Toronto Star | The Brazilian government wants to see more research on a massive gold-mining project near the Amazon River before the Canadian firm behind it goes ahead with developments.
All: 2013
Belo Monte: Justice Now!
Rio+20 was recently held in Rio de Janeiro, yet Brazil's current energy polices have created glaring setbacks for the rights of indigenous peoples, the environment and Brazilian democracy.
The Amazon is Not for Sale!
"We've seen the impact of oil extraction in Ecuador and the impact of oil refining here in Houston. We know that it only brings contamination, poverty, and cultural destruction. We will defend our sacred lands and culture as we have for millennia."
Brazilian President Stumbles on Energy
IPS | Rio De Janeiro, Brazil – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, whose political career was fuelled by her stellar performance in the energy sector, is now faced with an ironic challenge: how to bring down the unusually high price of electricity predominantly generated by hydropower – the cheapest source – in this South American...
Chevron Hit by Argentine Legal Quagmire
The Financial Times | Buenos Aires, Argentina – Chevron's investment in Argentina has become bogged down in a morass of legal challenges. Many of its assets in Argentina have been frozen as a result of an action by Amazonian villagers pursuing $19bn in damages for pollution in Ecuador more than two decades ago.
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Authorities Reject Belo Sun Mining Project in Brazilian Amazon
Public Ministry warns against licensing for Canadian mining company gold operations
Altamira, Brazil – Brazil's Federal Public Ministry stunned Canadian Belo Sun Mining Corporation last week when it issued recommendations warning against the issuing of environmental licenses for a gold mine in the Brazilian Amazon.
Brazil's Energy Crisis Creates Opportunities for Alternatives
Despite the recent alarming shortages, the Brazilian government denies the need to implement electricity conservation measures – an option deemed "ridiculous" by President Dilma Rousseff.
"To Get the Gold, They Will Have to Kill Every One of Us"
The most-storied warrior tribe in Ecuador prepares to fight as the government sells gold-laden land to China
Salon.com | Three years after Avatar's Quito premiere, declarations of martial readiness are multiplying and gaining volume throughout the tribal territories of Ecuador's mountainous southeast. The warnings bare sharpest teeth in the Shuar country of the Cordillera del Condor, the rain forest mountain range targeted by President Rafael Correa for the...
Risk Assessment: Ecuador's XI Oil Tender
This assessment is an overview of legacy issues and current economic, legal, social, and environmental risk factors faced by companies interested in submitting bids for Ecuador's Ronda Sur Oriente oil lease auction.
Power-Hungry Brazil Builds Dams and More Dams, Across the Amazon
Washington Post | Across Brazil, rivers are being diverted. Canals and dikes are being built. Roads are being paved, and blocks of concrete are being laid across a network of waterways that provides a fifth of the world's fresh water. And the big dams will inundate at least 2,500 square miles of forests and fields – an area larger than the state of Delaware...
Kangaroo Court Favors Chevron. Surprise, Surprise!
Chevron has found an obscure private arbitration panel, acting under the mantle of the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty, in an attempt to circumvent justice in Ecuador and threaten that country into interfering in the Lago Agrio case.
Your Actions Make the Difference for the Xingu and Its People
I am writing on behalf of the magical and mystical Amazon rainforest and the traditional populations that inhabit its sacred places. Last year you followed our battles and supported us, and your actions made a difference.
Indigenous Leaders Confront Ecuadorian Government in Houston
Indigenous leaders from the Ecuadorian Amazon have traveled to Houston to challenge the Ecuadorian government face-to-face during its XI Round oil concession promotional activities.
Ecuadorian Indigenous Leaders & Allies Confront Government Over Oil Auction
Amazonian leaders and international allies unite in Houston at NAPE
Houston, TX – Indigenous leaders from the Ecuadorian Amazon have challenged the Ecuadorian government face-to-face during its XI Round oil concession promotional activities around the North America Prospect Expo (NAPE), the oil prospecting industry's semi-annual trade show where government officials scheduled meetings with oil company...
Argentine Court Upholds Freeze on Chevron Assets
Reuters | Buenos Aires, Argentina – An Argentine appeals court has upheld a freeze on up to $19 billion worth of assets held by U.S. oil major Chevron Corp in Argentina as part of an environmental lawsuit by Ecuadorean villagers.
Chevron Loses Environment Case Appeal
"The judgment is enforceable, and in fact is being enforced simultaneously in Canada, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia."
The Financial Times | Buenos Aires, Argentina – Chevron has lost its appeal in Argentina against asset freezes to enforce an Ecuadorean judgment for the oil major to pay a record $19 billion in damages for environmental pollution and must spell out the impact in its results statement on February 1 or risk violating SEC rules.
A Raging River
Waves engulf homes and fish turn up dead, while fishermen go hungry. The Santo Antônio hydroelectric dam changed the river and life in Rondônia.
A Pública | "It's going to start", warned a friend who worked on the dam's construction. "The Madeira River is dangerous, it demands respect. The engineers say that they have all the technology, but nothing controls the reaction of this river."
Brazil Drought Stokes Worries Over Energy Shortages
BBC | Indigenous Amazon communities say these dams change river flows and so threaten their way of life, while some experts have questioned how much dams affected by long periods of low rainfall can really add to Brazil's power grid.
Investors Should Strongly Back the AGM Challenge to Chevron over Its Shareholder Subpoenas
The oil company’s actions could endanger the democratic shareholder process.
Responsible Investor | Commenting on their shareholder resolution filed this week for Chevron's 2013 AGM, US responsible investors Needmor Fund and Zevin Asset Management claimed the oil giant was employing "cannon to swat a mosquito" by initiating legal proceedings against shareholders critical of its handling of Ecuador's Amazon environmental damages court judgement.
Oil Extraction: How Oil Production Impacts the Rainforest
Mongabay.com | The extraction of oil is responsible for the deforestation, degradation, and environmental devastation of lands across the globe.
Ecuadorean Tribe Will "Die Fighting" to Defend Rainforest
Kichwa villagers from Sani Isla vow to resist oil prospecting by state-backed company Petroamazonas at all costs
The Guardian | In what looks set to be one of the most one-sided struggles in the history of Amazon forest conservation, an indigenous community of about 400 villagers is preparing to resist the Ecuadorean army and one of the biggest oil companies in South America.
The Belo Monte Hydroelectric Dam Project
World Environment Magazine | Environmentalists, indigenous groups, rocks stars and Hollywood heavy-hitters have had it in for the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam project since Brazil's military dictatorship schemed up the idea some 30 years ago. Over the decades the name of the project has changed along with its design and principle source of financing, but the Brazilian...
In Brazil, a River Dam Collides with the Past
Environmental and indigenous groups have protested the Xingu River project, which the government says is needed to bring power to the booming country. One villager is waiting as long as he can to leave.
Los Angeles Times | Santo Antonio, Brazil – The wind blows in from the river, mingling with the scent of the day's last meal in the kitchen. The smells of work and home for Valcione da Silva. He sits on a worn bench and watches children play on the floor, laughing. Somewhere outside, a siren begins, long and loud.
Peru's Indigenous People Take Battle over Gas Exploration to Court
Campaigning groups say further expansion into Amazon territory could lead to "extermination" of isolated tribes
The Guardian | Peru's biggest indigenous federation, Aidesep, intends to use the courts to halt the planned expansion of the country's largest natural gas reserve further into territory set aside for isolated Amazon tribes.
A Force of Nature: Rebecca Tarbotton 1973-2012
Last week the world lost a great friend. Becky was taken away far too soon, and she was far too young with far too much to accomplish to be removed from our world. And yet in her brief and wonderful life, she achieved so much.
