2011 | Amazon Watch
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All: 2011

Crude Politics: Is Chevron Involved in a Billion Dollar Bait-and-Switch?

As the Yasuni-ITT Initiative deadline approaches, did its chief negotiator make a deal with the devil?

The Huffington Post | With Chevron running out of legal options to avoid its $18 billion liability in Ecuador, the company may be taking corporate malfeasance and greenwashing to a whole new level.

Millions Join Belo Monte Protest in Brazil

Brazilian celebrities and activists deliver 1.3 million voices to President Rousseff

Brasilia, Brazil – A delegation of Brazilian celebrities and activists delivered a petition today at the country's presidential palace signed by 1.3 million citizens calling on President Dilma Rousseff to immediately suspend construction of the controversial Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the Amazon and to open a national debate on...

Brazil's Forest Policy Could Undermine Its Climate Goals

The Washington Post | "It sends a mixed message because Brazil has positioned itself as a country that's committed itself to saving the forest cover to the benefit of the world," said Christian Poirier, Brazil program director for Amazon Watch. "The new forest code flouts all that."

Stand4TheAmazon this Season

We are delighted to share a message from TV personality Layla Kayleigh who has teamed with Amazon Watch for a special campaign for "Stand for the Amazon Day" on December 28th.

Lesson from Durban

We are the climate changers we've been waiting for

Another global climate conference has come and gone, another heartbreaking missed opportunity for humanity to actually do something about impending climate chaos.

Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.

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A River People Awaits an Amazon Dam

National Geographic | Photographer Cristina Mittermeier has been traveling to the Amazon since the 1990s, often making two trips a year by small plane to document Kayapo culture and its link to the Xingu.

Achuar Leader Visits Calgary, Again!

The Media Co-op | Calgary, Canada – This is the third time. Achuar delegates have arrived at the doorsteps of Calgary's extractive oil industry in the past. They say, "Go Away!"

Testimony of Father Diego Clavijo

A priest who has worked with the Achuar and the Shuar-Wampisa people for ten years says that Talisman Energy's operations are causing conflict and risking lives.

Talisman Provokes Violence in Peruvian Amazon

Testimony reveals shocking new threats to indigenous people

Loreto, Peru – Canadian oil company Talisman Energy's operations in northern Peru are causing conflict and division in Achuar and Shuar-Wampisa communities and risking lives, according to Salesian missionary priest Father Diego Clavijo and indigenous Achuar leader Peas Peas Ayui.

Investor's Eye on the Amazon - December 2011

In this winter edition of Investor's Eye on the Amazon, we would like to draw your attention to a co-filing opportunity at Chevron, urgent on-the-ground testimony about Canadian company Talisman Energy's divisive oil operations in the ancestral territory of the Achuar people, and an update from the frontlines in Ecuador where Rukullacta Kichwa...

"We Are on the Verge of Genocide."

An urgent call from the Peruvian Amazon

According to the urgent testimony of two Catholic priests, an already tense situation in Achuar territory has taken a turn for the worse over recent months, heightening the risk of imminent bloodshed between neighboring families.

Call for Co-Filers for Chevron Shareholder Resolutions

Resolutions at Chevron on Corporate Governance and $18 Billion Ecuador Liability

A group of institutional investors are filing three separate resolutions at Chevron over its corporate governance and management of its legal liabilities in Ecuador.

New Forest Code Will Condemn the Amazon Rainforest

Greenpeace Brazil | Last week senators in Brazil approved a text that condemns the Brazilian forests, a deal between government and agribusiness made in back rooms and secret meetings, and they rejected an amendment that calls for a ten-year moratorium on deforestation in the Amazon. This rejection revealed the true intentions behind the new Forest Code text and the...

Declaration of the Indigenous Peoples of the World at COP 17

Durban, South Africa – We, the Indigenous Peoples of the world, united in the face of the climate crisis and the lack of political will of the States, especially the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, demand the immediate adoption of legally binding agreements with shared but differentiated responsibilities, to halt global warming and to...

Oil Discovery in Ecuador Prompts Plan to Protect Indigenous Territories

Indian Country | Ecuador's Yasuní National Park is one of the richest places on earth, with a wealth of flora and fauna – some found nowhere else on the planet – in its forests, and an estimated 850 million barrels of petroleum beneath them. It is also home to the Tagaeri and Taromenane, tribes that continued to shun contact with the outside world.

Nourish the Cause: Gourmet Gifts that Give!

This holiday season, give ethically-sourced, gourmet superfoods and Essential Living Foods will give 25% of your purchase directly to Amazon Watch.

Chevron Challenged for Environmental Crimes at Golf Tournament

Groups Demand Company Follow Court Orders and Clean up Toxic Mess in Ecuador

Thousand Oaks, CA – An airplane with a banner will circle overhead for three hours on both days of the Chevron World Challenge golf tournament, calling on it to remediate the environmental disaster in Ecuador after three decades of contaminating the country's rainforest in reckless pursuit of profit.

The Last Song of Mario Guifarro

Earth Island Journal | "In some parts of the Amazon the deforestation rate has gone up by 50 percent within the last year," says Leila Salazar-Lopez, the program director of Amazon Watch. "That means increased levels of conflict as activists working with rural communities run up against big corporations and black market forces."

Fiddling While the Amazon Burns

Keeping the world's biggest forest standing depends on greens, Amerindians and enlightened farmers working together – if lawmakers let them

The Economist | Jaci-Paraná, Brazil – Drive out of Porto Velho, and you see the trouble the world's largest forest is in. Lorry after lorry trundles by laden with logs; charred tree-stumps show where ranchers burned what the loggers left behind; a few cattle roam sparsely through the scrubby fields. In places the acid subsoil shows through, sandy and bone...

Forest-Dependent Communities Lobby for End of REDD+

IPS | Durban, South Africa – Organizations working with indigenous peoples living in forests say the United Nations programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries is just another way for big corporates to reap huge profits.

Documentary Takes Aim at Belo Monte Dam

TreeHugger | There's a war of sorts underway in the Brazilian Amazon, and the stakes are high. Filmaker André D’Elia is hoping his documentary Belo Monte - Announcement of a War will help his side.

Amazonian Indigenous Leader Confronts Talisman in Calgary

Achuar grow support across Canada; condemn Talisman operations in ancestral territory

Calgary, Canada – After a two week campaign tour through four Canadian cities to raise awareness about Canada-based Talisman Energy's controversial operations in the Peruvian Amazon and culminating in the company’s hometown of Calgary, Achuar leader Peas Peas Ayui returns today to the Peruvian Amazon without a commitment from Talisman to...

Traveling with the Achuar

"Talisman thinks you can find strategies to divide us or convince us that you should operate in our lands, but we will not let a single company operate in our territory."

Chevron's Latin America Image Tarnished

UPI | San Francisco, CA – Given Chevron's legacy in Ecuador, there's no reason to suspect the U.S. supermajor will act responsibility with Brazil's oil spill, opponents say.