Press Releases

Amazon Watch Statement on the Suicide of Peruvian Ex-President Alan Garcia

As widely reported by international media, former Peru president Alan García died earlier today after shooting himself at home prior to his arrest for allegedly taking bribes from Brazilian company Odebrecht during his presidency.

Statement on Bolsonaro’s Inauguration as Brazil's President

Brazil's Indigenous Movement Prepares to Resist Bolsonaro's Planned Rollbacks on Rights and Environmental Protections in the Brazilian Amazon

"The coming months will prove pivotal in demonstrating the ability of Brazilian social movements and their allies around the world to forestall President Bolsonaro's most destructive policy proposals. As such, Amazon Watch is redoubling its work in solidarity with our embattled partners to push back against an agenda that portends dire consequences for the world's largest rainforest and its stewards, as well as for global climate stability."

Ecuador Walks Back Oil Drilling Plans in Amazon Rainforest

"Minister Pérez' announcement sends a clear message: civil society pressure to defend rights and ecosystems works, and expanding the fossil fuel frontier deeper into Ecuador's Amazon presents risks to companies and problems for the state. This is an important victory for our collective work to keep fossil fuels in the ground from California to the Amazon."

California Should Reduce Emissions, Not Pretend to Offset Them with Tropical Forests, Says Broad Coalition

Environmental justice, Indigenous, green groups and academics to state regulators: Trading pollution is no climate solution

Sacramento, CA – Today the California Air Resources Board will vote on a proposed policy to pay foreign states and provinces to sequester California's industrial CO2 emissions in their tropical forests. Citing a decade's worth of failed forest carbon projects, a coalition of environmental justice organizations, Indigenous Peoples' representatives, green groups, academics and international forest-dwelling people have come to Sacramento to tell CARB to reject the policy, known as the Tropical Forest Standard (TFS).

Activists Deliver One Million Petitions to Governor Brown to Phase Out Fossil Fuels in California

Día de los Muertos Event at Capitol Celebrates the Resilience of Frontline and Indigenous Communities Fighting for a Healthier Future

Sacramento, CA – With the midterm elections just days away, the Brown's Last Chance campaign delivered nearly 60,000 petitions to Governor Brown urging him to freeze new fossil fuel permits in California during his final time in office. Californians and allies from around the globe have directly petitioned the Governor over a million times to phase out the fossil fuel production harming their communities and the climate since he took office in 2011.

Bolsonaro Victory Spells Disaster for the Brazilian Amazon, Spurs Resistance Movement

"The ascension of the divisive and callous politician Jair Bolsonaro to the presidency poses enormous challenges for democracy, human rights, and environmental preservation in Brazil. His administration could undo decades of hard-fought socio-environmental advances and move the country back toward the dark days of its brutal military dictatorship."

Ecuador Reduces Plan for New Oil Blocks in Amazon Rainforest Under Pressure from Indigenous Peoples

New limited auction of remote blocks still threatens indigenous territories, contrary to Hydrocarbon Minister's claim

Oakland, CA – Ecuador's Hydrocarbon Minister Carlos Pérez unexpectedly announced that the oil auction planned for the end of 2018 would be reduced from the original sixteen blocks to two, as leaders of Ecuador's Amazonian indigenous nationalities gathered outside of the country's annual Energy, Mining, and Oil conference yesterday to denounce previous plans by the government to tender sixteen new oil blocks in some of the country's last roadless, intact rainforest.