About the project
The Santiago Hydroelectric Project, promoted by Ecuador’s state-owned electricity company CELEC EP Hidropaute, represents one of the largest planned energy projects in the country and the third-largest in South America. Designed by Mexico’s Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) and validated by Switzerland’s Lombardi Group, the project envisions the construction of a 190-meter-high dam on the Santiago River, with an installed capacity of 3,600 MW. While still in the concession phase, CELEC has already begun advancing preparatory activities and is seeking to hand over the project to private operators under a 30-year concession.
The project will directly impact the provinces of Morona Santiago in Ecuador and Amazonas in northern Peru, flooding entire stretches of rivers and disrupting vital ecosystems. In Ecuador, the reservoir would submerge large areas along the Zamora and Namangoza rivers, while affecting the Santiago, Upano, Paute, and Negro rivers. Downstream, its consequences would extend into the Peruvian Amazon, particularly the Río Santiago district in Condorcanqui Province. This is a transboundary watershed of global ecological importance, as it contributes to the headwaters of the Marañón River—one of the main tributaries of the Amazon.
Beyond the environmental destruction, the dam would displace Indigenous communities and undermine their rights. The project violates multiple protections enshrined in Ecuador’s Constitution, including the rights of nature, the right of rivers to flow and remain free from pollution, and the collective rights of Indigenous peoples to territory, self-determination, and cultural survival. Local communities also denounce the absence of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC): studies, licenses, and even company encampments were imposed without consultation, rendering the project illegal under national and international law. Moreover, the goal of the hydroelectric megaplant would not even be to provide energy for locals, rather to power future mining projects planned in the region.
About the community-led struggle
The territory most affected by the project belongs to the Pueblo Shuar Arutam (PSHA), which governs more than 330,000 hectares of ancestral land. PSHA represents 47 Shuar communities that together encompass over 30 settlements located along the banks of the Santiago, Zamora, and Namangoza rivers. For these communities, the Santiago River is far more than a water source: it is the basis of their culture, economy, food security, and spiritual life.
In response to these threats, PSHA and GTANW have organized an articulated defense of their territories. In 2019, PSHA declared their lands a “Territory of Life” through a participatory consultation across their 47 communities, and registered with the international ICCA/TICCA Consortium of Indigenous conserved territories. In March 2022, PSHA’s General Assembly formally rejected the HidroSantiago project, and later that year, Shuar and Wampís leaders issued a joint declaration in Cucuasa, Peru, affirming the Santiago basin as a continuous, binational territory and rejecting corporate intrusion.
Communities have also built alliances with national and international networks. PSHA is part of the Collective for the Protection of the Santiago/Kanus River, together with environmental NGOs and Indigenous federations, and has developed a communications plan to raise awareness of the threats posed by the dam. Through their community radio station, Voz de las Cascadas, PSHA informs local and cross-border audiences, while collaborating with allies such as Amazon Watch, International Rivers, Acción Ecológica, and others. Their resistance not only defends the river and forests but also asserts Indigenous self-determination and the right to decide their own future.
Despite their strong community organization and alliances, PSHA leaders and members continue to face serious risks of criminalization and reprisals. The Ecuadorian government has granted mining and hydroelectric concessions across Shuar Arutam territory without consultation, creating conflict and undermining Indigenous self-determination. In response, PSHA established community social security groups in associations such as Nunkui, Maikiuants, and Santiak. These groups, made up of 32 community members, carry out territorial monitoring, prevent unauthorized entry, and defend rivers and forests from extractive industries. However, this vital work has also made them targets.
Since 2022, the Community Resource Exchange (CRE) has been collaborating with PSHA to strengthen their communication strategy against the Santiago hydroelectric project and support their efforts to heighten security.
Further resources
- El Pueblo Shuar Arutam de la Cordillera del Condor (TICCA Consortium)
- El Pueblo Shuar Arutam rechaza la construcción del Proyecto Hidroeléctrico Santiago (Acción Ecológica, 2022)
- La fuente de la fuerza shuar es amenazada por una hidroeléctrica (Chinki Nawech, Mongabay, 2025)