Thank you for supporting our efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest and our global climate by advancing the rights of indigenous peoples! We are proud to share our 2017-18 Annual Report and our work to Stop Amazon Destruction, Advance Indigenous Solutions, and Support Climate Justice. Without your support, the critical change we seek would not be possible.
Protecting the Amazon rainforest is essential to restore climate stability. And the most effective solution for protecting the Amazon is defending indigenous peoples’ rights and territories. Indigenous territories are threatened by rampant deforestation, industrial extraction, and industrial development fueled by short-sighted governments and corporations that seek to profit from destroying the most biodiverse terrestrial ecosystems on the planet.
In the Western Amazon, our goal is the permanent protection of 60 million acres of primary rainforests and indigenous territories from resource extraction. To accomplish this, Amazon Watch is partnering with indigenous nations of the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon and a growing network of NGO allies in the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Initiative. The Initiative presents a united front against the pressures on their territories and addresses climate change by keeping forests standing and approximately six billion barrels of heavy Amazon crude in the ground.
In Brazil, where the new government threatens to open the Amazon for industrial development by slashing environmental protections and indigenous rights, Amazon Watch has launched the Complicity In Destruction campaign to target the global supply chains and financial relationships that sustain these attacks. Indigenous leaders in Brazil have sounded the call for increased international solidarity in resistance, and Amazon Watch has redoubled its efforts to heed the call.
The vast majority of deforestation in Brazil is caused by agribusiness activities, so we must challenge industrial and international agribusiness and their financiers – including U.S.-based asset managers BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard, which are shareholders in all five of the largest publicly-traded agribusiness companies operating in the Brazilian Amazon.
Protecting and restoring the Amazon, indigenous rights, and the climate, requires greater unity across movements. Accomplishing the required transition from fossil fuels and protection of indigenous stewards of vital forests is the most urgent task we face today. We hope that you will join us in partnership this year and for many years to come.
With deep gratitude for your support,
Leila Salazar-López
Executive Director
