The Amazon and its Indigenous communities face a collective threat of land invasions, extractive industries, and mega infrastructure projects that often translate into death threats and violent attacks against those who resist. In order to protect the rights, territories, and environment of Amazonian Earth Defenders, we must fight for legal recognition and enforcement of ancestral territorial rights, implementation of free, prior, and informed consent for megaprojects imposed on Indigenous lands, addressing illegal economies and corruption, among others.
"We, the Indigenous defenders, face threats from drug traffickers when we speak out. We are calling for real change in how this crisis is addressed. Our territories and self-protection systems need global government support."
In Peru, drug trafficking is one of the main threats to the Amazon and Indigenous peoples. This report presents concrete proposals to reposition Indigenous peoples not only as victims, but as political actors who can help shape solutions.
"Petroperú’s decision to cancel the tender for Block 64 is a great relief. However, we remain vigilant, knowing that it will likely continue seeking investors to exploit this block."
“The Permanent Forum must formally recognize that organized crime and illegal economies such as drug trafficking and illegal mining are an existential threat to our peoples."
This attack is yet another example of the growing violence against Indigenous communities as criminal economies expand across the Amazon.
Thanks to the courageous leadership of Indigenous women like Yarley and Lucila, and the continued pressure from Colombian and international allies, Lower Remanso is advancing its vision of justice and self-determination. But the path remains difficult.
Voragine | Pablo Panduro was killed on March 28, 2022 during an army operation in which 11 people were killed, and which was carried out against the Border Command, a FARC dissident group that controls most of Putumayo.
The Amazon Defenders Fund (ADF) is an activist-led solidarity fund built upon Amazon Watch’s multi-decade track record as a trusted partner to Indigenous nations and local organizations.
This is not justice. Greenpeace will appeal, and they need all of us to mobilize in a massive international movement in support of their efforts to expose this sham trial.
El País | On March 28, 2022, the Military Forces of Colombia carried out an operation by air, water and land. Eleven people died, four were wounded and around 350 were displaced.
“This judgment of the Inter-American Court is the result of many years of struggle and is a guarantee of the rights to territory for peoples in isolation, so that they can live without the threat of oil, mining, and other threats."
Mongabay | Raphael Hoetmer, director of Amazon Watch's Western Amazon Program, spoke with Mongabay Latam about the advance of mining in the Amazonian territory of Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela.
The freeze on U.S. foreign assistance, implemented by the Trump administration, is already causing severe harm to vulnerable communities in the Amazon.
Associated Press | “Trump 2.0 will offer Amazonian governments a permission structure to ignore or walk back climate commitments, precisely at the moment when protection of the rainforest demands greater ambition and regional coordination.”
“This accompaniment has allowed our process to continue. Believe me, when the violent actors see that our processes are accompanied, they respect us a little more.”
New multimedia report exposes the complex web of deforestation, drug trafficking, and state complicity threatening the ancestral homelands of the last Kakataibo Indigenous peoples of Peru.
Munduruku ancestral territory Sawré Muybu advanced to the final stage of demarcation, a crucial step in a decades-long struggle.
“Right now the Amazonian peoples are fighting back against organized crime and protecting our common future."
A powerful new configuration of Parliamentarians for a Fossil-Free Future joined forces with Indigenous leaders at COP16 to usher in a new era of climate justice in the Amazon.
For 28 years, Amazon Watch has worked tirelessly to defend the Amazon rainforest in solidarity with Indigenous peoples. Reflecting on the past year, I am deeply moved by the courage of our Indigenous partners, and I am profoundly honored by the trust they continue to place in us.
El País | The largest and most biodiverse rainforest in the world has become the most dangerous for those of us who protect it.
“Indigenous leaders who protect the Amazon are being assassinated or live under constant threat. Criminal actors pollute our rivers, dispossess our territories, recruit our children, violate our peoples, and even threaten the survival of those in voluntary isolation.”
Indigenous land defenders are delivering a clear message to world leaders in Colombia: Indigenous land rights must be protected to safeguard remaining global biodiversity and our collective future.
This report analyzes the impacts generated by oil infrastructure in the northern Peruvian Amazon with emphasis on the human rights of Indigenous peoples.
A delegation from Ecuador presented the results of a mission aimed at providing firsthand information on the serious setbacks in human rights and the impacts of illegal economies on Indigenous and peasant communities.
This report exposes how criminal economies not only pose a threat to Indigenous peoples but also severely compromise the ecological integrity of the Amazon.
A new VICE documentary “Terror & Cocaine in the Peruvian Jungle” tells the story of Indigenous resistance to illegal economies in the Amazon. #AmazonUnderworld
"Kakataibo organizations have intensified their territorial control and protection operations. This included seizures of illegal timber, destruction of clandestine laboratories, burning of coca fields, control of roads, community patrols, and reconnaissance overflights."
For 26 years, Amazon Watch has worked in solidarity with Indigenous peoples to advance their territorial land rights in the Amazon Basin, defending this extraordinary biome from a range of threats.
Amazon Allies is our incredible community of monthly sustainers. A monthly gift to Amazon Watch is a powerful way to be part of the Indigenous-led movement for the Amazon!
