabilities to respond to whitewater danger, and the skills necessary to support their cohort. Training and programming also included the learning and sharing of languages, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and current issues and solutions for their respective rivers. Students came from The Klamath Tribes, The Hupa Valley Tribe, The Karuk Tribe, The Yurok Tribe, The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Inupiaq, Navajo, and the Quartz Valley Tribe. Our kayak instructors came from World Class Kayak Academy or were affiliated with the Otter Bar Kayak School. World Class Kayak Academy (WCKA) is a traveling high school for students who want to earn their education while exploring unique rivers and cultures around the world. WCKA provided its kayak training curriculum, coaches, vehicles, kayak trailers, and administrative support to Paddle Tribal Waters.
The first cohort of kayakers continues to train with weekend kayaking trips and kayak roll training sessions.
Learn more about the future of Paddle Tribal Waters here
Learn more about the July 2022 program in the press here:
Local Teens Prepare to Kayak the Klamath River Post Dam Removal
Native Teens Preparing to Kayak an UnDammed Klamath Set Off on Trinity River Community Float
November 2021
Ríos to Rivers Youth Ambassadors Present at COP26
Rios to Rivers indigenous youth ambassadors from North and South America attended COP26 in Glasgow, UK to present a declaration to the United Nations secretariat stating that: Dams equal methane emissions, displaced communities, and extinction. Dams do not equal Carbon Offsets. The youth ambassadors also presented at two panel discussions during COP26.
The campaign was conducted in collaboration with our partners at Waterkeeper Alliance, International Rivers, Rivers Without Boundaries, and Water Climate Trust. As accredited members of COP26 Ríos to Rivers alumni from North and South America gave presentations and participated in dialogues to tell decision-makers: Dams equal methane emissions, displaced communities, and extinction. Dams are not Carbon Offsets and should not be included as such in the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism and energy produced by dams should not be eligible to count towards a countries NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions).
While at COP26, Paul Wilson was able to broaden his connections with Indigenous environmental networks. These connections will be critical in the work to come in connecting Tribal communities with the campaign to get the UN to stop recognizing dams as clean energy.
Fernanda Purrán, Director of RtoR Chile and Paula Riffo from the Biobio Basin in Chile were able to deepen and make connections with various organizations from Chile and Latin America working to protect indigenous rights and their lands. Their respective communities were able to follow their experiences at the COP allowing their voices in the UnDam the UN campaign to reach some of the communities most impacted by dams.
The three-spoke on a well-attended panel discussion exposing dams as a false solution at The People’s Summit in Glasgow.
Our delegation co-founded the Rivers for Climate Coalition which formally submitted a declaration (signed by more than 340 orgs from 78 countries) asking the UN to reject the use of climate funds to build new dams.
We had a productive encounter with the International Energy Agency and challenged their support for a hydropower greenwashing program from the International Hydropower Association and the Hydropower Sustainability Council.
We filmed and edited a short film of our activities which appeared in the Waterkeeper Alliance online broadcast.
For more information about our activities, here are some powerful articles and photo essays that were produced from our time there.
Bringing the fight against dams to COP26
Seeing COP26 through the lens of Ríos to Rivers' Chief Storyteller
Hundreds of Groups Reject Greenwashing of Destructive Hydropower Industry at COP26
You can learn more about our work at COP26 and sign our petition here: www.UnDam.org
November 2021
Protecting Water on the Klamath River
Article published about Ríos to Rivers Aluma Ashia Wilson
Excerpt from the article published in Indigenous Photograph + Iluminitive. (Read the full article here.)
“Ashia Grae Wolf Wilson, a 19 year-old Klamath and Modoc Tribal member won an undergraduate research project at the University of Oregon, where she attends as an undergraduate Ford scholar. She spent the summer studying the nuances of methane emissions from hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, a crux the international community is confronted with as a false climate solution. She set out to understand the standards by which the governing bodies within the basin measure the methane emissions throughout the Klamath River.
The findings of her research have shown that there is no standard for measuring methane emissions on the Klamath River. Despite methane emissions being 81 times more detrimental at times than CO2, the States, Counties, Federal Government, and parent companies did not engage in meaningful research to understand the environmental impacts that the hydroelectric dams were emitting.
Dams are still considered clean energy by the UN and major countries that set international energy policies. Hydroelectric projects continue to be funded through systems like the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism, digging the climate crises hole further as a false climate solution.
Ashia’s scholarship and continual activism work has hinged on removing dams as clean energy in international policies, while the largest dam removal in history is slated to take place on her ancestral river in 2023.”
October 2021
Ríos to Rivers work helps win a precedent-setting legal battle in Chile
On October 9th, 2021 we were informed that Chile’s environmental court in Valdivia ruled that SAESA’s construction of a hydroelectric project on the Maqui River is Illegal. Ríos to Rivers has been working with a small dedicated group of local volunteers for the past year and a half to protect the verdant waterfalls of the Maqui from industrial development. This is a landmark victory that will set a precedent* in Chilean courts for years to come.
By supporting Ríos to Rivers, you helped us achieve this!
It was a tiny group who made this possible: Patagonian townspeople, a lawyer, a reporter, two actors, and a few photographers. We documented the incongruities of what the multinational company SAESA stated they would do. With this footage, we created a series of videos that revealed the companies lies, one of the videos was seen almost half a million times.
Appearing in some of these videos was well-known Chilean Actress and Activist, Juanita Ringeling Vicuña, who has been a powerful spokeswoman for Ríos to Rivers. She has attended many of our exchanges to clearly articulate the specific threats each river is facing. Juana’s husband, Chilean Actor Matias Assler joined her in the fight to save the Maqui’s pools of World Heritage magnificence from being destroyed.
The videos, photos, and subsequent news articles sparked outrage. A petition we created was signed by almost 23,000 people and motivated two Chilean senators to demand a special hearing in the Chilean Senate. Chilean lawyer Erwin Sandoval and Weston Boyles prepared a visual report that was presented in the Senate hearing. Ultimately we successfully created enough political and legal pressure to win this battle.
Thanks to your support, we can celebrate this victory. However, there is still more work to do. SAESA is bringing the case before the Supreme Court of Chile, claiming that they acted in good faith. We have the evidence to prove that is not the case, and they in fact eluded the region’s environmental impact assessment agency. We are hopeful for future victories on the horizon.
Because of the wonderful generosity shown by people like you, we can keep doing this critical work. Thank you for your support!
*In Chile, a unique level of protection was created called a ZOIT or Zona de Interes Turistica. Some consider the ZOIT as a resource management instrument created to promote public and private investment in tourism in a given territory. However, the recent ruling by Chile's environmental court is historic and precedent-setting because it affirms the clear objective of the ZOIT: to preserve and conserve the natural assets of the area. This case confirms that the ZOIT should be recognized as an official level of protection and that all proposed projects in ZOITs SHOULD go through an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process.
August 2021
Snake River Exchange
Tribal students from the Columbia, Klamath, and Snake River Basins participated in a three-week-long exchange in the Snake River Basin. The exchange began in Portland, Oregon on July 12th, 2021 where they were welcomed by presentations from activists and experts who have been engaged in advocacy to remove the four lower dams on the Snake and other dams in the Pacific Northwest for decades. From there they traveled up the Columbia River Basin to visit Bonneville Dam, the White Salmon River and the former site of the Condit Dam, The Dalles, and the site of Celilo Falls. These visits were accompanied by representatives from the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and members of the Umatilla, and Warm Springs Tribes to put into context the negative impact that hydroelectric development in the Columbia Basin has had on the ecosystems and the tribes.
Next, the students traveled to Lapwai, Idaho to a welcoming event hosted by members of the Nimiipuu Tribe. Then students participated in and supported The Red Road to DC event held at Chief Timothy Park on July 15th. From here they traveled to a traditional Nimiipuu Camp on the Selway River. The Selway is the main artery of cultural significance to the Nimiipuu. There, in collaboration with the non-profit organization Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment, the group spent seven days in the camp building canoe paddles under the guidance of Ríos to Rivers Alumni, Louis, and Devin Reuben. This father-son team was the first Nimiipuu Tribe members to build a traditional canoe in over a century. The students also received carving training and support from David Paul, Ph.D. Interim Chair and Professor at the University of Idaho. Dr. Paul spent a week with the students supporting each student to carve their paddle using inspiration from the Tribe’s design tradition. While at the camp on the Selway students also ran a section of the Selway River in rafts and kayaks and prepared their river basin presentations.
Then, the group ran the lower Salmon River on a three-day rafting and kayaking river trip led by Barker Expeditions. During the river trip, each student participated in three kayak rolling sessions clinics led by professional kayaker Devon Barker-Hicks. Next students traveled to Riggins, ID to participate in a DARE to Kayak training clinic.
The exchange culminated at the Nimiipuu “Land Back” celebration in Joesph, OR. Students presented their river presentations to members of the Nimiipuu Tribe gathered in the communities longhouse.
Throughout the exchange, Paul Wilson, Chief Storyteller for Rios to Rivers, captured interviews, portraits of the group and the people they met along the way in an effort to tell the broader story the people, and what is at stake.
We then created a video and series of photos for the Northwest Strong campaign, as part of a campaign aimed at cultivating alliances on the Columbia and Snake River. View video of Ríos to Rivers students from this campaign: Northweststrong.org
June 2021
Ríos to Rivers’ Chief Storyteller Named ‘NRS LEAD Ambassador’
On June, 21st, 2021 Paul Robert Wolf Wilson was named to the LEAD Northwest River Supplies (NRS) Ambassador program. You can view more here about Paul’s work with Ríos to Rivers: Meet the LEAD NRS Ambassadors
LEAD stands for Leaders in Environment, Access and Diversity. Through the LEAD program, a portion of NRS resources goes to support the work of community builders and activists in outdoor participation and conservation. Their aim is to help our ambassadors make the world a better place, and for them to help make NRS a better company. In the spring of 2021, they welcomed our inaugural class of LEAD ambassadors.