News & Multimedia from 2013

Rain Forest Warriors: How Indigenous Tribes Protect the Amazon

With outside help, tribes like the Kayapo defend their land against ranchers, loggers, and miners

Brazil's deforestation rate has stopped; not everywhere, but at the borders of what appears from space to be a green island the size of a small country. The brown spreads around this protected zone in the southern Xingu river basin of Brazil, but doesn't penetrate. These are the borders of the lands of Indigenous tribes.

The Battle of Belo Monte

All about the third largest dam in the world

São Paulo, Brazil – Today, the Folha website published the English version of "The Battle of Belo Monte", the first multimedia article from the "All About" series that launched other digital dossiers over 2014.

Oil Industry "Devastating" for Amazon Communities, Warns UN Rapporteur

James Anaya says oil companies have affected health and food sources of indigineous people in the Peruvian rainforest

Indigenous people in Peru have suffered "devastating consequences" as a result of extractive industries in the Amazon rainforest, according to the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights.

Prominent Organizations Publicly Condemn Chevron's Actions in Ecuador Case

Oakland, CA – Today, a dozen prominent environmental and human rights organizations including Amazon Watch, the Sierra Club, 350.org and Food and Water Watch issued a public letter condemning Chevron's actions in its decades-long legal battle to evade responsibility for deliberately dumping billions of gallons of toxic wastewater into the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador.

Chevron's Threat to Open Society

Institutions, Organizations and Individuals Advocating for Corporate Accountability Condemn Chevron’s Retaliatory Attacks on Human Rights and Corporate Accountability Advocates and See it as a Serious Threat to Open Society and Due Process of Law

We condemn the actions by Chevron in its efforts to silence critics and ignore a $9.5 billion judgment against it for environmental damage in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Chevron's actions set a dangerous precedent and represent a growing and serious threat to the ability of civil society to hold corporations accountable for their misdeeds around the world.

Ontario Court Revives Chevron Amazon Pollution Case

Referring to comments from a Chevron spokesman that the company would "fight this until hell freezes over" and then "fight it out on the ice," Justice James MacPherson of the Court of Appeal writes: "Chevron's wish is granted. After all these years, the Ecuadorian plaintiffs deserve to have the recognition and enforcement of the Ecuadorian judgment heard on the merits in the appropriate jurisdiction. At this juncture, Ontario is that jurisdiction."

Could Hell Be Starting to Freeze Over in Canada?

"This order will allow us the opportunity to hold Chevron accountable for fleeing the scene of its environmental crimes in Ecuador after a valid judgment was entered against it," said Fajardo, lead lawyer for the communities.