"A Massive, Chinese-Backed Port in Peru Could Push the Amazon Rainforest Over the Edge", Inside Climate News, 1 December 2025

The port [...] will deepen and expand an extractive network of roads, railways and waterways that have already eaten into the rainforest [...].

[...] Peruvian regulators approved an environmental impact study for the project, but residents in Chancay were not given adequate opportunities to access hearings or participate in the review process, advocates say.

[...] the then-builders of the port hired a subcontractor to harass and threaten them so the threats couldn’t be traced back to the developers. [...].

The port’s developer—now called Cosco Shipping Ports Chancay Perú (CSPCP), 60 percent owned by COSCO and 40 percent by Volcan—hired a contractor to conduct the required environmental analysis.

[...] identified 50 problems with the environmental review’s findings. The groups then asked SENACE not to approve the project until these problems were corrected. Ultimately, fewer than half of them were addressed by COSCO—inadequately, according to the groups.

In July of this year, the Peruvian media reported that six SENACE employees were charged with environmental crimes for approving parts of the project without COSCO addressing them first.

In a written response, CSPCP said it had complied with all laws and that the approvals process “went well beyond regulatory requirements regarding public participation, both in the number and diversity of mechanisms implemented.” 

The company said it categorically rejects “as completely false” the allegations that it hired a subcontractor to harass opponents of the port project. “At no time has the company hired or instructed subcontractors to harass, intimidate, or interfere with citizens’ participation during protests or demonstrations related to the Project. On the contrary, CSPCP maintains a permanent policy of respect for the right to free expression, peaceful coexistence, and open dialogue with all social stakeholders in the district of Chancay.”

Volcan and the Chinese embassy in Peru did not respond to requests for comment from Inside Climate News. The Peruvian Ministry of Transportation and Communications, which approved the first environmental assessment, before COSCO’s involvement in the port project, also did not respond to questions from Inside Climate News.

A recently passed law will prohibit advocacy groups from pursuing legal action against the government, including for human rights or environmental violations. [...].

“This makes it easy for China to operate as they want without any civil society groups complaining,” [...].

“There is no space for the people who live here. We would have to leave. Who are they going to take out of their houses?” [...].