2019 | Amazon Watch
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All: 2019

Amazon Fires Wreak New Level of Havoc on Surroundings

Deforestation, climate change could transform much of region's rainforests into savanna ecosystem, says expert

Anadolu Agency | "The Amazon fires were a global tragedy directly related to President Bolsonaro's anti-environmental rhetoric. We must keep the pressure on the Brazilian government to ensure the protection of the Amazon and its native peoples, who are on the front lines of defending the rainforest, and look inward to do our part in protecting our rainforests and...

Top Scientists Warn of an Amazon “Tipping Point”

Washington Post | "The precious Amazon is teetering on the edge of functional destruction and, with it, so are we," Thomas Lovejoy of George Mason University and Carlos Nobre of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, both of whom have studied the world's largest rainforest for decades, wrote in an editorial in the journal Science Advances. "Today, we stand exactly...

COP25: Amazonian Indigenous Leaders Share Conclusions on the Summit

Hearing a contradiction between what is being said and what is being done, indigenous leaders call for global support to stop new oil drilling, mining exploration, and deforestation in the Amazon Sacred Headwaters

Madrid, Spain – Indigenous leaders representing twenty nationalities from Ecuador and Peru called for global support to stop oil drilling and mining in the Amazon Sacred Headwaters region – the most biodiverse terrestrial ecosystem on the planet.

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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Climate Change: Amazon Oil Boom Under Fire at UN Talks

BBC News | "All those countries are here making declarations about cutting emissions, Ecuador and Peru are making declarations about protecting the Amazon but what we are seeing is a whole different plan to expand extraction, there's a gap between what countries are committing too and what they are actually planning to do in terms of fossil fuel expansion."

Indigenous Leaders Call for Global Support to Stop New Oil Drilling and Mining in the Heart of the Amazon at COP 25

Madrid, Spain – Indigenous leaders representing 20 nationalities from Ecuador and Peru called for global support to stop oil drilling and mining in the Amazon Sacred Headwaters region – the most biodiverse terrestrial ecosystem on the planet. A new report released today demonstrates that this is more than a regional issue: this is a global crisis...

The Amazon Sacred Headwaters Threat Assessment

Imminent new oil drilling in the western Amazon threatens the most biodiverse rainforest in the world, survival of indigenous peoples, and climate stability

At a time when the world needs to be racing to protect the Amazon, a new oil boom in the headwaters of the mighty Amazon River in Ecuador and Peru puts this area, known as the Amazon Sacred Headwaters, in great peril.

Investors Boycott Brazil Over Amazon Deforestation Concerns

Pressure mounts for Brazilian companies to become more compliant with ESG standards

Financial Times | "Consciousness of environmental issues has risen a great deal," says Marcelo Seraphim, Brazil head of the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment. "It's become a question of survival in the global market. It is hard to survive if you are not considering ESG issues."

“The Amazon Is Completely Lawless”: The Rainforest After Bolsonaro’s First Year

Deforestation in the world’s largest rainforest, an important buffer against climate change, has soared under President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil

The New York Times | The last year brought the highest loss in Brazilian rainforest in a decade, and stark evidence of just how badly the Amazon, an important buffer against global warming, has fared in Brazil's first year under President Jair Bolsonaro.

Indigenous Groups Call Out the Financiers of Amazon Destruction at COP 25

Compelling ad in the Financial Times' special COP supplement names and shames those profiting from Amazon destruction

Today the Association of Brazil's Indigenous Peoples published an ad in the Financial Times calling out the worst offenders that finance Amazon destruction and making clear that, “the fate of the Amazon is the fate of the world.”

Protest Statement: Damn Those Who Celebrate Belo Monte!

A Statement of Protest from Movimento Xingu Vivo para Sempre (Xingu Alive Forever Movement)

At a time when the people of the Xingu agonize over their lack of water, Bolsonaro hails the final turbine of Belo Monte. At a time when the fish of the Xingu River are reduced to skin and spine because there are no more nutrients in the river, Bolsonaro celebrates Belo Monte. When the forest tumbles like it never has before in the areas of Belo...

You Rushed to Defend the Amazon at a Critical Tipping Point, but the Fight Is Not Over

As the "lungs of the planet" burned and police attacked indigenous women and children, the world rose up to ACT for the Amazon. In immediate response to the crisis, your support provided over 65 emergency grants to fight both physical and political fires across the Amazon, including indigenous firefighters in Brazil and Bolivia, emergency relief...

“Everything Is at Stake: the Rainforest, the Climate, and Our Survival”

Brazil's indigenous movement builds resistance to Bolsonaro during European tour

"We need to point our fingers in the face of our enemies," said Célia Xacriabá outside BlackRock, an institution that is backing industries responsible for this year's devastating forest fires.

Global Human Rights and Environmental Communities Condemn the House Arrest of U.S. Human Rights Lawyer Steven Donziger

Prominent organizations call for Donziger's immediate release and warn of chilling effect on other human rights lawyers who stand up to corporate polluters

"A human rights lawyer has been imprisoned in his own home for 100 days at the hands of the country's third largest corporation, and there has been very little attention to this chilling attack on his freedom," said Paul Paz y Miño of Amazon Watch.

The Amazon at a Tipping Point: Can We Turn It Around?

Keynote address by Leila Salazar-López, Amazon Watch Executive Director, at the 2019 Bioneers Conference

For thousands of years, indigenous peoples have protected their sacred ancestral territories. We all must stand with them to protect and restore the bio-cultural integrity of the Amazon, because our collective future depends on it.

Brazil's Amazon – and Its Defenders – Are Under Attack from Illegal Loggers

The killing of an indigenous forest guardian is only the latest incident in a pattern of impunity with consequences far beyond Brazil's borders

Foreign Policy | Since January, when Bolsonaro took office, the situation has only worsened, forest guardians say. "Loggers are not afraid now," Tainaky told me in April. "The government encourages them to enter the indigenous territory."

A Canadian Company Wants to Build Brazil's Largest Open-pit Gold Mine

The Star | "We can't accept Belo Sun in our region, not in Brazil," indigenous leader Bel Juruna told the thousands of carnival-goers in attendance that day. "We demand that this company leave us alone on our lands, that the government respects us and respects our nature."

Indigenous Opposition Forces Andes Petroleum Out of Controversial Rainforest Oil Block

Oil company's departure latest in wave of indigenous resistance that has shelved new Ecuador drilling plans

"The declaration by the government of force majeure in Block 79 is a result of our fight, and it was forced to recognize that these territories are ours, we live there. We are asking the government to remove all oil concessions from our territories. We will remain vigilant," said Yanda Montahuano, a Sapara leader.

"Guardian" of the Amazon Killed in Brazil by Illegal Loggers

His death comes as illegal miners, loggers and land grabbers are making more, and bolder, incursions into Indigenous land under the far-right Bolsonaro administration

The New York Times | The murder is one of a string of losses for Brazil's indigenous communities, as miners and loggers make more and bolder incursions into Indigenous territories and other protected areas. Brazil's far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has said that Brazil's Indigenous reserves should be opened up to commercial exploration.

Indigenous Forest Guardian Murdered by Illegal Loggers in Brazilian Amazon

Another indigenous leader was gravely wounded in the ambush and a logger is reportedly missing

Earlier today, members of the Guajajara people's Forest Guardians, a volunteer land and environmental monitoring force, were ambushed by a group of illegal loggers in the Araribóia indigenous territory, leaving one Guardian dead and another gravely wounded. Forest defender Paulo Paulino Guajajara was killed by a shot to the face, while the attack...

BlackRock's Ghoulish Lack of Action for the Amazon

BlackRock is a major investor in the industries driving deforestation and indigenous rights violations in the Amazon. That's why, as the Amazon fires crisis escalated through late summer, we joined with allies at Rainforest Action Network, Greenpeace USA, and Friends of the Earth US to contact BlackRock directly about the meaningful steps the...