Amazon Watch
    Amazon Watch

    Amazon Crime

    Strengthening Indigenous defense against illegal economies

    Across the Amazon basin, organized crime is now one of the greatest threats to Indigenous territories and a major driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss. Illegal gold mining, coca production, and land grabbing have surged in recent years, fueling violence, deforestation, and territorial invasion on an alarming scale.

    Amazon Watch is advocating for effective state operations against criminal economies as well as international action to support Indigenous rights and territorial governance in alignment with their strategies and visions. In partnership with investigative journalists, we are launching groundbreaking research documenting the scope and impact of organized crime to inform media and decision makers while helping build an ecosystem of support and protection for Earth Defenders at risk.

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    Indigenous Communities and Social Movements Unite Against Mining in Ecuador’s Amazon

    The action, held on the Jatunyaku River in Napo, formed part of the official program of the XII Pan-Amazonian Social Forum under the banner “Adoke Öme – One Territory, Free from Extractivism.”

    On the Jatunyaku River, community representatives unfurled two banners bearing the messages that have echoed for years: "Water is life” and "Love the Amazon."

    August 19, 2026
    8,203 views
    5 min read

    The False Security of the Amazonian Triple Border and the Challenge for the New Governments

    Right-wing governments aligned with trends of militarization and heavy-handed policies are taking office in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. But war rhetoric and spectacle actions contribute little and put local populations' rights at risk.

    El País | We are facing a scenario where extractive activities and illicit economies converge with highly adaptive armed actors and with states that are weak, absent, corrupt, or violent against their own populations. The recipe is dangerous.

    August 6, 2026
    7,975 views
    4 min read

    The Chapra Nation Is Powering Its Own Future

    How solar energy, internet access, and community leadership are strengthening territorial defense in the Peruvian Amazon

    This month, Amazon Watch and the Chapra Nation fulfilled a dream years in the making: we brought solar energy, freezers, and internet connectivity to 12 communities across Chapra territory.

    July 31, 2026
    9,231 views
    6 min read

    They Delivered Justice, Not a Favor

    The Remanso Massacre was not an isolated act. It is part of a wider pattern of violence sweeping across the Colombian Amazon and the tri-border zone where Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador converge.

    July 10, 2026
    10,907 views
    4 min read

    Amazon Watch is building on more than three decades of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.

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    Triple Trouble

    Geopolitics, illicit economies, and the risks of the war against narco-terrorism in the Colombia-Ecuador-Peru tri-border area

    This report documents how dramatically the region's landscape has shifted in just one year: escalating U.S. military intervention, incoming hardline governments across all three countries, and a "war on narco-terrorism."

    July 2026
    9,928 views
    1 min read

    Indigenous Peoples Call on U.N. Action as Organized Crime Expands Across the Amazon

    Indigenous leaders who gathered at the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues are demanding a decisive shift away from failed militarized responses toward rights-based approaches that center Indigenous territorial governance, autonomy, and community-led security systems in efforts to confront organized crime. They warn that current state responses are not only insufficient but, in many cases, actively deepen violence and insecurity in their territories.

    Indigenous leaders who gathered at the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues are demanding a decisive shift away from failed militarized responses toward rights-based approaches that center Indigenous territorial governance, autonomy, and community-led security systems in efforts to confront organized crime.

    May 11, 2026
    8,079 views
    4 min read

    Amazon Watch and Allied Organizations Release Landmark Report on Amazon Crime

    In the context of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Amazon Watch, together with allied organizations, presents the first report to analyze how illicit economies and repressive government responses threaten the rights, territories, and physical and cultural survival of Indigenous peoples.

    April 20, 2026
    7,991 views
    3 min read

    Indigenous Leaders Bring Amazon Crime Crisis to the UN

    As militarized responses fail, Indigenous territorial governance proves vital

    An urgent message is traveling from the Amazon to the United Nations. This week, Amazon Watch will accompany a delegation of Indigenous leaders from Peru and Ecuador to New York for the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII).

    April 20, 2026
    11,177 views
    4 min read

    Territorios Indígenas Bajo Amenaza

    La doble presión del crimen organizado y la militarización en la Amazonía

    Este informe llama a una estrategia regional centrada en la protección ambiental, el fortalecimiento institucional del Estado y la gobernanza comunitaria.

    Abril 2026
    9,522 views
    2 min read

    Amazon Under Siege

    How Crime and Militarization Threaten Indigenous Peoples

    This report calls for a regional strategy centered on environmental protection, state-building, and community governance.

    April 2026
    10,504 views
    1 min read

    2026: A Year of Decision for the Amazon

    The Amazon has reached an ecological tipping point. What happens in 2026 will help determine whether climate justice remains possible or becomes an empty slogan.

    January 27, 2026
    11,255 views
    6 min read

    Indigenous Leadership and Collective Power in 2025

    As climate denial gained renewed political traction and governments moved to restrict civic space, Indigenous peoples and grassroots movements across the Amazon advanced bold, collective visions for the future.

    December 26, 2025
    8,145 views
    4 min read

    The Amazon Does Not Need New Wars

    U.S. security strategy revives a past the region is trying to overcome

    El País | If history offers any lesson, it is this: every time the Amazon has been militarized in the name of order, the forest lost, its peoples lost, and democracy lost. Repeating that path is not a solution.

    December 17, 2025
    5,959 views
    4 min read

    Ecuador Rejects Militarization and Backs Call for Accountability

    President Noboa's defeat in the national referendum comes after weeks of mobilization and repression

    By rejecting Noboa’s militarized reforms, Ecuadorians chose solutions that protect life and dignity instead of policies based on repression.

    December 9, 2025
    9,039 views
    3 min read

    “It’s Not Safe to Live Here.”

    Colombia is deadliest country for environmental defenders

    Associated Press | “We have to continue defending the future, and we need more and more people to join this cause.”

    December 8, 2025
    7,714 views
    5 min read

    The Fight Against Climate Change Is Also a Fight Against Organized Crime

    Belém COP cannot succeed without taking decisive action

    Open Global Rights | Belém can be remembered as a turning point – when the world stopped treating the Amazon as a victim and began dismantling the criminal economies driving its collapse.

    November 6, 2025
    5,407 views
    4 min read

    Standing With the Kakataibo

    Resilience amid Peru’s crisis of corruption and organized crime

    The Kakataibo have made it clear to us: they will not give up. Their fight to reclaim and defend their ancestral lands has lasted more than two decades, and this is simply another chapter in a long struggle for survival and justice.

    October 22, 2025
    7,522 views
    4 min read

    Defending the Amazon Against Illegal Economies

    The Wampís Nation’s fight to defend their territory against an invasion of illegal mining

    The Wampís’ fight is not just local, it’s global. Defending the Amazon means defending the planet.

    October 22, 2025
    5,841 views
    1 min read