The government's hydroelectric dams policy change announced this week will surely be greeted as a hopeful sign by environmentalists and indigenous groups. But experts warn that a much bigger strategic policy shift is needed regarding infrastructure planning and agribusiness before the Amazon can be deemed safe from major deforestation.
In a powerful victory for indigenous rights in Brazil last week, the Toronto-based company Belo Sun Mining had its license to drill revoked by a federal court, dealing a significant setback to its efforts to gouge a mega-mine into the banks of the Amazon's Xingu River.
"This ruling is a rare instance of justice for the indigenous peoples of the Lower Xingu, who have already suffered immensely after the construction of the Belo Monte mega-dam directly adjacent to their territories. Given the dam's impacts on local peoples and their ecosystem, it is essential that Belo Sun continue to be held to the highest...
Over ten years, I have been privileged to play a role in most of the organization's major campaign initiatives. While the moments of exhilaration, frustration, learning, anger, and beauty could fill a book, I want to share ten snapshots of key experiences that represent what serving with Amazon Watch has meant to me.
"I am but drop of water in the ocean, but together with many others we can shape the force of its waters and make change. This is what motivates my commitment to continue fighting, so that human rights, social-environmental justice, and that life be affirmed for present and future generations!"
Given its recent impressive and successful record at resisting an onslaught of attacks, Brazil's National Indigenous Movement should inspire anyone resisting regressive governments around the world.
"Support of projects that result in rainforest destruction undermines China's efforts to position itself as a leader in the global fight against climate change."
In a major victory for indigenous peoples, Brazil's Supreme Court ruled unanimously this week in favor of indigenous land rights in two separate lawsuits, setting an important legal precedent.
With the bancada ruralista mining / agribusiness lobby in control of the Temer government and Congress, a Brazilian company, Intertechne Consultores, sees it as an opportune time to revive a shelved plan to build dams in the Amazon’s Aripuanã basin.
"The truth is that installing a hydropower dam provokes the installation of mining projects. This never, or extremely rarely, is integrated into the licensing process as a synergetic effect."
While the vetoes seemed a concession to demands from his Environmental Minister and a coalition of environmental and human rights organizations, they now appear to be mere greenwash of the government's anti-environment agenda and and an attempt distract the public from its alarming assault on the Amazon.
In response to the deepening human rights crisis gripping Brazil, last week a group of experts from the UN and IACHR forcefully denounced President Temer's administration and the agribusiness-affiliated ruralista congressional bloc for leading the assault on the rights of indigenous peoples.
Indigenous lands help regulate the planet's climate, for they are obstacles to deforestation. There is ten times less deforestation in indigenous lands than in non-titled lands.
On the banks of Brazil's lower Xingu River, a toxic controversy looms large, threatening to heap insult upon the grievous injuries of the nearby Belo Monte hydroelectric dam. Belo Sun would become Brazil's largest open-pit gold mine, straddling the territories of three indigenous peoples and other traditional communities that are already reeling...
Today is International Day of Action for Rivers, and what better way to commemorate it than watching the award-winning documentary film, Belo Monte: After the Flood!
In a colorful and highly energized samba parade at Rio de Janeiro's world-famous Carnival on Monday morning, Imperatriz Leopoldinense, one of Brazil's most traditional and respected samba schools, paid a special tribute to indigenous peoples of the Amazon's Xingu River, highlighting threats to their territories, livelihoods and rights.
Imperatriz Leopoldinense probably had no idea where it would lead them when they chose to speak out about the Xingu, but they chose the right path. Because today, to defend the Brazilian Indian is to defend the future of our country.
"The new study confirms that reservoirs are major emitters of methane, a particularly aggressive greenhouse gas," said Kate Horner, Executive Director of International Rivers, adding that hydropower dams "can no longer be considered a clean and green source of electricity."
Make no mistake about it, indigenous rights and territories are under attack in Brazil. We recently reported on attempts by the administration of President Michel Temer to roll back indigenous rights and environmental protections, moves that fundamentally undermine land demarcation norms while portending dire consequences for the Amazon and its...
At Belo Monte, the writing is on the wall because, all over the Amazon, new dams are planned or being built. A key role in the protection of the forests, rivers and animals will now be played by the indigenous person.
Brazil's government wants to build dams in Amazonia with "big reservoirs." That is quite a point of departure compared to the run-of-river dams that have dominated the country's planning and construction activity over the last two decades.
In Brazil, hydroelectric dams are a reflection of the system's problems: corruption, injustice and inequality.
Brazil is forging ahead with plans to build a vast hydropower dam complex in the heart of the Amazon that would convert the now remote and wild Tapajós river system into a tamed industrial waterway for the purpose of transporting soybeans – development that scientists and NGOs say will threaten Amazonian biodiversity, ecosystems, traditional...
Check out one of the stunning new films recently released about the Amazon and the heroic environmental defenders protecting it and defending us from climate change.
Hydropower is often touted as a climate-friendly source of energy, and Brazil has the potential to be one of the world’s greatest producers. Yet the human consequences of damming rivers have proven devastating. A prime example is seen in the charge of ethnocide lodged against the parties responsible for building the Belo Monte Dam.
From North to South America and around the world, the ascendency of authoritarian leaders portends dangerous days ahead. Yet at the same time, remarkable stories continue to emerge of determined resistance to these brutal regressions, led by the continent's indigenous peoples from the Amazon to Standing Rock.
Belo Monte: After the Flood is a documentary exploring the effects of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam on the environment and peoples of the Brazilian city of Altamira and the Xingu River basin, a tributary to the Amazon River.
Araújo is the latest in a long list of environmentalists assassinated in Brazil. According to the NGO Global Witness, 448 environmentalists were killed in Brazil from 2002-2013. This was half of the total killed worldwide.
Thank you to all our friends and supporters who joined us at our 20th Anniversary Gala on Wednesday in San Francisco, where we shared food, music, dancing, and inspiring words about our last 20 years and our vision for the years to come supporting indigenous peoples and protecting the Amazon.
