Dear friends of the Amazon,
Over the last year, hope and progress for the future of the Amazon and climate has been restored. With immense joy and pride, we celebrate recent victories to protect Indigenous land rights with the civil society consultation to keep oil in the ground in the Yasuní National Park in Ecuador and the Brazilian Supreme Court ruling declaring “Marco Temporal” unconstitutional. We are so proud and honored to have worked closely with Indigenous peoples, organizations, and movements to achieve these historic victories.
In August, the people of Ecuador voted to keep nearly 1.5 billion barrels of crude oil permanently in the ground in the Yasuní-ITT oil block to protect biodiversity and the rights of isolated Indigenous peoples. This is a truly inspiring victory that sets a precedent for a civil society-led fossil fuel phase-out across the Amazon and around the world to ensure that global temperatures do not continue to rise past 1.5 degrees C.
In Brazil, we are witnessing the restoration of respect for Indigenous land rights with the recognition and demarcation of Indigenous ancestral lands totaling more than eight hundred thousand hectares. Demarcation is the process which secures the legal right to own, manage, and protect traditional lands from all forms of extraction and destruction, including mining and agribusiness. It secures rights to self-determination and sovereignty, and protects traditional knowledge and cultural practices for future generations. To fully and permanently protect the Amazon 100% of Indigenous lands must be demarcated.
Thankfully, in September, Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled against “Marco Temporal”, a nefarious legal scheme that sought to completely undermine and eliminate Indigenous land rights in Brazil, and President Lula has since vetoed parliamentary attempts to undermine Indigenous rights and the constitution. With this hard-fought victory the Indigenous movement defended their territorial land rights guaranteed in the Brazilian constitution and secured hope for biodiversity and global climate balance.
These victories, as well as the growing Indigenous Women’s movement across the Amazon, restore and inspire us to continue our work to protect and defend the Amazon and climate in solidarity with Indigenous peoples. As Sonia Guajajara, First Minister of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, and long-time ally of Amazon Watch, said following the Marco Temporal victory, “We have won this battle, but we have not won the war against Indigenous rights and Mother Earth.” She is right, because Indigenous lands across the Amazon continue to be threatened by large-scale industrial extraction — including oil and mineral extraction and agribusiness — further contributing to the Amazon tipping point and climate emergency.
In solidarity with our Indigenous partners and NGO allies, we are on a mission to End Amazon Crude, Stop Amazon Mining, and Defend Earth Defenders. Our on-the-ground field teams in Brazil, Peru, and Ecuador are strategically positioned to work closely with our partners and in coordination with our global team on local, national and international advocacy, corporate accountability, and communication campaigns to protect the Amazon, defend Indigenous rights, and advance climate justice, including at the United Nations and the InterAmerican Human Rights system. This past year, our Amazon Defenders Fund (ADF) provided $2 million in solidarity and emergency grants directly to our partners across the Amazon to support their priorities.
We are committed, we are inspired, and we are grateful. Thank you for partnering with us on this critical work for all of our collective future!
For the Amazon,
Leila Salazar-López
Executive Director
