“Today’s action outside of the Royal Bank of Canada is meant to shine a spotlight on how the Canadian mining company Belo Sun poses grave, unacceptable, and irreversible risks to Amazonian biodiversity."
Climate Change
Reflections on Human Rights and Hope from COP27
After two weeks in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt for the Climate COP27 (The United Nations Conference of Parties on Climate Change), I’m reflecting on our purpose in attending and the outcomes.
Indigenous Delegation to Hold World Leaders Accountable for Increasing threats to Amazonian Biodiversity At COP15
Leaders from Brazil and Ecuador will be in Montreal to draw attention to extractive industries, especially mining, threatening the Amazon rainforest
Amazon Watch is traveling to 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) as part of an Amazonian Indigenous delegation of multiple coalitions and nations to draw attention to the extractive industries, especially mining, threatening biodiversity loss in the Amazon rainforest and threatening human rights across the biome.
Weaving a Tapestry of Direct Actions Toward New Horizons
The activist-led Amazon Defenders Fund (ADF) forges a bond of solidarity between Amazon Watch and our Amazonian partners and allies, and contributes to the woven tapestry of direct actions in their territories.
Many Ways You Can Support Amazon Watch
When you make a U.S. tax-deductible donation to Amazon Watch, you can count on your gift being put to work effectively and immediately to uplift Indigenous visions and solutions for the Amazon.
Amazon Watch is building on more than 28 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Amazon in Focus 2022
The Amazon rainforest, its defenders, and our global climate are in a state of emergency. It is critical that we work together to amplify the boldest calls and most ambitious commitments to protect 80 percent of the Amazon by 2025 and avert further climate chaos. We can do it if we take urgent action now!
Amazon Watch Response to Energy Transition Accelerator: Proposal Repeats Failures of Previous Carbon Markets
“The LEAF Coalition is already failing forests and Indigenous peoples, and this attempt to export its unaccountable, unjust model to the power sector is yet another iteration of the same old story: climate finance that should be delivered no-strings-attached to Indigenous communities and Global South nations is being made contingent on handing out...
UN Expert Group Affirms: “Net Zero” Is Incompatible with Fossil Fuels and Deforestation
Recommendations released at COP27 highlight greenwashing risks of "net zero," while falling short on carbon offsets and human rights
“Credible net zero plans require drastic emissions reductions, direct support for ecosystem protection, and robust respect for the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities,” said Moira Birss, Climate Finance Director at Amazon Watch.
Latest Draft Shows That the TNFD’s Reputation as “the Next Frontier in Corporate Greenwashing on Nature” Remains Solidly Intact
Almost 18 months after the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) launched, its latest draft gives little reason to believe that the global corporations behind it can be trusted to develop a credible reporting system that would meaningfully shift business behavior on biodiversity.
Indigenous Peoples Call for Global Agreement to Protect the Amazon and Climate by Respecting Rights at COP27
As the UNFCCC prepares to host COP27 in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt for COP27, Indigenous peoples from across the Amazon Basin and NGO allies are prepared to amplify calls for a global agreement to protect the Amazon and climate by respecting Indigenous rights and territories under threat.
Bolsonaro Loses Presidency in Win for the Amazon!
The world is celebrating Brazilians’ close election for Lula, in a victory for the Amazon, Indigenous peoples, and democratic values
"This is a victory of love, of hope, of truth, of freedom, and of our fragile democracy that is now being strengthened," said Sonia Guajajara, Congresswoman-elect.
Brazilian People Deny Far-Right Bolsonaro Second Term, in Win for the Amazon
In a fierce dispute between Lula and Bolsonaro for Brazil’s next presidency, Brazilians chose the Amazon, Indigenous peoples, and democratic values
In the most important election for the planet, which defined the future of the Amazon and therefore of all humanity, almost 51% of Brazilians chose democracy and elected Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, putting an end to the nightmare lived for the last four years under Bolsonaro.
Indigenous “Headdress Caucus” Headed to Brazil’s Congress in Crucial and Precarious Election
Brazilian Indigenous leaders Sonia Guajajara and Célia Xakriabá were elected to the lower house of Congress while former president Lula da Silva won 48% of the vote, forcing a runoff with President Bolsonaro at the end of the month
While Brazil's presidential contest forced a runoff vote scheduled for the end of October, the election saw the historic victory of members of Brazil’s Indigenous "headdress" caucus in São Paulo and the state of Minas Gerais, in a momentous advance for Indigenous representation in the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil.
Victory: Corporations Behind Climate Week Exposed for Ties to Amazon Destruction
Thousands of Indigenous, frontline, and community activists gathered at NYC Climate Week demanding climate justice
After years of virtual events, Climate Week 2022 coincided with the gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly, bringing thousands to New York City to hold leaders accountable for the escalating climate crisis and making the presence of Indigenous peoples more important than ever.
Amazonian Leaders: Climate Week Sponsors Complicit in Destruction of Amazon Rainforest, Indigenous Land
At press conference in New York City, Indigenous leaders from Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru expose U.S. financial institutions for projects harming Indigenous communities
New York, NY – New York Climate Week sponsors, including BlackRock and Vanguard, were among the American financial institutions exposed for financing the destruction of the Amazon and Indigenous land at a press conference this week held by Indigenous leaders from the Amazon region and environmental and human rights group Amazon Watch.
Climate Week NYC: Peruvian Oil Company Petroperú is Toxic for International Investors
New Amazon Watch report details Petroperú's threats to the climate, Indigenous rights, and its investors' bottom line
New York, NY – Peruvian state-owned oil company Petroperú poses extreme risks for investors, according to a new report by Amazon Watch released during New York Climate Week.
“Blood Gold” Exposé Details How Leading Electronics and Automotive Companies Could Be Sourcing Illegal Amazonian Gold
New findings published today during New York Climate Week link the supply chains of the planet’s most valuable electronics and electric car companies to potentially illegal gold mined on Indigenous lands in the Brazilian Amazon
“The Indigenous peoples of the Amazon are the true guardians of the forest, and our rights must be respected,” said Toya Manchineri of COIAB.
Blood Gold: Complicity in Destruction V
How the world’s most high-valued companies in technology, electronics, and electric cars may be buying gold extracted illegally from indigenous territories in the Brazilian Amazon
Gold is used in electrical connections and circuit boards for a multitude of electronic products, including cell phones, laptop and desktop computers, the servers of tech giants, and in electric cars. Research has shown that upwards of 47% of Brazil’s gold exports could be of illegal origin.
Amazonian Leaders Expose U.S. Financiers Behind Amazon Destruction at NYC Climate Week
Indigenous Amazonian delegates from across the Amazon to speak out
Indigenous leaders from the Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon invite you to a press conference during Climate Week NYC 2022. In the context of Climate Week’s theme, Getting It Done, the delegates will discuss ways they are "getting done" protection of the Amazon rainforest.
The Voices of Amazonian Peoples Led This Year’s Pan-Amazon Social Forum
The forum strongly condemned the so-called development paradigm, in which governments and large corporations are complicit in destruction with projects that privatize profits and socialize losses over Amazonian peoples and territories.
Amazonía Against the Clock
A groundbreaking report organized by COICA and Stand.earth with research conducted by RAISG presents new data on deforestation and reaffirms the critical role of Indigenous peoples in protecting 80% of the Amazon by 2025
The Amazon is in the midst of a tipping point crisis as deforestation and high degradation combined have already reached 26% of the region. However, preserving 80% of the Amazon by 2025 is still possible.
Set Ablaze Again, the Amazon Cannot Survive Another Bolsonaro Term
Since 2019, the Brazilian Amazon has seen record-breaking levels of fires and destruction. Under the Bolsonaro administration, the levels of destruction have skyrocketed and continue to worsen each year as his rhetoric and policies encourage land grabbing, destruction, and violence against Indigenous peoples. This crisis is not only a threat to...
UN-backed TNFD Proposal Risks Opening a New Frontier for Corporate Greenwashing
“Under TNFD’s proposed framework businesses are fully entitled to continue to back the destruction and degradation of nature and human rights – so long as it doesn’t affect their profits."
From Local to Global: Peruvian Earth Defenders Confront Deutsche Bank in Germany
Delegation of Indigenous leaders from the Amazon built networks of support and solidarity in the movement against oil expansion in the Amazon
The Wampis and Achuar nations will not permit oil production on Block 64, and they have launched an international campaign to make it clear to anyone who still thinks it might be a good investment to attempt to extract oil from their territories.
Is Vanguard Sinking the Climate Ship?
Asset manager Vanguard is a major investor in some of the mining and oil companies that are causing irreparable harm to the Amazon rainforest and to Indigenous peoples. Vanguard is not only financing destruction and rights violations in the Amazon, but it is financing climate catastrophe throughout the world.
Stop The Money Pipeline Coalition Responds to IEA’s Energy Report
“Global finance cannot be allowed to continue to heat the planet beyond habitability, violate the rights of Indigenous peoples and frontline communities, and demolish vital ecosystems like the Amazon rainforest."
Immersed in Crisis, Peru Neglects Amazon’s Destruction
Associated Press | Peru has descended into one of the worst political crises in its history and protection of its Amazon rainforest is failing, according to a report published Thursday.
Davos: Indigenous Leaders Call on Banks to Stop Funding Amazon Oil Expansion
Scientists and international organizations also calling for banks to follow lead of BNP Paribas and align with the Exit Amazon Oil and Gas platform
On the heels of World Biodiversity Day and in connection to an upcoming panel on the Amazon at Davos, tipping point scientists, Indigenous leaders, and international organizations are calling on banks and financial institutions that have gathered for the World Economic Forum in Davos to end financing for oil expansion in the Amazon.
Statement on BNP Paribas Pledge to End New Financing for Amazon Oil Drilling
Bank involved in industry deals worth $13.3 billion. Move follows investigation by Stand.earth and Amazon Watch pushing firm to take a lead role in excluding Amazon oil and gas.
“BNP Paribas’ decision to stop financing new oil production in the Amazon is the first of its kind and a major milestone for us as Indigenous peoples. This decision affirms what we have been calling for – that financing oil extraction in the Amazon is putting our lives, lands, and cultures at risk, and the health of our entire planet, and must...
