Crossing the Rivers of Resistance is an ongoing project about the uncontacted indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon who resist for their survival in the face of a colonialist political campaign that denies their human rights. The proposed bill threatens to corrupt their natural reserves in favor of extractive companies and will increase deforestation and non-consensual contacts threatening their food supply and their very lives.
Peru has one of the world's largest concentrations of isolated indigenous peoples -also called PIACI- with a population of over 7,000 people. Their struggle to defend their right to life and their right to territory is historic yet fragile. Since 2023, a new bill promoted by extreme right-wing parliamentarians aims to modify the PIACI Law, to deny their existence, delegitimize their land rights and open their pristine reserves in favor of gas, oil and timber extraction. Legalizing unprecedented destructive activities against the biodiversity and violating human rights.
Florence Goupil
Freelance photographer and storyteller based in Peru. National Geographic Explorer.