The Asháninka communities rely on the river. Photo: Pedro
França/MinC, reproduced under a CC license from Ministério da
Cultura. Brazil and Peru have jumped on the bandwagon of
hydroelectricity, signing energy agreements to construct 15
plants in the Peruvian rainforests. These include Pakitzapango
and Tambo 40, situated along the river Ene in the Central
Rainforest. Renewable sources they may be, but with the
devastation they would bring, the energy would by no means be
‘clean’. On the Ene live 17 Asháninka communities, an indigenous
group still recovering from decades of terrorization. The dams
would flood the river, killing the fish, the plants, and the
animals and destroying the homes. Around 10,000 Asháninka people
could be left without food or shelter and as a result forced out
of their communities. From the word go, Central Asháninka del
Río Ene (CARE ) the legal voice of the Asháninka, have
campaigned and protested ruthlessly and to their great credit in
October 2011, the dams were announced ‘retired’