The Atlantic | So far, Bolsonaro’s actions have spoken louder than any of the Brazilian delegation’s words. Back in Brazil, he lambasted a youth representative of Brazil’s indigenous community for going to COP26 only to “attack Brazil.” Surely she should have realized that the easiest way to hurt the country would have been to not attend the summit at all.
Climate Change
COP26: Frontline Communities Confront JPMorgan Chase on Violating Indigenous Rights and Financing the Climate Crisis
Glasgow, Scotland – Indigenous land defenders gathered outside the JPMorgan Chase offices in Glasgow’s financial district today to demand the bank stop financing fossil fuel extraction.
NGOs Release Letter Accusing Brazilian State of Pará of Greenwashing Through Carbon Credit Schemes
Last Saturday, the government of Pará (along with other Amazon governors) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the LEAF Coalition to boost actions regarding sustainability and the bio-economy. While hailed by its advocates as an innovative step forward in halting deforestation, there are serious greenwashing concerns regarding the...
Financial and Scientific Resources, Full Recognition and Respect of Indigenous Rights, Can Halt Further Degradation of the Amazon
RAISG study reveals that the region has 22% deforestation, reached the point of no return
Glasgow, UK – During climate talks at COP26 in Glasgow, experts and representatives of Indigenous nationalities shared their vision regarding what the strategies should be to stop the continuous degradation and deforestation of Amazonia, which have led the rainforest to a point of no return: 22% percent of the total area of the basin has been...
Indigenous Delegates at COP26 Endorse Campaign Demanding Banks Exit Amazon Oil and Gas
Dutch bank ING becomes latest to end oil financing in region, implement demands of Stand.earth, Amazon Watch’s new campaign
The role of European lenders in backing the trade from the Amazon came under scrutiny in August 2020 after a report by advocacy groups Stand.earth and Amazon Watch looking at oil exports from the region to the United States.
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
ING Will Not Finance Oil in Peru Amid Indigenous Calls to End Amazon Trade
Reuters | The role of European lenders in backing the trade from the Amazon came under scrutiny in August 2020 after a report by advocacy groups Stand.earth and Amazon Watch looking at oil exports from the region to the United States.
“A Continuation of Colonialism”: Indigenous Activists Say Their Voices Are Missing at COP26
Activists in Glasgow reject "big business" approach to climate crisis as they commemorate murdered land defenders
The Guardian | As world leaders inside COP26 in Glasgow boasted about pledges to slash greenhouse gas emissions and end deforestation, Indigenous delegates gathered to commemorate activists killed for trying to protect the planet from corporate greed and government inaction.
Oil Executives Deny Misinformation on Climate Change, Despite Evidence
Mongabay | “Chevron has about 70 serious cases of environmental impunity in 31 countries worldwide, owing over $50 billion in settlement debts. When are you going to cut the check?” Tlaib said at the hearing. “You can poison the planet to make money, but we are going to defend the planet so we can live.”
We’re Ending Amazon Crude
Human rights and environmental NGOs, alongside Indigenous organizations, are calling on all banks to Exit Amazon Oil and Gas immediately
On November 1, climate activists and policy makers from all over the world will be convening at the 26th annual Conference of the Parties (COP) in Glasgow, Scotland to discuss global efforts to address the climate crisis.
New Report: Chevron’s Global Record of Denial and Destruction
Chevron Violates Domestic and International Laws with Impunity Worldwide
Washington, DC – A new report entitled Chevron’s Global Destruction: Ecocide, Genocide, and Corruption was released today amid a firestorm of criticism directed toward the multinational corporation. The report’s author, Nan M. Greer, Ph.D., documents how Chevron, the world’s number one producer in greenhouse gas emissions among all investor-owned...
Flying Over the Amazon in Flames
In partnership with Brazilian allies – the Climate Observatory and Greenpeace Brazil – Amazon Watch organized a flight over the Amazon rainforest with experts and key journalists to expose fires, deforestation, illegal mining, and cattle ranching in September. This initiative was central to our Amazon Ceasefire campaign and the shocking results of...
Environmental Justice and Human Rights Organizations: Carbon Offsets Don't Stop Climate Change
Over 170 organizations including Amazon Watch, Food & Water Watch, Indigenous Environmental Network, Sunrise Movement, Gulf Coast Center for Law and Poverty, Friends of the Earth, and more around the world, sign statement opposing carbon offsets
Oakland, CA – Today, a broad coalition of over 170 NGOs, advocacy groups, and grassroots organizations spanning the globe released a statement opposing the usage of carbon offset programs, declaring that carbon offset programs are false solutions that will not solve the climate crisis.
Statement: Offsets Don’t Stop Climate Change
We call on global policy makers to reject offset schemes and embrace real climate solutions that will keep fossil fuels in the ground, support sustainable food systems, and end deforestation, while eliminating pollution in frontline communities.
Is Chevron’s Vendetta Against Steven Donziger Finally Backfiring?
A judge sentenced the human rights lawyer to six months in prison – but the calls for environmental justice are only growing
The Nation | There are signs that Chevron has gone too far, and that relentlessly pursuing a human rights lawyer is damaging its international reputation. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is only the latest sign of concern and anger. Sixty-eight Nobel Laureates have shown their solidarity; another 475 lawyers and human rights defenders...
Protecting Indigenous People Key to Saving Amazon, Say Environmentalists
Reuters | "What we are seeing is an attack on indigenous people, on their rights, their lives and territories," said Leila Salazar-Lopez, executive director of Amazon Watch. "Indigenous people are the best protectors of the Amazon forest and of biodiversity around our planet ... because they have intrinsic spiritual and cultural connections to the land."
Human Rights Lawyer Steven Donziger Sentenced to Maximum, Six Months in Prison
New York, NY – Today, judge Loretta Preska sentenced Steven Donziger to the maximum sentence of six months in federal prison for the petty misdemeanor contempt of court charges filed by judge Lewis Kaplan, a pro-Chevron former tobacco industry lawyer. The charges were prosecuted by corporate law firm Seward & Kissel, appointed by Kaplan himself...
Depths of Fossil Fuel Industry's Power Over U.S. Government Exposed in Chevron/Donziger Case
Despite demands for his freedom and calls for investigations from the UN, Congress, and the International Community, Steven Donziger to be Sentenced for Criminal Contempt of Court
"We are alarmed by human rights lawyer Steve Donziger's sentencing today. While the severity of Donziger's fate may seem unprecedented, it is emblematic of the larger trend of silencing activists, many of whom are fighting for the solutions desperately needed to combat the global climate crisis exacerbated by multinational fossil fuel companies,"...
Ecuador Wages Legal Attack on Indigenous Plaintiffs Who Won $9.5 Billion-Dollar Legal Victory Against Chevron
Despite facing five decades of some of the world's worst oil-related contamination at the hands of Chevron and winning a historic 28-year legal battle that has yet to result in a clean up of its toxic legacy, Indigenous plaintiffs in the case are now under legal attack from its own government. In an effort to appease Chevron and court investors...
Flyovers Confirm Southern Amazonas Is New Deforestation Frontier in Brazilian Amazon
Images taken last week between Porto Velho, Rondônia and Lábrea, Amazonas show widespread devastation in one of the most conserved areas of the Amazon rainforest
"We saw all the stages of the deforestation process one after the other: The extraction of high-value timber, the burning of vegetation to grow pasture, and cattle herds occupying areas that until recently were covered by forest," says Rômulo Batista, spokesperson for the Greenpeace Brazil Amazon campaign.
Banks Called to Exit Amazon Oil and Gas by Indigenous and Environmental Organizations
U.S., European banks could play critical role in ending Amazon destruction and rights violations by ending oil, gas financing in rainforest vital for global climate
New York, NY – A virtual Climate Week event held today highlighted the critical role U.S. and European banks must play in ending oil and gas financing in the Amazon rainforest. The event, led by international environmental advocacy groups and Amazon Indigenous leaders, revealed a new "Exit Amazon Oil and Gas" campaign and exclusion policy that...
Flyovers Document Destruction of Brazilian Amazon by Deforestation and Fires, Contrary to Bolsonaro's Speech at the UN
São Paulo, Brazil – Today, the Amazon in Flames Alliance, led by environmental organizations Amazon Watch, Greenpeace Brazil, and the Brazilian Climate Observatory launched images of a flyover showing the extent of deforestation and fires destruction in the Amazon. The images were released as President Bolsonaro presented a speech at the 76th UN...
Ecuadorian Amazonian Women Join the Second National March of Indigenous Women in Brazil
"We know that our home is under attack every single day. Oil, mining, logging, hydroelectric exploitation, and highways are advancing and destroying the Amazon. Like a virus, industry is destroying the lands where our ancestors are buried, destroying trees, mountains, rivers and lagoons. Our territories are the extension of our bodies. Nature is...
The Global Week of Action: A Call from Indigenous Peoples
The Amazon has already lost 17 percent of its forest cover and an additional 17 percent of its rainforests have been degraded. If deforestation increases and surpasses the 20-25 percent threshold, this vital ecosystem will reach an irreversible tipping point of ecological collapse. The Amazon rainforest, as we've known it, could dive into the...
Indigenous Warrior Women Take Fight to Save Ancestral Lands to Brazilian Capital
Jair Bolsonaro is backing a legal move to open up large tracts of indigenous territory to commercial exploitation that tribal members call an "extermination effort"
The Guardian | Sônia Guajajara, a prominent indigenous leader, said: "These are all highly orchestrated measures which are designed to take away the land rights of indigenous people and open these lands up for exploitation … It's all about profit and money. We champion biodiversity, keeping the forest standing, which is precisely what ensures us life. All they...
IUCN Approves Indigenous Peoples’ Global Call to Action to Protect 80% of the Amazon by 2025 to Avoid Catastrophic “Tipping Point” of No Return
Marseille, France – Members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have approved motion 129, a call-to-action titled "Avoid the point of no return in the Amazon by protecting 80% by 2025." The motion – which was approved after several debates – was proposed by the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin...
Thousands of Indigenous Women Will March in Brazil This Week
After pro-Bolsonaro rally on Brazil's Independence Day, 4,000 Indigenous women from 150 nations will gather in Brasília to continue the mobilization against the marco temporal trial, in defense of their rights and territories
Brasília, Brazil – While supporters of far-right President Bolsonaro took to the streets yesterday to slam Brazil's Supreme Court and cast doubt on the integrity of next year's elections, a more important mobilization was taking place in Brasília for the future of our planet. Delegations of Indigenous women were arriving in Brazil's capital...
Indigenous Leaders Push New Target to Protect Amazon from Deforestation
Reuters | "We invite the global community to join us to reverse the destruction of our home and by doing so safeguard the future of the planet," said José Gregorio Diaz Mirabal, lead coordinator for COICA, which represents Indigenous groups in nine Amazon-basin nations.
Forests, Fires, and Finance: How Financial Institutions Are Fanning the Flames
We are living in a world on fire. Over the past year, over 1,000 major fires have ravaged the Amazon rainforest, destroying millions of acres. At the same time, the North American west has seen its most destructive wildfire season in recorded history. Unlike the fires across North America and Europe, major fires in the Amazon are typically set...
Forests and Finance Coalition Warns Foreign Investors About the Risk of the Anti-Environment Agenda in the Brazilian Congress
Bills being processed in the Brazilian Congress, with irreversible consequences to the Amazon forest and indigenous peoples, could bring serious risks to the operations of financial institutions. An alert from the Coalition and other partners adds to the agenda of denunciations by indigenous peoples.
In a letter sent today to 80 international and Brazilian financial institutions, Forest & Finance Coalition, together with the Association of Indigenous People of Brazil (APIB), the Climate Observatory, and 45 allied organizations, warn about the risks of investments in Brazil in light of a suite of legislative changes being currently pushed in...