Eye on the Amazon

How the War on Drugs placed a target on Indigenous Earth defenders

April 15, 2021 – A year has passed since the assassination of Indigenous Earth Defender Arbildo Meléndez, a leader of the Cacataibo people in the Peruvian Amazon. On Sunday, April 12, 2020, Arbildo went into the rainforest to hunt and never returned with food for his family. The next day his wife, Zulema Guevara, went searching for him and found his body. In between tears, she begged two young men nearby to help her carry him out of the rainforest. Zulema has been demanding justice for her husband Arbildo ever since.

April 8, 2021 – Hundreds of Ecuadorian Indigenous people took to the streets of the Amazonian town of Coca yesterday to demand justice for the ongoing impacts of the country's largest oil spill in recent history. Amazon Watch’s team in Ecuador, alongside coalition partners, has been leading advocacy campaigns and maintaining pressure on the government and big banks financing the trade of this toxic commodity. The team is also supporting the communities seeking justice through technical assistance and legal strategy for the lawsuit, providing media support, and direct funding to affected communities.

Over 80 renowned Indigenous and frontline activists organized to demand accountability from the world’s largest investors driving climate chaos

April 6, 2021 – BlackRock’s new announcements recognizing the need to reach near-zero-emissions are a step in the right direction that comes after years of campaigning by Indigenous leaders and civil society organizations, but without clear accountability measures, they remain empty promises.

March 29, 2021 – The Canadian mining company, Belo Sun, experienced a setback in its plans to open a massive gold mine in the Xingu river: it lost authorization to meet with Indigenous communities during the pandemic due to a pressure campaign by Indigenous leaders and human rights organizations. Belo Sun is hardly the first extractive company to put its profit margin over the lives of Indigenous peoples, but through swift organizing across our coalition of allied NGOs and Indigenous partners, we have secured an important victory.

Brazil's government talks about the "sustainable development" of the Amazon while planning the next assault on it

March 18, 2021 – What does Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro – dubbed the "Trump of the Tropics" – do now that Donald Trump no longer occupies the White House? Steadfastly loyal to Trump, Bolsonaro was one of the last heads of state to recognize Joe Biden's victory. Now, Bolsonaro's diplomatic agents have launched a PR campaign in light of this new political reality in Washington, D.C. in an attempt to curry favor with the incoming administration.

Protecting the rainforest and our climate in solidarity with Indigenous peoples

March 11, 2021 – Amazon Watch is celebrating 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin! What started with our founder, Atossa Soltani, confronting Fernando Cardoso, then the president of Brazil, face-to-face on March 11, 1996, is now a powerful organization building upon that legacy and deepening our commitment to our long-term Indigenous partners.