The documentary that portrays the consequences of the Chadín 2 (Odebrecht) and Veracruz (Enel) dam projects on the Marañón River will premiere at the World Conservation Congress in Marseille, France.

A chorus of voices calls out from the Marañon canyon, in protest against two planned mega-dams. The dams would flood villages, unique forests and rock paintings yet to be studied. What would the consequences be of interrupting this ancient, vital connection between the Andes and the Amazon?

“The Roar of the Marañón” (in Spanish, “El Rugir del Marañón”) seeks to answer this question with footage filmed during more than 6 years of travel on the Marañón River and its surrounding communities. The voices of local populations, specialists and activists guide this documentary and reveal the need to protect the river from the planned mega-dam projects.

||||||| Watch “The Roar of the Marañón” here

Directed by Dana Bonilla and Bruno Monteferri, as a joint production of Conservamos por Naturaleza (initiative of the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law) and Marañón Waterkeeper, “The Roar of the Marañón” will premiere at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille (France), this Thursday, September 9, during a press conference.

“At stake is the future of a thousand people whose homes would be flooded, and the populations of hundreds of endemic species that live in these dry forests. The impacts of interrupting the connection between the Andes and the Amazon, blocking the flow of sediment and fish migration, would be felt along the Marañon River and in the Amazon basin, affecting hundreds of indigenous and riparian communities,” says Bruno Monteferri, a Peruvian environmental lawyer and co-director of the film, who will participate in the premiere.

“The Roar of the Marañón” will be available in Spanish and English through the platform El Ekran and can be seen from September 9 to 19, free of charge. 

In addition, the film is currently being dubbed in Awajún, the language of one of the main indigenous peoples that would be affected by the dams. The dubbed version of the documentary will be screened locally.

||||||| Watch “The Roar of the Marañón” here

The story behind the Marañón dams

The Chadín 2 (owned by Odebrecht) and Veracruz (owned by Enel) megadam projects, approved almost 10 years ago, would flood the homes of more than a thousand people and affect native communities. They would also imperil unique ecosystems and species of flora and fauna only found in this part of Peru, in the Marañon Seasonally Dry Forests, between the Cajamarca and Amazon regions.

To date, there have been no clear decisions by the Peruvian State in the face of Odebrecht’s breach of contractual obligations or Enel’s request to terminate the contract. The Peruvian Society of Environmental Law prepared an analysis that addresses this situation, available for download at: https://spda.org.pe/?wpfb_dl=4594.