2016 | Amazon Watch
Amazon Watch

All: 2016

U.N. Experts Slam Ecuador Over Forced Closure of Land Rights Group

The United Nations criticized the government of Ecuador on Friday for ordering the closure of a land rights advocacy group that supports an indigenous community protesting mining plans in land they claim as their ancestral home.

CONAIE Statement on the Militarization of Shuar Territory and the Detention of Agustín Wachapá

We are grateful for the solidarity of the Ecuadorian people and indigenous peoples' organizations, human rights throughout Latin America and the world, and call on the international community to be alert and vigilant to what happens in Ecuador, especially with our sisters and brothers of Shuar Nationality whose territory, life, and survival are in...

Reflecting and Recommitting to Defending Our Rights and Mother Earth

While the political climate has dramatically changed in 2016, we remain ever-committed to advancing our work in defense of the Amazon, in support of indigenous peoples rights and territories, and in growing the global movement to keep fossil fuels in the ground and build a just transition to renewables.

New Witch Hunt in Ecuador Against Indigenous and Environment Defenders

Ecuador became an even more difficult place to be a defender of indigenous rights and the environment in recent days. You would think a country with constitutionally-enshrined protections for Mother Nature would support and encourage indigenous and environmental rights defenders, but sadly that is not the case, and it has implications for the...

Temer Government Set To Overthrow Brazil’s Environmental Agenda

Brazil's conservative National Congress has rushed to pass a wave of legislative initiatives, which taken all together, would dismantle much of the nation's body of law protecting the environment and indigenous people – an effort likely to escalate in 2017.

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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Ecuador Moves To Close Leading Environmental Organization as Part of Crackdown on Civil Society

Ecuador's Environment Ministry announced yesterday its intention to shutter Acción Ecológica, the country's leading grassroots environmental organization. The move is a clear reprisal to the group's efforts to raise awareness about environmental and indigenous rights concerns over a planned mega-copper mine on the lands of the Shuar indigenous...

Peruvian Indigenous Federation Tells Oil Company: Stay Out of Our Territory

"We have lived through the bad experience of damages to our habitat, health, and life as a result of activities related to the Northern Peruvian Oil Pipeline and activities of the oil company Talisman, from which there continue to be environmental liabilities, in part within our territory, that to date have not been remediated," the Achuar wrote...

Joint Declaration from CONAIE and CONFENIAE on the Recent Events in Nankints, Morona Santiago

We reiterate our request to national and international human rights organizations to collaborate in protecting the rights, life and integrity of the Shuar community and of all [people] involved in this situation, and we call for the solidarity of the people to demand the demilitarization and a cease of the violent actions that benefit the Chinese...

Top Scientists: Amazon’s Tapajós Dam Complex "a Crisis in the Making"

Brazil is forging ahead with plans to build a vast hydropower dam complex in the heart of the Amazon that would convert the now remote and wild Tapajós river system into a tamed industrial waterway for the purpose of transporting soybeans – development that scientists and NGOs say will threaten Amazonian biodiversity, ecosystems, traditional...

As Oil Companies Dig Into Yasuní National Park, Ecuadorians Are Fighting Back

"If we can't manage to protect places that are this important,"" says Kevin Koenig, Ecuador program director for Amazon Watch, "then it seems unlikely that we'll be able to protect the rest of the planet. Depending on what happens here, we could be at the beginning of what could turn out to be a very tragic story."

Brazil’s Dispossessed: Belo Monte Dam Ruinous for Indigenous Cultures

Hydropower is often touted as a climate-friendly source of energy, and Brazil has the potential to be one of the world’s greatest producers. Yet the human consequences of damming rivers have proven devastating. A prime example is seen in the charge of ethnocide lodged against the parties responsible for building the Belo Monte Dam.

Sarayaku Fights on for Justice

Four years after the historic verdict in their favor from the Inter-American Court on Human Rights of the Organization of American States, the Kichwa community of Sarayaku was back in San Jose, Costa Rica today facing off with the Ecuadorian government, which has failed to comply with the most critical components of the Court's landmark 2012...

Sarayaku People’s Struggle for Justice in Ecuador Presented in Interactive Digital Map

On the occasion of a public compliance hearing at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights today, members of the indigenous Kichwa community in Sarayaku exposed the Ecuadorian State's failure to comply with the 2012 judgement issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, using a new interactive digital story-map to demonstrate how the...

Victories by Brazil’s Indigenous Movement Demonstrate Ways To Resist Authoritarianism

From North to South America and around the world, the ascendency of authoritarian leaders portends dangerous days ahead. Yet at the same time, remarkable stories continue to emerge of determined resistance to these brutal regressions, led by the continent's indigenous peoples from the Amazon to Standing Rock.

Peru: New President, Old Tensions

After five lackluster years under President Ollanta Humala, Peru is facing a new political scenario with the ascension of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski to the presidency. Here are some of the flashpoints Amazon Watch will be monitoring in the coming months and years.

Amazon Watch Stands in Solidarity with Water Protectors at Standing Rock

On October 27th in North Dakota, indigenous water protectors and their allies were assaulted by over 300 police officers in riot gear, ATVs and armored vehicles. Police used pepper spray, concussion grenades and a sound cannon against non-violent activists in an outrageous and unnecessary use of force. This is yet another example of what...