Last week two key leaders in the ongoing struggle against Belo Monte denounced European corporate backing of the dam before Green Party members of the European Parliament in Brussels.
All: 2013
Damocracy: The Movie
Watch this powerful new documentary that takes the name of the Damocracy movement formed following the Rio+20 Earth Summit to counter the permanent destruction of cultural and natural heritage being caused by large-scale dams.
Visiting Yawepare and Clean Water for the Amazon
ClearWater is a community-based project that is providing clean water drinking systems to hundreds of affected families among the indigenous nationalities in this oil-affected region.
Ecuador Punts Its Oil Bidding Round but China May Be Only Taker
Financial Times | Ecuador is licensing a chunk of the Amazon and now has extended a deadline by which bid for oil blocks must be submitted. To some, it could suggest Ecuador had received less interest than initially hoped for.
Actress Michelle Thrush Helps Win Oil Company Concession for Indigenous Ecuadorians
Indian Country Today | Canadian Gemini award–winning Cree actress and self-proclaimed "artist in solidarity with Idle No More" Michelle Thrush is wielding her celebrity clout in defense of Indigenous Peoples of Ecuador.
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Ecuador Delays 11th Oil Round Deadline
In a bit of an Earth Day reprieve, Ecuador has extended the deadline for companies to offer bids for the 16 oil blocks up for sale in the country's southeastern Amazon rainforests.
Ecuador Extends Deadline for Bids on 11th Oil Round
Wall Street Journal | Quito, Ecuador – Ecuador has extended to July 16 the deadline to submit offers for companies interested in the country's 11th oil-licensing round for blocks located in the southeast.
Controversial Belo Monte Dam Featured in Damocracy
The Amazon and Mesopotamia: Large-scale dams focus of new documentary
Brasilia, Brazil – A documentary launched today, Damocracy, focuses on the cultural and natural heritage the world stands to lose as the foundations of two controversial large-scale dams are being laid despite widespread opposition and resistance – the Belo Monte dam in the Brazilian Amazon and the Ilisu Dam in southeast Turkey.
Deadly Sins in the Brazilian Amazon
The trampling of indigenous rights, military force used against protesters, impunity, megadams and environmental destruction. Is Brazil returning to the bad old days?
Huffington Post | By prioritising these large infrastructure projects at immense cost to the people and the environment, by suppressing protest with military force, by condoning the appalling conditions in these construction sites, by failing to prevent the murder of protesters and indigenous and grassroots leaders, the Brazilian government is sending the dangerous...
Idle No More Goes Up Against Ecuador's 11th Round
Actress and aboriginal activist Michelle Thrush demanded to know why the Ecuadorian government is "auctioning off over three million hectares of indigenous land in the Amazon without the consent of the people who live there."
Activists Protest in Canada Over Amazon Oil Auction in Ecuador
Wall Street Journal | Quito, Ecuador – Labor unionists, aboriginal activists and environmentalists on Wednesday called for the Ecuadorean government to suspend its auction of oil concessions in the country's Amazon rainforest.
Coalition Confronts Ecuador in Canada Over Amazon Oil Auction
Protests mark meeting between Canadian oil executives and Ecuadorian government
Calgary, Canada – Amidst protests from a broad coalition of Canadians and international allies, Ecuadorian government officials met with Canadian investors and oil company executives Wednesday at the Telus Convention Center in Calgary. Labor unionists, aboriginals, environmentalists and faith groups united in support of Idle No More, calling...
Indigenous Leaders meet in Puyo, Ecuador to Oppose the XI Oil Round
"Our territories belong to our ancestors, they belong to our grandparents, first they will have to kill us to operate in our territory," explained delegates from the community of Amazanga.
A Message from the Achuar to Canada
"I would like to thank our allies in Canada for their solidarity in this struggle. Thanks to the many actions taken we have achieved a great victory: a large and powerful corporation, Talisman, has been forced to leave our ancestral territory."
Injustice in the Amazon
Rural Brazil Lets An(other) Environmental Murderer Walk Free
VICE | In the trial of the killers of Brazilian environmental activist couple Zé Claudio and Maria do Espirito Santo, Marabá’s justice system has once again given the green light to those who think murder is the best way to solve a problem.
We Beat Chevron, but the Fight for Real Justice Continues
At one point or another every social justice activist wakes up wondering if we stand a chance against the massive forces acting against us. This week, my faith in justice was given a boost when we won a major victory against Chevron.
Increasing Pressures on Yasuní Lead to More Violence in the Amazon
A group of indigenous Waorani warriors has allegedly carried out revenge killings against other indigenous people deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon. This latest spate follows the March 5th deaths of Ompore and Bogueney, an elderly Waorani couple killed by a group of Taromenane in the community of Yarentaro. It is yet unknown exactly how many...
Amazon Tribe Threatens to Declare War Amid Row over Brazilian Dam Project
Munduruku leaders hit out at "betrayal" after government pushes on with dam construction without community's consent
The Guardian | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – An Amazonian community has threatened to "go to war" with the Brazilian government after what they say is a military incursion into their land by dam builders.
Toxic and Tax Exempt: How Tar Sands Spills From Michigan to Arkansas Cost Us All
Oil companies don't have to pay for clean up of spills from pipelines carrying unconventional crude
The Price of Oil | As the Obama Administration continues to ponder a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, TransCanada has been assuring everyone of it’s safety. “Safety of the public and the environment is a top priority for TransCanada” their slick website reads. Any spill is deemed “unlikely”. Hardly.
Ecuador to Sell a Third of Its Amazon Rainforest to Chinese Oil Companies
Indigenous groups claim they have not consented to oil projects, as politicians visit Beijing to publicise bidding process
Business Insider | "My understanding is that this is more of a debt issue – it's because the Ecuadoreans are so dependent on the Chinese to finance their development that they're willing to compromise in other areas such as social and environmental regulations," said Adam Zuckerman, environmental and human rights campaigner at Amazon Watch.
25 Years after Chico Mendes, Killings in the Amazon Are Endemic
This week's trial of men accused of killing two activists last year highlights the continuing problems faced in the Amazon
The Guardian | These high-profile murders are just the tip of the iceberg. In Pará alone, 231 people were killed and 809 received death threats between 1996 and 2010, while in 2011 78 people received death threats and 12 people were killed. "Violence is the instrument of local capitalism," says Milanez. "They're proud to kill and they're seen by some as local...
Reopening the Wounds of Bagua
Peruvian government actions to criminalize social protest started with indigenous peoples
Almost four years ago gunshots in the Peruvian Amazon were heard around the world. Last month, the state prosecutor asked for the most severe charges against 54 indigenous leaders, including life sentences. These charges are an underhanded political tactic to criminalize social protest and intimidate grassroots leaders.
Ecuador's Amazon Rainforest May Be Auctioned to Chinese Oil Companies
Indigenous groups say they weren't consulted as required by constitution
U.S. News & World Report | Beijing, China – Ecuadorian officials met with the leaders of Chinese oil companies in Beijing this week to discuss plans to auction a large section of the Amazon Rainforest for oil exploration.
Voices of the Xingu: Interview with Maini Militão
Stop Belo Monte | This 17-year-old girl with long hair, exuberant and full of energy, did not try to hide her anger about what happened to her family. She told me that she was now dedicating her time to studies and fighting against the Belo Monte dam.
Mahogany’s Last Stand
Illegal logging has all but wiped out Peru's mahogany. Loggers are turning their chain saws on lesser known species critical to the health of the rain forest.
National Geographic | Illicit practices are believed to account for three-fourths of the annual Peruvian timber harvest. Despite a crackdown on mahogany logging that began five years ago and a sharp decline in production, much of the timber reaching markets in the industrialized world is reported to be of illegal origin. Most of those exports have gone to the U.S. but...
Brazil Activists End Protest Occupation of Amazon Dam
AFP | "After a meeting between indigenous leaders, fishermen's representatives and the management of the Norte Energia consortium in the charge of the construction, the occupation of the Pimental site ended late Thursday," said Maira Irigaray, an attorney for the US non-governmental organization Amazon Watch.
Peruvian Government Declares State of Environmental Emergency in Pastaza Region
Alianza Arkana Blog | "We are still drinking contaminated water every day... We think that with the declaration of emergency the government will be forced to worry about us and can solve our problem sooner."
Peru Declares Environmental State of Emergency in Its Rainforest
Government reports high levels of barium, lead, chrome and petroleum-related compounds
The Guardian | Lima, Peru – Peru has declared an environmental state of emergency in a remote part of its northern Amazon rainforest, home for decades to one of the country's biggest oil fields, currently operated by the Argentinian company Pluspetrol. Achuar and Kichwa indigenous people living in the Pastaza river basin near Peru's border with Ecuador...
Ecuador Auctions Off Amazon to Chinese Oil Firms
Indigenous groups claim they have not consented to oil projects, as politicians visit Beijing to publicise bidding process
The Guardian | Beijing, China – Ecuador plans to auction off more than three million hectares of pristine Amazonian rainforest to Chinese oil companies, angering indigenous groups and underlining the global environmental toll of China's insatiable thirst for energy.
