River Defenders Gathering

This gathering, co-organized between OtherWise and Carlotta Silva Houart, a PhD candidate at WUR, highlighted the experiences of 3 river defenders who are engaged in activism in Colombia and Ecuador. While sitting in a circle of over 30 people, activists Jessica Grefa, Davis Fajardo, and Carlos Giraldo spoke about the political work, which delved into the lived realities of extractivist culture and how their resistance is shaped by their cultures.

The activists were:

Jessica Grefa  – Río Piatúa, Ecuador. Kichwa biologist and young leader of Piatúa Resiste, a youth movement that arose in defense of the Piatúa River, in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest, opposing a hydroelectric dam project.

Carlos Giraldo  – Río Arenal, Colombia. Young activist researcher from the peasant community of the Arenal River, in Antioquia, Colombia. Founder of the organization Somos Del Río, which organizes public debates and workshops for environmental education, with the goal of impacting environmental policies for the protection of rivers.

David Fajardo  – Cabildo por el Agua de Cuenca, Ecuador. Young environmental activist, member of the socio-environmental activist organization Cabildo por el Agua de Cuenca Cuenca, organizer, and lawyer who works with Rights of Nature and the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Ecuador.