Eye on the Amazon

May 10, 2018 – More than 1,000 representatives of indigenous peoples traveled to New York in late April to participate in the 17th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Amazon Watch supported and accompanied Amazonian leaders to call for respect and protection of their lives, cultures, and ancestral territories and an end to the harassment and death threats that they routinely face for their relentless opposition to the companies and governments driving the expansion of the fossil fuel frontier in the Amazon.

May 2, 2018 – Last week's mobilization was a shining example that spirited resistance is alive and well even in the dark days of the presidency of Michel Temer. This resistance provides a critical counterweight to growing repression and environmental devastation and deserves ample support, from local to global levels, to send a firm message to the Brazilian government: attacks on indigenous rights will not be tolerated.

April 25, 2018 – A hearing in a critically important case for the future of environmental protection, corporate accountability, and human rights took place in Toronto, Canada last week. At issue was an argument essential to corporate accountability: can individuals harmed by a corporation "pierce the corporate veil" to force it to account for judgements from countries where the corporation holds no assets?

Governor Brown's last chance to plan for managed decline of fossil fuel production

April 19, 2018 – About half of the oil exports from the Western Amazon Basin come to California to be processed by refineries and used by consumers in the state. This means that more oil from the Amazon rainforest is used in California than anywhere else in the world, and California's demand for this toxic crude oil is literally driving continued destruction across the Amazon.

April 18, 2018 – The Human Rights Watch report found that the Correa government "amassed broad powers to curb public debate of its policies on the environment and other pressing issues..[then] abused these powers to harass, intimidate, and punish Ecuadorians who opposed oil and mining projects that the president endorsed...and used the criminal justice system to target environmentalists and indigenous leaders to be prosecuted."

April 3, 2018 – FUNAI's duty is to protect and promote the rights of Brazil's native peoples. Among its chief responsibilities is to identify, title, and supervise the country's vast array of indigenous territories. Yet the right to ancestral lands free from industrial activity - 98.5% of which fall within the Amazon's diverse ecosystems - presents an obstacle to the expansion of Brazil's burgeoning agribusiness sector, which has worked to neutralize FUNAI's efficacy by slashing its budget and compromising its independence.