ABSTRACT
Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador have each seen a significant increase in extractive industry activity over the last decade and a half. This raises many questions for communities in the areas in which mining and hydrocarbon activity is occurring. Among these, the implications for water resources and indigenous resource governance are among the most significant. Water questions cause special concerns for populations living downstream of that activity. Extractive industries place pressure on, and introduce new risks for, the quantity and quality of water available to rural communities and urban centres. Extraction also poses threats to the de jure and de facto rights that communities have historically exercised in order to access and control water resources and to govern the territory in which they reside.
