Revived hydropower project to bring forced displacement, Peru communities warn

  • The construction of the Pakitzapango hydroelectric dam in Peru’s Junín region should be a matter of national interest, according to a bill proposed in February that claims the project would boost national energy security.
  • The dam would be constructed on a sacred gorge on the Ene River that is central to the mythology of the local Indigenous Asháninka population. The reservoir would flood homes and ancestral territories of more than 13 communities, as well as cemeteries where many Asháninka people who were killed during a recent internal war are buried.
  • The proposal is a revival of a project that was canceled more than a decade ago due to environmental irregularities and local rejection.
  • Community members speaking to Mongabay are worried they will be forced to move, while environmental experts challenged the project’s energy security rationale.

Read more here: https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/revived-hydropower-project-to-bring-forced-displacement-peru-communities-warn/