Issue 538 of New Internationalist

Reader-owned global journalism

May-June 2022

Rivers of life

The wellsprings of ancient human civilizations, rivers are considered holy in many cultures. A vital source of precious freshwater, they are rightly called the arteries of life; we draw upon them in order to farm, drink and fish. Sacred they may be, yet they are increasingly sinned against, as they are blocked, diverted, overexploited and polluted by human activity. The richest habitats in terms of size for biodiversity, they are seeing the swiftest decline in species.

Traditional and Indigenous cultures have had the wisest, most sustainable conception of living in harmony with the rivers they depend upon. And today they offer the best insights into how to protect them from depredations in the name of progress. In this edition we report on how Indigenous movements are fighting for change in Peru, Mongolia and the US – by demanding legal protection for rivers as living beings, an end to polluting activity and campaigning for dams to be removed. And we make the case for more enlightened governance, both nationally and globally.

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