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Defenders in Action: Colorado River Tribe Wins Protection
The indigenous Cucapá tribe of northern Mexico, a people dependent for centuries on the fresh water of the lower Colorado River, have been economically and culturally devastated by recent decades of water diversions for agriculture and cities upstream. The National Human Rights Commission of Mexico found in April that the Mexican government is violating the human rights -- as guaranteed by the Mexican Constitution -- of the Cucapá nation and recommended that officials take action to help safeguard the natural resources of the region and promote a more tolerable living situation for the Cucapá.
This action was a result of legal pressure brought by Defenders to ensure that adequate fresh water from the lower Colorado River supports its ecologically rich delta. The Colorado River Delta and Gulf of California are under severe ecological stress for lack of fresh water, leaving the Cucapá as one of the most threatened indigenous cultures of Mexico. Defenders is working in the region to protect and restore the Lower Colorado River Basin ecosystem.
