One of the world's largest fund managers, BlackRock, which has been proclaiming its high sustainability and ethical values is fighting off a barrage of criticisms that it is in fact one of the worst offenders against the planet.
All: 2018
The Most Destructive Force for Climate Change You’ve Never Heard Of
BlackRock, the world's largest investment firm, holds more shares in fossil fuel and other industries that cause climate change than any other company in the world. That means that BlackRock's portfolio constitutes a huge liability for putting the planet on a path towards runaway climate change.
Indigenous Communities Reject Oil Drilling in Block 10
The recent approval of a new oil concession in Ecuador fails to fulfill Indigenous rights enshrined in the country’s 2008 constitution
NACLA | "I come from the Amazon, and my people have long defended the rainforest from threats like oil drilling, which would destroy our forest home. We know that a majority of oil exported from the Amazon comes to California to be processed, also harming the communities near refineries and contributing to global climate change," said Mirian Cisneros...
Environmental Groups Oppose Chevron’s Use of Dirty Tricks to Evade Justice in Ecuador
Organizations argue in legal filings that attacks against lawyer creates widespread silencing of voices calling for corporate accountability
Oakland, CA – Two environmental NGOs filed formal petitions this week before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights and the New York Bar opposing Chevron's attempts to use the legal system to attack those pushing the company to address its toxic legacy in the Amazon.
BlackRock Targeted as Largest Driver of Climate Destruction in New Campaign
Leading climate groups call out the world’s largest owner of fossil fuel companies, tell BlackRock CEO to walk the talk
New York, NY – A campaign launching today is holding BlackRock accountable as the single largest contributor to climate destruction. The campaign, BlackRock's Big Problem, asserts that as the world's biggest owner of fossil fuel companies, BlackRock is putting the planet on a path towards runaway climate change. The campaign launches as world...
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Environmental Campaign Targets BlackRock Amid Claims of “Climate Destruction”
Calls out Fink for failing to "walk the talk"
Investment Week | An environmental campaign has criticised BlackRock for allegedly being the "largest owner of fossil fuel companies and single largest contributor to climate destruction", and singled out CEO Larry Fink as failing to manage the business in line with his own expectations of stocks the firm invests in.
The Amazon on the Brink
Once a leader in protecting the region's vast forests, Brazil is now moving in the opposite direction
The New York Times | If the government's retrenchment on environmental protection continues, there may soon be nothing to stop the chain saws on the Amazonian frontier, where the rule of law can be weak and land is frequently seized and cleared illegally. This has implications beyond Brazil. The Amazon's lush forests make up the largest reserve of carbon dioxide on...
Climate Action Must Address Fossil Fuels, Protect Forests, and Listen to Communities
"We are here because 2.5 million acres of our forests are being negotiated behind our backs. Our forests are not just carbon," said Marlon Santi of Sarayaku. "Allowing oil companies to continue to pollute while using the forests we have protected for millennia as carbon sinks without our consent is not a climate solution."
Uncontacted Tribes at Risk Amid “Worrying” Surge in Amazon Deforestation
Brazil is grappling with scores of deadly land conflicts, illustrating the tensions between preserving Indigenous culture and economic development
Thomson Reuters | Ilegal loggers and militias cleared an area three times the size of Gibraltar in Brazil's Amazon this year, threatening an "uncontacted" indigenous tribe.
Brazilian Legislators Break Law, Attack Amazon, Trade Freely with World: Report
Mongabay | A report published this week by Amazon Watch reveals that six prominent Brazilian politicians – members of the bancada ruralista agribusiness lobby and all but one up for election in October – have been found guilty of serious environmental, economic, and social crimes and offenses.
New Report: Northern Consumers Finance Assault on Brazilian Amazon and Its Peoples
Brazilian politicians pushing environmental and rights rollbacks gain direct economic benefits from these policy changes that allow them to produce more agricultural commodities for the global market, report shows
Oakland, CA – A hard-hitting report published today unmasks key Brazilian political actors behind an ongoing assault on the Amazon rainforest and exposes the global corporate and financial entities that support them. The report from Amazon Watch reveals how the supply chains of leading brand names like Coca-Cola, and the portfolios of asset...
Complicity in Destruction
How northern consumers and financiers sustain the assault on the Brazilian Amazon and its peoples
Despite their importance, the Brazilian Amazon and its peoples are suffering the worst assault in a generation. Deforestation is mounting steadily while hard-fought environmental and human rights protections, critical to the future of the rainforest, are under serious attack. Indigenous and traditional communities themselves suffer...
“They Won’t Be Able to Eat Their Money”
Pacific Standard spoke with Amazonian activists, local grandmothers, and small children at Saturday's march in San Francisco
Pacific Standard | "The planet depends on us; the Earth, the rivers, the mountains, the trees provide us with oxygen, and we need to ensure that we protect them. We need to listen to each other's voices, we need to understand that climate change doesn't just affect indigenous people – it affects all of us. We must have the will to change. We're committing suicide in...
Indigenous, Frontline Community Groups and Climate Leaders Decry Greenwashed Climate Summit, Deliver Open Letter to Gov. Brown
In open letter to Brown, communities most affected by climate change demand real people- and earth-based solutions
San Francisco, CA – On day three of the Solidarity to Solutions Week countering the upcoming Global Action Climate Summit, frontline leaders hosted a rally and delivered an open letter rejecting the Governor's Climate and Forest Task Force and demanding its cancellation.
Thousands March in Rise for Climate Demonstration in San Francisco
San Francisco Chronicle | Mirian Cisneros, president of the Kichwa people of Sarayaku in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador had a simple plea to the United States: respect indigenous people's rights and stop extracting fuels from their land. "We must leave fossil fuels underground, both in the Amazon forest and the whole world," Cisneros said.
Thousands March in San Francisco to Draw Attention to Global Climate Change Ahead of World Summit
East Bay Times | “I come from the living forest,” said Mirian Cisneros, president of the Kichwa People of Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon. “I also come from a people that have fought for years and years against the threat of oil drilling. I am here in this large march with brothers and sisters from the whole planet because we understand that we have to leave...
In the Declaration of Yarinacocha, Shipibo Healers Organize to Resist Spiritual Extractivism
Reality Sandwich | Last April, a Canadian ayahuasca tourist rode a motorbike into the Amazonian township of Victoria Gracia, sought out the venerated 81-year-old Shipibo healer Maestra Olivia Arévalo Lomas, pulled out a gun and shot her dead. The fallout from the murder is emblematic of a common problem, what we are framing as spiritual extractivism.
Climate Leadership Means Keeping Fossil Fuels in the Ground in Tropical Forests and Beyond
California Governor Jerry Brown can show true climate leadership by phasing out oil and gas production in the state
Mongabay | Protecting tropical forests is key to mitigating climate change. When California Governor Jerry Brown convenes the Global Climate Action Summit next week, he should seize the opportunity to make an announcement that will help address one of the root causes of both deforestation and climate change: a phase out of oil and gas production in...
Trade Tribunal Validates Corporate Abuse of Amazonians by Ruling in Chevron’s Favor
"It is absurd that an international trade tribunal can circumvent a sovereign democratic nation's independent judiciary. Ecuadorian courts were essentially found guilty of considering the evidence against Chevron and holding the company to account," said Amazon Watch Associate Director Paul Paz y Miño.
Divide and Conquer: GeoPark Resurrects Nefarious Old Tactics
Let's say you're an oil company (because, you know, corporations are people, too). You have plans to drill in the Amazon rainforest. The government encourages you to go in, since it will get a share of your profits. There's just one problem: local indigenous communities are vehemently opposed, having seen nearby rivers polluted and people poisoned...
Statement on the Entry of GeoPark into the Wampis Nation
The authorities of the communities of the Wampis Nation, found within the Morona district of the Loreto region, would like to address public opinion to express our rejection of the oil company GeoPark's entry into oil concession Block 64.
Wampis and Achuar Peoples Demand Annulment of Oil Block 64 to Be Operated by GeoPark
110 organized communities opposed the exploitation and transportation of oil within their territories
Representatives of the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampis Nation and the Federation of Achuar Nationalities of Peru are sounding the alarm about a non-representative commission of indigenous people who are trying to dialogue with the government to demand benefits from oil activities.
Sarayaku Launches Living Forest Proposal – ¡Viva Kawsak Sacha!
In late July, the Kichwa People of Sarayaku officially launched their visionary Kawsak Sacha (Living Forest) proposal to the world. It was an incredibly beautiful, energizing, and historic moment to witness!
International Coalition Asks Ecuador’s President Moreno to Protect Earth Defenders from Attacks
Quito, Ecuador – Today, International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, an international coalition launched a campaign calling on Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno to implement three policies to protect Earth Defenders – those who dedicate their lives to protecting human rights and nature, many of whom are indigenous leaders.
Belo Monte: There Is Nothing Green or Sustainable About These Mega-dams
The Conversation | Belo Monte is just one of many dams across the globe that have been justified – and funded – as sustainable pursuits. Yet, this conflates the ends with the means. Hydroelectricity may appear relatively 'clean' but the process in which a mega-dam is built is far from it.
Ecuador’s Indigenous Activists Are Under Attack. Will the Government Protect Them?
President Lenín Moreno should make protecting Indigenous groups a priority, says Amnesty International's Americas director
Americas Quarterly | As indigenous peoples from across Ecuador commemorate the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples on August 9th, activists will demand that Ecuador's President Lenín Moreno fulfills his promise to protect them and their territories. The day comes as a string of recent threats and attacks against indigenous human rights defenders has...
Impacts of Mining Project “Mirador” in the Ecuadorian Amazon
Using satellite imagery, GIS data, and remote sensing analysis, this interactive multimedia presentation is a tool for tracking and analyzing the effects of the the "Mirador" project, an open pit mine with the purpose of extracting copper, silver and gold, in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest.
Helping the Achuar Say #AdiosGeoPark
A new chapter has opened in the Peruvian Achuar effort to keep their Amazonian territory free of oil companies with the official launch of the #AdiosGeoPark campaign. An important tool in this new campaign is the short but powerful video produced by Vagabond Films in conjunction with filmmaker Charles Gay.
Chinese/Western Financing of Roads, Dams Led to Major Andes Amazon Deforestation
Mongabay | "We are seeing some of the same manifest destiny-style development schemes that characterized the region decades ago. It is rapidly turning the Amazon from carbon sink to carbon source at the time the climate – and planet – can least afford it," said Kevin Koenig of Amazon Watch.
