This year’s IUCN Congress was a success for free-flowing rivers around the world! We are excited to share two major motions passed to protect rivers in Africa and South America.

About the IUCN Congress

The 2020 IUCN Congress took place from the 3rd-11th of September, 2021 in Marseille, France. The event brings together more than 1,000 participants from over 160 countries to set priorities and drive conservation and sustainable development action. IUCN’s 1400+ government, civil society, and indigenous peoples’ Member organisations vote on major issues, helping guide our relationship with nature for decades to come. 

The Motions

This conference saw two major motions pass to protect free flowing rivers from new hydropower construction. 

The first motion passed, led by Synchronicity Earth, was entitled: “Protecting the Lower Congo River from large hydro-electric dam developments”. Read the motion and comments here

The second motion passed was entitled “Protection of Andes-Amazon rivers of Peru: the Marañón, Ucayali, Huallaga and Amazonas, from large-scale infrastructure projects”. Learn more here.

Congratulations to all the organizations and individuals that helped bring these motions to a large international stage, and we look forward to the free-flowing future of these rivers!