The law has finally caught up with Chevron. Today's unanimous decision from the Supreme Court of Canada opens the door for Ecuadorian indigenous and farmer communities to enforce their$9.5 billion USD verdict against Chevron and is a major victory for human rights and corporate accountability.
VICE News | Canada's Supreme Court is set to weigh in on one of the most bitterly contested environmental lawsuits in history Friday, deciding whether Ecuadorian villagers can go after Canadian assets of the US-based oil major Chevron.
Reuters | Indigenous protesters in Peru seized oil wells in an Amazonian oil block on Tuesday and said they also planned to halt output in a neighboring concession to press the government to address pollution and compensation demands.
Amazon Watch works hard to ensure that indigenous spokespeople are featured in media coverage related to their lands and rights, but rarely do we see a film 100% in their voice. That's why we're so eager for you to watch and share the film.
Fusion | According to Andrew E. Miller, with Amazon Watch, community-based documentation of the ongoing pollution in the region led to four rivers being declared "environmental emergency zones" by Peru's Environment Minister, though he told Fusion that "few actions were taken to actually address the crisis."
Indian Country Today | Racist portrayals of indigenous people are sadly all too common. "The Green Inferno" takes it up a notch. Why just feature tribal savages of long ago when you can set the story in modern times and show the tribe actually eating people?
The People of the Zenith, Sarayaku, once again are present in solidarity with the call from distinct social sectors, the country's indigenous communities and social movements to defend human dignity, nature and biodiversity against the devastating threat of oil exploitation in our lands.
Indigenous groups from across Ecuador rose up last week in a General Strike to challenge proposed Constitutional amendments curtailing indigenous rights and allowing President Correa to stay in power indefinitely; the water law; expansion of the mining and fossil fuel concessions; and the government's opposition to bilingual education, among many...
Yesterday, thousands of indigenous people marched to Quito and began a national strike against proposed constitutional amendments that would curtail indigenous rights and allow President Rafael Correa to stay in power indefinitely.
This struggle is very clear as we feel the same deception and frustration of seeing the incompetence of our government to exercise its entrusted role. In other words, their responsibility to lead and serve the Ecuadorian people.
New Politics | Ecuador's Indigenous movements have launched an uprising to challenge the government's opposition to bilingual education and its support for an extractive-based economy.
Major roadways across Ecuador were closed yesterday as indigenous groups joined by labor, campesino, and civil society organizations began a national strike against proposed constitutional amendments that would curtail indigenous rights and allow President Rafael Correa to stay in power indefinitely.
On August 5th, Peru's largest indigenous federation AIDESEP spoke out against the racist depictions of Amazonian indigenous peoples in Eli Roth's upcoming movie The Green Inferno. Amazon Watch, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization, supports that statement and adds its voice to the growing chorus of condemnation.
We are deeply appreciative for the honor of collaborating with indigenous peoples, organizations, and activists, from around the Amazon rainforest and elsewhere. It is extraordinary to find common cause in high-stakes human dramas that, we believe, will help shape the future of the entire planet.
The upcoming release of the movie The Green Inferno is of concern to the indigenous organizations that defend these peoples, given that its images portray a banal and erroneous image of isolated indigenous peoples.
Federal Public Prosecutor, Para, Brazil | The company proposes to undertake mining operations in an area that will be most impacted by the Belo Monte hydroelectric project. The Federal Public Prosecutor, National Indian Foundation and Federal University of Para met with the indigenous Yudja to discuss their right to be consulted.
The Guardian | Ecuadorian spies may have broken the law by obtaining personal information on MPs, environmentalists, indigenous groups, human rights activists, academics and political opponents of president Rafael Correa who opposed the exploitation of oil from an Amazonian wilderness, according to leaked papers.
"I've seen a publicity campaign saying that Pluspetrol is working hand-in-hand with the communities, that they protect the environment, our health, our children. It makes me ashamed for them to see this advertising they aren't living up to. They don't care. What's more, they won't admit all the bad things they have done. The people who don't live...
New York Times | El Chaco, Ecuador – Where the Andean foothills dip into the Amazon jungle, nearly 1,000 Chinese engineers and workers have been pouring concrete for a dam and a 15-mile underground tunnel. The $2.2 billion project will feed river water to eight giant Chinese turbines designed to produce enough electricity to light more than a third of...
PUINAMUDT | Puinamudt, Peru – Lack of a clear and precise response from the State regarding the demands of the communities from the Pastaza and Corrientes river basins (represented by the FEDIQUEP and FECONACO indigenous federations, respectively) has generated conflict during the most recent phase of dialogue related to the Block 192 consultations.
EarthRights International | To be clear, there's absolutely nothing wrong with "an effort to pressure Chevron into a settlement." And in the only legal proceedings that Amazon Watch actually participated in, a federal court found that "...there is nothing to suggest that Amazon Watch’s campaigns and speech were more than mere advocacy...All that Chevron has shown this Court...
IPS | Ethnocide, the new accusation leveled against the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, brings to light deeper underlying aspects of the conflicts and controversies unleashed by megaprojects in Brazil's Amazon rainforest.
As part of an ongoing effort to blur the truth, The Washington Times just published a "hit piece" against Amazon Watch, which has long supported the Ecuadorian communities that were devastated by decades of Chevron's reckless actions for which it has been found guilty in a landmark environmental lawsuit.
Not long ago we asked our international community to send a message to Pope Francis calling on him to urge President Correa to leave the oil in the ground in the Amazon and to respect indigenous rights. Thanks largely in part to the many thousands of you who took action – it worked!
New York Times | Quito, Ecuador – Pope Francis on Tuesday called for increased protection of the Amazon rain forest and the indigenous people who live there, declaring that Ecuador must resist exploiting natural riches for "short-term benefits," an implicit rebuke of the policies of President Rafael Correa.
The Guardian | Usually the indigenous peoples living in the remotest Amazon only draw international media attention if certain kinds of photos or film footage emerge, as in mid-2014, or they raid a village or, tragically, kill someone, as happened on 1 May. Many media reports misinform as much as inform: factual errors, no context and all kinds of sensationalism...
Reuters | "The encyclical is without precedent," enthused Kevin Koenig, Quito-based Ecuador program director for Amazon Watch, a group dedicated to protecting ecosystems and indigenous rights. "It's our hope that in his visit to Ecuador, the Pope will be able to inspire Correa to do a better job of protecting the environment here.
As the investigations of operation Lava Jato have unfolded revealing massive corruption within the Brazilian dam industry, the fundamental reasons for the federal government's obsession with destructive dam projects such as Belo Monte and São Manoel are becoming increasingly clear.
VICE News | Brazil announced to much fanfare on this week plans to zero illegal deforestation on its territory by 2030 and restore an area of rainforest the size of Pennsylvania. But experts say the plans are unambitious and activists called the promises "a crushing disappointment" that amounted to nothing more than targets already stipulated by Brazilian law.
