At least one of them was honest and said "I could say this trip was all about raising awareness for protection of the river but also for the Call of the Journey just to see what happens". My guess is for a couple of 20 y/o it's mostly the latter. They did not hide behind the pretense of "reparations of indigenous people" by planting a couple of seeds in the middle of nowhere like the last movie.
It's ok to raise awareness by make a movie about wanting to run rivers for a couple of months... we all get that. Make me want to save the river because I have a love for rivers and the boating culture and not because you want me think like you... because I won't.