The Guardian | The Brazilian government has violated its own constitution and international law by developing hydroelectric power plants in the Amazon, according to an indigenous leader due to address the 29th United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday afternoon.
Belo Monte
Amazonian Tribe Brings an Epic Battle for Indigenous Rights to the United Nations
Munduruku leader denounces lack of consultation and violations of land rights in Brazilian government's Amazon dam boom
Geneva, Switzerland – In a stirring event at the 29th United Nations Human Rights Council, indigenous leader Ademir Kaba Munduruku denounced the Brazilian government's escalating rights abuses in its rush to build an unprecedented series of hydroelectric dams across the Amazon.
Brazil's Belo Monte Dam Puts Livelihood of 2,000 Families at Risk, Prosecutors Say
Federal prosecutors say Norte Energia, the consortium building the $11bn dam, has violated agreed-to items that are endangering locals’ means of survival
Associated Press | Construction of a massive hydroelectric dam is endangering the livelihoods of at least 2,000 families in Brazil’s Amazon jungle state of Para, according to federal prosecutors who recommend that efforts to move the residents be suspended.
Peru Planning to Dam Amazon's Main Source and Displace 1000s
Over 20 hydroelectric projects proposed for the main trunk of the River Maranon would have devastating impacts
Al Jazeera America | “We live along the banks of the river,” Madolfo Perez Chumpi, president of the Organization for the Economic Development of Awajun Communities on the Marañón (ODECAM), told me. “Where are we going to plant our manioc? Our plantains? Our maize? Where will we find the fish that swim upriver? This is scary for us, for our children. For the government...
"We Will Fight to the End"
Amazon tribe would rather die than see their land destroyed by a new dam
Al Jazeera America | Environmental activists hope that São Luiz do Tapajós will not follow the same course as the Belo Monte, the Xingu River dam that is now nearly complete. Some tribal leaders opposed to that dam were bought off by the government, according to Maíra Irigaray, the Brazil coordinator of the group Amazon Watch. She fears similar tactics will be used...
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Brazil's Deforestation Rates Are on the Rise Again
Newsweek | "There is basically a climate of impunity," says Christian Poirer of Amazon Watch. "Only one percent of the fines that IBAMA levels on individuals and corporations for illegal deforestation are actually collected." This agency, which is responsible for implementing Brazil's environmental laws, is, he says, "woefully...
Amazonian Tribes Unite to Demand Brazil Stop Hydroelectric Dams
The Munduruku, Apiaká, Kayabi and Rikbaktsa release joint statement as Brazil steps ups efforts to exploit power of the rivers
The Guardian | Four Amazonian tribes have joined forces to oppose the construction of hydroelectric dams in their territory as the Brazilian government ramps up efforts to exploit the power of rivers in the world's biggest forest.
Private Sector Bows Out of Belo Monte as Vale Slashes Its Stake
Vale clearly couldn't wait to offload its poor investment in a polemic project that's already run more than a year over schedule and $1 billion over budget.
In General Assembly, the Munduruku People Reaffirm Their Right to Be Consulted about Dams
Ministério Público Federal Pará | Last week, the Munduruku people gathered more than 600 people in their General Assembly to discuss questions related to health, education, and the hydroelectric projects that the Brazilian federal government seeks to build on lands inhabited by more than 10,000 indigenous people.
Nobody Listened to Them: Fishing Communities to be Displaced by Dams Want a Say in Their Future
Agência Pública | With little or no help from the state, this is not the first time that the Tapajós ribeirinhos have faced a threat to their land and their way of life from projects coming from Brasília.
Notes from the Front Lines: A Journey with the Munduruku into the Tapajós
Amazon Watch joined a powerful assembly in the Munduruku community of Waroapompu in the Tapajós region of Brazil to discuss how the Munduruku will strengthen themselves in resistance to dams planned within their territory.
Deforestation in the Amazon Aggravates Brazil’s Energy Crisis
IPS | In Brazil water and electricity go together, and two years of scant rainfall have left tens of millions of people on the verge of water and power rationing, boosting arguments for the need to fight deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
Deepening Drought Forces Brazil to Embrace Solar Power
Without water to feed its hydroelectric dams, drought-hit Brazil is turning to solar power - dubbed "a fantasy" by the country's president just a few years ago. Now thousands of megawatts of floating solar panel "islands" are to be installed on dam reservoirs.
The Ecologist | Brazil's devastating drought could have the unexpected consequence of finally prompting one of the sunniest countries in the world to take solar power seriously.
Brazil: Mired in Scandal, Refusing to Progress
With Belo Monte's criminal irregularities in the spotlight, one would think the Brazilian government would lay low – perhaps even learn from the current crisis! Unfortunately we I was seeing the opposite here on the jungle jet and throughout the nation.
The Farce of Clean Energy
The construction of mega-dams involves human rights violations and other impacts
O Globo | The construction of mega-dams involves grave human rights violations as well as other disastrous socio-environmental impacts. Belo Monte, for example, was described by Thais Santi, a Federal Prosecutor, as "an indigenous ethnocide in a world where everything is possible" taking place within the rule of law of a democratic state.
Mounting Evidence of Corruption in the Brazilian Dam Industry
Last Sunday millions of citizens in dozens of cities throughout Brazil took to the streets to protests rampant corruption, erroneous economic policies and rollbacks of social benefits. Protestors called for the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, claiming government mismanagement and a possible direct link between the president and an...
Occupy Amazonia? Indigenous Activists Are Taking Direct Action – and It's Working
The Conversation | The relative success of direct action in recent decades contrasts with the often bloody encounters that went before, from which poorly-armed Indians invariably emerged badly.
Decolonization and the Munduruku Protocol: It's Time to Listen
The Munduruku Protocol on consultation procedures, published couple of weeks ago and presented to the Brazilian government, is the first protocol of a consultation process proposed by an indigenous nation that I have ever seen. It is very well written, closely following international and national law.
Massive Corruption Scandal Implicates Brazil's Amazon Dam Builders
Testimony from jailed operators of Petrobras scandal point to similar corruption scheme involving politicians and major construction firms
Brasilia, Brazil – This week, imprisoned executives from one of Brazil's largest construction firms, who are implicated in an unprecedented corruption scandal involving the parastatal oil company Petrobras, promised to expose a parallel scheme of massive fraud surrounding hydroelectric dams in the Amazon.
Amazon Deforestation Soars After a Decade of Stability
New Scientist | Deforestation in the Amazon has skyrocketed in the past half a year, according to analysis of satellite images issued by Brazil's non-profit research institute, IMAZON.
2015 Achievements and Priorities
It costs only $.03 per acre per year to support Amazon Watch's work with indigenous peoples to protect more than 60 million acres of rainforest from oil development and mega-dams. Please join us!
Brazil's Arrested Forest Kingpin Isn't the Only Problem Facing the Amazon
VICE News | "We're concerned that deforestation will continue unabated despite the fact that [Castanha]'s been arrested," Christian Poirier, said the Brazil-EU Advocacy Coordinator for the forest and indigenous rights protection group Amazon Watch. "There've been arrests made. There've been some serious attempts to break up these [deforestation] mafias. But...
Dams or Indigenous Land: The Battle over the Munduruku Frontier
Mongabay.com | The Munduruku indigenous tribe have begun to mark out the limits of their land, in an action that could halt the giant São Luiz do Tapajós hydroelectric dam, the apple of the Brazilian government's eye.
Carnival for Some, Struggle for Others
It's carnival time in Brazil, but for people of the Xingu there is no time to celebrate. Three years after construction initiated on Belo Monte dam, the consortium used the distraction of carnival to request an Operating License.
Here's Why Deforestation in the Amazon May Bring More Frequent, More Intense Droughts to Brazil
VICE News | As reservoirs shrink and taps run dry in Brazil's worst ever water crisis, some scientists are making a connection between Amazonian deforestation and the monster drought.
Reflections on the Xingu: A Campaigner's Return to the Amazon
The battle against Belo Monte is far from over, as last week's protests illustrate. Many lessons have been learned, steeling resistance and resilience for the coming clash over the government's plans to wreck the spectacular Tapajós.
Siemens Linked to Major Rights Abuses Across Americas
German technology giant confronted with proof of wrongdoing at annual shareholder meeting
Munich, Germany – Dozens of protestors from a coalition of German and international organizations converged today on the shareholder meeting of leading German corporation Siemens to condemn the company's role in egregious human rights violations from Brazil to Mexico.
Looking Back in Brazil, Onward in 2015!
As 2015 kicks off, it's important to reach out to our supporters and followers and to take a moment to assess our work last year and take a peek at the year to come.
Battle for the Tapajós: Brazil's Construction of Hydroelectric Dams Threatens the Munduruku People
Global Voices | The removal of indigenous peoples is prohibited by Article 231 of the Brazilian Constitution. In the project's defense, the government argues that since Sawré Muybu was never officially demarcated it cannot be recognized as Munduruku land – provoking the wrath of warriors and village chiefs all across the Tapajós basin.
