Indigenous Peoples, local communities, social movements, environmental activists, and women's groups from 25 different countries today kicked off a week of protests, meetings, and events to demand respect for community land rights.
All: 2017
Solar Power Lights Up Amazon Communities Fighting Dirty Energy
"The government can't call us hypocrites for opposing oil extraction yet using dirty diesel generators. We've made the first big step towards being fossil fuel-free – the government should learn from us."
Brazil Suspends Belo Sun’s Gold Mine Licence, Stock Collapses
In February, a group of locals who opposed the project asked Pará authorities to suspend the recently issued construction licence for Volta Grande. They oppose the company’s planned use of cyanide during extraction of the precious metal, arguing that waste will be deposited in a dam located just 1.5 km from the Xingu River, a tributary of the...
Gold Mine Aggravates Tensions in Brazil’s Amazon Region
"Either Belo Sun throws us out of here or we throw them out."
Brazil Slashes Environment Budget by 43%
Brazil accounts for nearly two-thirds of the Amazon rainforest, the world's largest tropical forest. After several years of decline, deforestation – driven by beef, soy and timber industries – appears to be increasing again.
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Trouble for Oil in the Peruvian Amazon?
Reports of oil companies leaving the Peruvian Amazon made weekly headlines in March, providing encouragement to those of us who love the Amazon and know that humanity must move away from fossil fuels. In addition to the announcement by two oil companies that they will abandon drilling projects in important oil blocks, a Peruvian court annulled a...
We Are the Land
Indigenous lands help regulate the planet's climate, for they are obstacles to deforestation. There is ten times less deforestation in indigenous lands than in non-titled lands.
An Amazon Community Braces for "Monster" Gold Mine
According to Christian Poirier of Amazon Watch, "there is no plan for the removal of the mine waste – it's a ticking time bomb."
Toxic Mega-Mine Looms Over Belo Monte’s Affected Communities
On the banks of Brazil's lower Xingu River, a toxic controversy looms large, threatening to heap insult upon the grievous injuries of the nearby Belo Monte hydroelectric dam. Belo Sun would become Brazil's largest open-pit gold mine, straddling the territories of three indigenous peoples and other traditional communities that are already reeling...
Ecuador Election: No Good Option for the Amazon
Regardless of who wins, the response to the escalated social conflicts over extractive industry projects, rollback of indigenous rights, and criminalization of civil society protest will be an early and pressing challenge for the incoming administration.
Amazon Threatened by China-Ecuador Loans for Oil
Meeting contractual loan payments with oil is a major driver behind Ecuador's effort to open up new, pristine Amazon indigenous rainforest territory to oil drilling. All this new drilling has led to massive impacts in the Amazon rainforest that have been dire both for its world-renowned biodiversity and its indigenous peoples.
The Controversy That Could Swing Ecuador’s Election
Indigenous people make up as much as 30 percent of Ecuador's 16.5 million citizens, and their swing to Lasso could be the deciding factor in the run-off elections.
Community-Based Projects Are a Climate Change Solution and Need Our Support
Throughout these years of peaceful resistance and advocating for the Amazon, I have grown to understand that a great way to fight against exploitative oil, gas, and mining development is to support community-based economic initiatives.
Community Consent: Business Lessons from the Amazon
From the snow-covered plains of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of North Dakota to Shuar rainforest territories in the Ecuadorian Amazon, there is a resurgence of resistance to extractive industry projects around the world. These conflicts have major implications for China, Latin America's largest trading partner, whose state run companies are...
Visiting Indigenous Communities in the Amazon Rainforest with Nahko of Medicine for the People
Nahko has long been connecting his own indigenous roots – he is of Apache descent, as well Puerto Rican, and Filipino and Guam heritage – with indigenous peoples and social movements across North America and beyond wherever the band tours, linking struggles to defend the sacred, protect water, and life.
Musician and Activist Nahko Travels To the Amazon To Build Bridges of Indigenous Solidarity
Nahko, the musician and frontman of Medicine for the People, and his bandmate Patricio Zuñiga Labarca have just returned to the U.S. after a week in Ecuador, where they visited the pristine rainforests of the Ecuadorian Amazon and met with indigenous leaders and communities to hear first hand about local efforts to protect their rights, forests...
"It Opens the Floodgate"
"You cannot deny land to indigenous people that are ancestrally attached to it and expect them to continue to exist as a culture," said Christian Poirier, program director at Amazon Watch.
Is Chinese Development Finance Enabling Rainforest Destruction in Brazil?
Brazil's current economic and political shifts and its effort to attract Chinese investment are part of a concerted effort by the Brazilian government to industrialize vast sections of the Amazon, with grave ramifications for the forests, rivers, and peoples who help sustain this irreplaceable biome for the benefit of humanity.
Amazon Land Battle Pits Indigenous Villagers Against Might of Ecuador State
Military drones and police helicopters circle above the Shuar indigenous village of El Tink, an Amazonian community in Ecuador where a high-profile dispute against a Chinese copper mine has become a standoff and a siege.
Native Nations Rise: Indigenous Solidarity in Action
Last week thousands of indigenous activists and allies traveled to Washington, DC for the Native Nations Rise march, convened by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and grassroots indigenous leaders. It was an important moment to bring the fight against the Dakota Access pipeline to the doorstep of the White House, stating unequivocally that far from...
"Beef Caucus" Takes Over Indigenous Policies in Brazil
Donald Trump is not alone in choosing collaborators seemingly at odds with the jobs they are given in government. While the US has climate change denier Scott Pruitt leading the government's environmental protection, in Brazil, the new head of the ministry in charge of demarcating indigenous lands believes that it is not up to the federal...
Indigenous Leaders Denounce Ecuadorian Government Over Mining Conflicts
"We are being persecuted by the military and the police who are invading the territories of the Shuar communities," Elvia Dagua, a local indigenous member of CONFENIAE told the media Thursday. "They have destroyed homes. So the Shuar people, women, men, and children have had to flee."
Watch Belo Monte Documentary Today!
Today is International Day of Action for Rivers, and what better way to commemorate it than watching the award-winning documentary film, Belo Monte: After the Flood!
Why We Rise and Resist for the Amazon
Just a few weeks ago, I was in deep in the Amazon visiting our indigenous partners the Sápara and the Kichwa of Sarayaku with a small group of Amazon Watch supporters. I am so grateful for this opportunity and want to share some of my reflections with you on why we rise and resist for the Amazon.
Pueblos Indígenas Se Movilizan desde Standing Rock a la Amazonía
Sentimos una tristeza profunda en Amazon Watch al ver el desalojo y la quema de los campamentos solidarios en Standing Rock. Como muchos de ustedes, los habíamos visitado y habíamos rezado, manifestado, y alzado la voz en apoyo a su territorio y su agua.
Samba Parade Spotlights Threats To Rivers, Forests and Indigenous Rights at Rio’s Carnival
In a colorful and highly energized samba parade at Rio de Janeiro's world-famous Carnival on Monday morning, Imperatriz Leopoldinense, one of Brazil's most traditional and respected samba schools, paid a special tribute to indigenous peoples of the Amazon's Xingu River, highlighting threats to their territories, livelihoods and rights.
Native Nations Rise from Standing Rock to the Amazon
At Amazon Watch, we felt a profound sadness last Wednesday when the protests camps at Standing Rock were fully evacuated and destroyed. But the Standing Rock struggle, and the movement of indigenous peoples across the continent to defend their land and the environment, is nowhere near over.
China’s Amazon Footprint Gets Scant Attention in Ecuador’s Election
The impacts of new drilling in the Amazon rainforest have been dire both for its world-renowned biodiversity and its indigenous peoples, many of whom have long rejected controversial drilling plans on their lands.
Saramurillo: Justice This Time for the Indigenous Peoples of the Peruvian Amazon?
In the face of too many previous agreements left unfulfilled, more unity is the best strategy forward, affirm the indigenous federations united in Saramurillo.
