100,000 People Marched to Save Water

The Loma Larga gold mining project in Ecuador was controversial due to its location in the ecologically sensitive Kimsakocha páramo, a threatened high-altitude wetland ecosystem, near the city of Cuenca. The páramo is an ecosystem of the regions above the continuous forest line. The project was also controversial due to legal and social opposition concerning water security and indigenous rights. It faced legal challenges regarding the thoroughness of its environmental and Indigenous consultation processes. However the company obtained an environmental exploitation license in 2025.
Success came for the grassroots protest movement on October 4 2025 when the Ecuadoran government announced that it was revoking a mining license for the project. The Loma Larga gold mining project would have affected the Quimsacocha paramo, a water reserve and biodiversity refuge located at an altitude of more than 3,500 metres. Quimsacocha, part of the UNESCO Macizo del Cajas Biosphere Reserve, is an essential water source which provides drinking water to local communities. Protests against the project had been constant for years but increased in intensity after permission was granted in July 2025 to begin construction. 100,000 people marched to save water.
The project was paused for an environmental review. The review, as well as technical reports submitted by authorities in Cuenca and Azuay, responsible for the area’s drinking water and irrigation systems, was cited by the Ecuadoran Environment and Energy Ministry as the reason for revoking the mining license. Ecuador’s Environment and Energy Ministry said “The national government reaffirms its commitment to the rights of nature, the defence of water sources, and, under the precautionary principle, the protection of the health and well-being of the people of Cuenca and Azuay.”

“Our water, a heritage that is encoded in the spirit of every citizen of Cuenca, can’t just be put on pause.”—Cristian Zamora, mayor of Cuenca