[STATEMENT] Defend Rivers, Defend River Defenders, Defend Life!

March 14 marks the 28th celebration of the International Day of Action for Rivers, with the theme “Our Rivers, Our Future.” Protecting our rivers is vital for our survival, as they provide numerous resources and support surrounding ecosystems. Throughout history, rivers have been the foundation of civilization and culture. However, many rivers are drying up due to harmful projects such as mega dams and sand dredging, as well as pollution from mining and industrial waste, all exacerbated by the climate crisis. As a result, millions of lives are at risk. Based on the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 50% of global river catchment areas are faced with abnormal conditions. These abnormalities result in decreased water availability. 

With this, threats to those who protect our rivers and the biodiversity around them are heightened. According to statistics, Indigenous People make up 40% of the threatened River Defenders. They experience constant risk of losing food source, livelihood, and cultural practices. Moreover, their indigenous knowledge and our rich biodiversity are at risk of being erased by false climate solutions, corporate plunder, and militarism.

As these issues continue to affect our rivers and those defending them, the situation is deteriorating on an international scale. During the recent Global Speakout for Rivers, defenders from various regions in Asia, including APNED members, unveiled their current situation. The Jalaur River for the People’s Movement (JRPM) reported that indigenous defenders of the Jalaur River in the Philippines face state violence for opposing the Jalaur River Multi-Purpose Project (JRMP) megadam. Military presence in ancestral lands is being used to suppress resistance. A tragic event was the 2020 raid and massacre of 12 Tumandok villages, resulting in 9 deaths and 16 arrests. 

Defenders from the Mekong region also shared their struggles with the environmental destruction caused by several existing and proposed large-scale hydropower projects on the Mekong and Salween Rivers. Despite these dams being marketed as “run-of-river” hydropower projects that have a lower environmental impact, they operate against the natural flow of the river, disrupting its ecology, natural flooding, and threatening regional fish migrations. Laos’s rushed Sanakham hydropower dam near Thailand also threatens to displace  62,500 Thai and Lao people. These situations, along with China’s large dam constructions on the Mekong, pose challenges for downstream countries like Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, which are reliant on the river for agriculture. Meanwhile, the U.S.’s continuous funding of “water management” projects to counter China’s influence further complicates the situation.

In India, the Ken-Betwa River Linking Project, a $5.06B initiative, is expected to submerge over 9,000 hectares of forest land, threatening the livelihoods of Adivasi communities in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile, the Polavaram Dam on the Godavari River endangers the homes of nearly 300,000 people, most of them from Scheduled Tribes/indigenous peoples, many of whom have already been evicted without proper compensation or resettlement. These large-scale infrastructure projects, often decided without the free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) of local communities, violate cultural, spiritual, and land rights enshrined in international law, including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In 2024 alone, massive floods from the Godavari inundated more than 420 villages in Andhra Pradesh, proof of how poorly planned development can deepen, not resolve, ecological risks.

Environmental defenders speaking out against these injustices are also increasingly targeted through legal repression and criminalization. Laws such as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (1967) and the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (1958) are weaponized to justify illegal arrests, detentions, and surveillance, without due process. The Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill 2024, if passed, would expand state powers even further, threatening civil liberties and protest rights. Similar anti-democratic legislation is also posing a grave threat to environmental defenders in the region.

As civic space shrinks, communities also face the global crisis of melting glaciers, with 2023 marking the worst glacial water loss in over 50 years. As the UN declares 2025 the International Year of Glacier Preservation, we must remember that protecting rivers and the rights of those who depend on them is crucial to climate justice. 

From Jalaur to Godavari, it is time to honor the guardians of water, land, and life. Through rivers flow our lives!