“It is appalling that an emissary who traveled 4,000 miles to deliver an urgent message from her people would be treated with such dismissal and disrespect.”
Brazil
Cargill, Cease Your Destruction!
In every region where Cargill operates, you are destroying the environment and driving out or threatening the communities who live there.
We defend our lands not just for our people but for all of humanity. Your company is harming our collective future.
Uniting for Climate Justice: Amazon Watch at New York Climate Week
The urgency of this year's Climate Week cannot be overstated. The Amazon is at a tipping point, and the effects of climate change are not some distant future threat – they are here, and they are now.
Brazil’s Supreme Court Rejects the Marco Temporal, but the Fight for Indigenous Land Rights Continues
"After many years of struggles, mobilizations, and anxieties, this outcome dictates Brazil's future of Indigenous land demarcations. We shall indeed celebrate the strength of Brazil's Indigenous peoples."
Brazil’s Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Indigenous Land Rights in Historic Win
Court voted against agribusiness-backed attempt to prevent communities claiming land they did not physically occupy in 1988
The Guardian | Nine of the court’s 11 members voted against what rights groups had dubbed the “time limit trick” – an agribusiness-backed attempt to prevent Indigenous communities claiming land they did not physically occupy in 1988.
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Brazil's Indigenous Lands at Stake Before Marco Temporal Decision
Amid an impending Supreme Court decision, our latest report dives into the risks of this legal thesis, potentially jeopardizing Indigenous territories for the benefit of powerful mining companies
We stand on the edge of a decision that will significantly impact Indigenous peoples’ lands, their lives, and our collective future. If approved, it's not just a win for mining magnates like Vale, Bunge, and Anglo American. It's an irreversible loss for Indigenous rights, the Amazon rainforest, and for 77 yet-to-be-recognized Indigenous...
Victory: Belo Sun Is One Step Closer to Having Its License Permanently Denied
Environmental licensing shifted to federal jurisdiction under Brazil's environmental agency after Belo Sun's arguments were debunked
In a significant victory for the Amazon and Indigenous rights, the environmental licensing process for the Belo Sun mining project in the Volta Grande region of the Xingu River has been successfully shifted from state to federal jurisdiction.
Canada Emerges As Key Culprit in Amazon Destruction
Despite its “climate forward” image, Canada is linked to corporate abuses and rights violations across mining and oil extractive projects in the Amazon
The rights violations discovered in the operations of Canadian companies in the Amazon rainforest are deeply troubling, particularly considering Canada's efforts to present itself as a human rights leader in the world.
Report Reveals Shocking Rights Violations by Canadian Corporations in Latin America
A groundbreaking report was unveiled at the United Nations Universal Periodic Review Process pre-session in Geneva. This in-depth investigation highlights extensive human rights and environmental breaches by Canadian companies in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Unmasking Canada: Rights Violations Across Latin America
Amazon Watch was joined by more than 50 civil society organizations to compile three critical reports - covering Regional, Amazonian, and Oil and Gas - under the campaign Unmasking Canada: Rights Violations Across Latin America.
Latin American Delegation to Implicate Canadian Corporations at the United Nations
New reports uncover widespread abuse by Canadian companies and urges immediate intervention through the Universal Periodic Review process
Despite Canada’s “climate forward” public image, it acts as a safe haven for extractive industries and companies operating in Latin America, including regions of climatic significance such as the Amazon.
Amazon Nations Failed to Protect the Rainforest and Our Collective Future
While ambitious efforts to strengthen Pan-Amazonian collaboration are positive, and the summit’s final text contains a series of good intentions, Amazon Watch considers that the document falls short in advancing critical protections for the rainforest and human rights.
Brazil Gold Mine Puts Indigenous Territory “At Risk,” Advocates Say
Al Jazeera | “The guaranteed right to our territory is at risk,” Lorena Curuaia, a leader of the Curuaia Indigenous people, told Al Jazeera. “We could lose territories that we have lived in for thousands of years.”
Pulse, Xingu! The Way to Revive the Volta Grande after Belo Monte
Juruna researchers and riverine people from Volta Grande do Xingu, with academics from different areas of science, propose the Piracemas Hydrogram, a necessary action for fish to reproduce again
Instituto Socioambiental | The Xingu River needs to pulsate for life to exist. The flood pulse is the source of the life cycle in most Amazonian rivers. The Juruna Yudjá of the Paquiçamba Indigenous Land and the riverside communities of Volta Grande do Xingu have known this for a long time.
Canada’s Belo Sun Mining Is Still Threatening the Brazilian Amazon
The Canadian mining company Belo Sun continues to threaten life in the Volta Grande do Xingu, and our campaign to halt the proposed largest open-pit gold mine in Brazil at the heart of the Amazon rainforest is in full swing.
From the Rainforest to the Interamerican Commission: Protecting the Brazilian Amazon
How Amazon Watch and allies bring Indigenous leadership and demands to international decision-makers
In the last couple of years, we have grown our work in international advocacy and legal strategies to denounce the threats the Brazilian government tries to pose to the environment and Indigenous peoples by pushing for a set of bill of laws known as the “Destruction Package.”
Illegal Miners Suspected in Killing of Yanomami Indigenous Child and Wounding of Five in Brazilian Amazon
"This tragic attack demonstrates the Brazilian authorities’ ongoing challenges in containing illegal mining on Brazil’s Indigenous territories and guaranteeing the Yanomami community's safety."
Munduruku Village of Sawré Muybu in the Brazilian Amazon Installs Solar Power
“We are showing the Brazilian government and companies that we don’t need a dam to generate energy. We are showing the Brazilian government and companies that we are capable of anything.”
Brazil’s Pivotal Indigenous Land Rights Ruling Faces Another Delay
Delay prolongs risks for the climate and Indigenous lives
“The Supreme Court’s definitive ruling denying the Marco Temporal thesis is the only means to counter the moves of Brazil’s agribusiness-oriented Congress and guarantee these proposed legislation's unconstitutionality.”
Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Allows Controversial Soybean Railway to Advance
The railway is regarded as one of the most anti-environmental projects being considered by Lula de Silva's government and has even been dubbed the "new Belo Monte."
Javari Valley Communities Remain Under Threat a Year After Dom and Bruno's Murders
"Our focus must not be limited to the direct perpetrators of crimes, but also extend to those endorsing predatory activities in the Javari Valley."
Regressive and Destructive Indigenous Land Bill Advances in Brazil, Despite Protests
"The lawmakers who voted today in favor of this project will go down in history as responsible for approving a bill that explicitly attacks the lives of Indigenous peoples in Brazil."
Dismantling the Environment Is Shooting Yourself in the Foot
Nearly 800 organizations sign a letter rejecting Provisional Measure 1154 in Brazil
The substitute for Provisional Measure 1154, approved in the Mixed Committee, dismantles the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA) and the agencies linked to it and weakens the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI). The text needs to be amended by the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Brazil's Congress Deals Major Blow to Indigenous Rights and Environmental Governance
"Brazil's presidency may have changed, but a deeply-rooted anti-environmental and anti-Indigenous sentiment persists in Congress."
Second Chance for Lula as Controversial Amazon Dam Goes Up for Renewal
Mongabay | “What would be great is if that dam was gone. But there is another plan that would allow the waters to reach the lowland breeding grounds and that is a solution that we could live with.”
Risks and Rights Violations Associated With the Marco Temporal Thesis
An Interdisciplinary Analysis from Law, Economics, Anthropology, and Climate Science
Marco Temporal is a political thesis transformed into an ad hoc constitutional interpretation mechanism that limits the rights of Indigenous peoples to their traditional lands through the application of an arbitrary, restrictive, and legally unfounded temporal cutoff.
Brazilian Court Rules for Mura People Against Potássio do Brasil
Potássio do Brasil fined and forced to remove signs from Mura Indigenous village
Potássio do Brasil is an example of how mining companies violate Indigenous rights even before their operations begin.
Deadly Clashes Erupt as Brazil Fights to Recover Yanomami Territory from Illegal Miners
Yanomami leader Júnior Hekurari reported that between 15 and 20 heavily armed miners arrived by boat and opened fire on locals.
Demarcation Now! Brazil’s Indigenous Movement Secures Land Recognition Victories
Munduruku land Sawré Muybu, home to 2023 Goldman Prize Winner Alessandra Munduruku, is one of the territories heading into the final steps of the demarcation process
"Lula promised to resume land demarcation. We believe in him, but let's not fool ourselves that now the fight will be easy. We will not solve 523 years of destruction in four years, but we will push on!"
