"It is absolutely preposterous to assert that private-sector 'development' in the Amazon is the way to protect the rainforest. To the contrary, private-sector 'development' is the cause of Amazon destruction. Further industrial expansion in the rainforest will undoubtedly drive further deforestation, pushing the Amazon closer to the ecological...
All: 2019
Amazon Fires Inspire Global Day of Action to Hold Politicians and Corporations Accountable
Oakland, CA – Following dozens of demonstrations across six continents advocating for the protection and preservation of the Amazon rainforest and its indigenous peoples, Amazon Watch today released a video with highlights from the Global Day of Action for the Amazon and launched a challenge to the global community to continue supporting the...
Activists Follow the Money Fueling the Amazon Fires
Protesters around the world are singling out the bad actors profiting off deforestation
Inequality.org | While the world watches in horror as fires rage on in the Amazon, activists are shining a light on the big businesses destroying what's popularly known as the "lungs of the Earth." On September 5th, people around the globe stood in solidarity with the rainforest's indigenous communities by partaking in the Global Day of Action for the Amazon...
"Chaos, Chaos, Chaos": a Journey Through Bolsonaro's Amazon Inferno
A 2,000-km road and river odyssey in Brazil reveals consensus from all sides: Bolsonaro has ushered in a new age of wrecking
The Guardian | "If we go on like this, things will get worse and worse," predicted a senior official from Brazil's environmental agency, Ibama, diplomatically blaming the spike in Amazon deforestation during Bolsonaro's first eight months in power on the "political situation" in Brazil.
The Amazon Rainforest Was Once a Human Success Story. It Could Be Again
For millennia, Indigenous practices have enhanced the biodiversity, fertility, and carbon-sucking powers of the most biodiverse region on land
Vice | Many Indigenous people, and groups that support them, hope that the international focus on the Amazon fires will spur renewed efforts to protect demarcated Indigenous territories. Preserving the Amazon also depends on much stronger enforcement of environmental laws and the implementation of Indigenous land and forestry management on wider scales.
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Amazon Watch Statement on the "Amazon Pact" Issued Today by South American Leaders
"Responses to the Amazon fires will never be effective in protecting the rainforest unless they confront the key driver of Amazon deforestation: profit-seeking at the expense of the rights of forest peoples and environmental protection."
We Made Our Voices Heard All Over the World – and We're Just Getting Started!
Yesterday, demonstrators filled the streets for the Global Day of Action for the Amazon outside of Brazilian embassies and the offices of corporations profiting from Amazon destruction. In more than twenty countries across six continents, thousands of people marched, blocked traffic, displayed art, and held vigils, sit-ins, and other events to...
Global Day of Action for the Amazon
Today, Amazon Watch, the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), and Extinction Rebellion mobilized dozens of demonstrations in over twenty countries across six continents in a Global Day of Action for the Amazon. These non-violent, peaceful demonstrations around the world shine a light on the cycle of political corruption and...
Follow the Money to the Amazon
Who is profiting from the development that led to these fires?
The Atlantic | This isn't just about one rogue head of state. To get to the underlying forces of much of the world's deforestation, from the lush Amazonian rain forest or the carbon-rich peatlands of Indonesia, you need to follow the money: Who is profiting from the development that led to these fires?
The Amazon Burns, and the World Responds
Bolsonaro’s hate-filled rhetoric aims to set the stage for a coordinated assault on indigenous land rights, as political representatives of Brazil’s powerful agribusiness sector work to open native lands to industrial activities. In this dire context, it is essential that Brazil’s vibrant resistance movement continue to gain strength and momentum.
Dirty Dozen Companies Driving Deforestation Must Act Now to Stop the Burning of the World's Forests
Groups call for the immediate suspension of all business and financing with traders active in the Brazilian Amazon"The Amazon is on fire. Corporations share the blame. They need to become part of the solution."
"Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro certainly deserves the primary blame for the fires currently burning in the Amazon, given his violent, regressive, and racist policies and his explicit encouragement to ‘open the Amazon for business'. But multinational corporations helped create these conditions for profiteering at the expense of the lungs of...
Why It's Been So Lucrative to Destroy the Amazon Rainforest
G7 countries offered $20 million to combat fires in the Amazon. But it’s nowhere near enough to stop the deforestation.
Vox | The recent alarming fires in the Amazon rainforest raised the perennial concern of how to protect something that has value to the whole world but is contained within the borders of a few countries.
As the Amazon Burns, BlackRock Named As World's Largest Investor in Deforestation
"The fires currently raging in the Amazon clearly demonstrate the risk that agribusiness expansion poses for the Amazon rainforest, indigenous peoples, and the global climate. By expanding investments in the very industries complicit in that destruction, BlackRock is emboldening right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro to continue his quest to raze the...
Amazon Watch and Allies Issue Call for Global Day of Action for the Amazon on September 5th
Washington, DC – Amid the unprecedented raging fires across the Amazon, Amazon Watch is turning international outrage into action. Together, with Extinction Rebellion and the National Indigenous Association of Brazil (APIB), Amazon Watch, the leading global organization in defending the Amazon rainforest and the rights of its indigenous peoples...
Forest Offsets Not a Solution to Brazil's Fires
"These policies are the 21st century version of colonialism, resulting in the exploitation and eviction of indigenous communities from their homes all the while those in California can feel good about their continued emissions at home," said Kevin Koenig, Amazon Watch's Climate and Energy Director.
Note of Condemnation from the APIB
We need immense national and international solidarity to face this dark time. We are asking for help and support from national and international institutions to ensure that laws, justice and international treaties that Brazil has signed are respected.
How Beef Demand Is Accelerating the Amazon’s Deforestation and Climate Peril
Brazil’s cattle ranchers are clear-cutting and burning the rainforest amid a surge in beef exports
Washington Post | Cattle ranchers in the Brazilian Amazon are aggressively expanding their herds and willing to clear-cut the forest and burn what's left to make way for pastures. As a result, they've become the single biggest driver of the Amazon's deforestation, causing about 80 percent of it.
The Land Battle Behind the Fires in the Amazon
The Amazon fires could fuel the decades-long fight that indigenous people have waged for their land
The Atlantic | "As long as the state doesn't demarcate, we are under threat of invasions and explorations, so demarcation is our minimum legal protection to avoid these things,"says Sônia Guajajara, one of the most well-known indigenous leaders in Brazil.
Amazon Watch Calls on World Leaders to Take Shared Responsibility for Amazon Fires
""While the raging fires in the Amazon have rightfully grabbed the attention of the G7 leaders, we must ensure a long-term global response that lasts long after these headlines pass," said Christian Poirier, Amazon Watch Program Director.
We Are Facing a Global Emergency in the Amazon. Here's What We Can Do.
CNN | Now that the world is finally paying attention to the Amazon Basin, it's important to also understand that governments and companies around the world are emboldening the Bolsonaro regime's toxic policies when they enter into trade agreements with his government or invest in agribusiness companies operating in the Amazon.
Statement on President Bolsonaro's Brazil Fires Address
"The world should not be fooled while Bolsonaro takes no action to address the root causes of this crisis, and must maintain scrutiny and pressure upon his government to adequately and effectively protect the Amazon and its peoples."
With the Brazilian Amazon in Flames, We Must All Be the Resistance
Today we may be witnessing the tragedy of our lifetime: the Brazilian Amazon is in flames and in peril. Indeed, it's not only the Amazon, but our entire planet that is in crisis as the devastation of this life-giving biome poses a real, existential threat for all of humanity.
Blame Humans for Starting the Amazon Fires, Environmentalists Say
CNN | "The Amazon is incredibly important for our future, for our ability to stave off the worst of climate change," said Christian Poirier, Amazon Watch Program Director . "This isn't hyperbole. We're looking at untold destruction – not just of the Amazon but for our entire planet."
Statement on Forest Fires in the Brazilian Amazon
"The unprecedented fires ravaging the Amazon are an international tragedy and a dangerous contribution to climate chaos," said Christian Poirier, Amazon Watch Program Director.
The Amazon Rainforest Has Been on Fire for Three Weeks. Here’s Why You’re Only Hearing About It Now.
Mic | "Indigenous people of the Amazon have been sounding the alarm about risks to the rainforest for years, and resisting the destruction, sometimes at the cost of their own lives," said Moira Birss. "Unfortunately, it seems the Amazon has to burn before the world pays attention."
The Amazon Is on Fire and the Smoke Can Be Seen from Space
The Amazon has been burning for weeks amid increasing deforestation. The intense smoke was detected by NASA and plunged São Paulo into darkness on Monday.
Vice | Earlier this month, Amazonas (the largest state in Brazil) declared a state of emergency over the rising number of forest fires. Fire season in the Amazon is just beginning – it runs from August through October, with its peak coming in mid-September, and the smoke is already so bad that it can be seen from space.
Indigenous Women Mobilize to Resist Bolsonaro
Yesterday, nearly 3,000 indigenous women leaders from across Brazil staged a mobilization in the nation’s capital as part of the country’s first Indigenous Women's March. Entitled "Territory: our body, our spirit,” this historic gathering was in response to escalating violations of indigenous rights under the Bolsonaro government, as native...
Indigenous Women Mobilize to Resist Bolsonaro in Major Brasilia Protests
August 13th, more than 2,000 indigenous women leaders from across Brazil will stage a mobilization in the nation’s capital as part of the country’s first Indigenous Women's March. Entitled "Territory: our body, our spirit,” this historic gathering responds to escalating violations of indigenous rights under the Bolsonaro government, as native...
A Trump-Bolsonaro Free-Trade Agreement Is an Apocalyptically Bad Idea
Op-ed by Andrew Miller of Amazon Watch
The Hill | Proponents of the U.S. Brazil free trade agreement seem to be operating in an alternative universe, oblivious to or willfully ignorant of the environmental and social realities playing themselves out in Brazil.
