Destructive Infrastructure | Amazon Watch
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Destructive Infrastructure

BlackRock's Agribusiness Engagement Guidelines Draw Scrutiny from Environmental Groups

Amazon Watch and Friends of the Earth demand real action on deforestation and human rights

"BlackRock is clearly feeling the pressure from the climate and Indigenous rights movement to align its investment practices with a sustainable world, which includes how it engages with and invests in agribusiness," said Moira Birss, Climate and Finance Director at Amazon Watch. "Its new statement identifies many of the key risk factors of the...

Joaquin Phoenix Makes Film with Extinction Rebellion and Amazon Watch

Sônia Guajajara, Executive Coordinator of the Association of Brazil's Indigenous Peoples said: "This film is very important for us at this moment. It demonstrates the artists' engagement in Amazon protection by showing the key role Indigenous peoples play in defending the forests, the planet, and life itself."

BlackRock Issues Investment Stewardship Statement on Agribusiness

"BlackRock is clearly feeling the pressure from the climate and Indigenous rights movement to align its investment practices with a sustainable world, which includes how it engages with and invests in agribusiness," said Moira Birss, Climate and Finance Director at Amazon Watch.

BlackRock Responds to Demands for Stronger Climate Action with Bold New Commitments

The company still remains the largest investor in coal, oil, gas, and the companies driving deforestation

"This announcement is a major step in the right direction for BlackRock," said Moira Birss, Finance Campaign Director at Amazon Watch. However, It still leaves questions about how it plans to address the fact that it is the world's biggest investor in deforestation."

Protecting the Amazon Is Going to Take All of Us!

For everyone that hosted a fundraiser, shared our videos and posts, or did something creative to spread awareness and protect the Amazon, thank you. This movement requires all hands on deck. We need to maintain the same sense of urgency in order to protect it and its Indigenous peoples. Onward together!

Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.

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The Climate Movement Is Going After Wall Street

A new effort, Stop the Money Pipeline, aims to end the financing of fossil fuels

A coalition of some of the nation's leading climate, youth, and Indigenous organizations launched a major new mobilization, Stop the Money Pipeline, that will pressure banks, insurance companies and asset managers to stop financing fossil fuels and deforestation and start respecting human rights and Indigenous sovereignty.

Indigenous Forest Guardian Murdered by Illegal Loggers in Brazilian Amazon

Another indigenous leader was gravely wounded in the ambush and a logger is reportedly missing

Earlier today, members of the Guajajara people's Forest Guardians, a volunteer land and environmental monitoring force, were ambushed by a group of illegal loggers in the Araribóia indigenous territory, leaving one Guardian dead and another gravely wounded. Forest defender Paulo Paulino Guajajara was killed by a shot to the face, while the attack...

BlackRock's Ghoulish Lack of Action for the Amazon

BlackRock is a major investor in the industries driving deforestation and indigenous rights violations in the Amazon. That's why, as the Amazon fires crisis escalated through late summer, we joined with allies at Rainforest Action Network, Greenpeace USA, and Friends of the Earth US to contact BlackRock directly about the meaningful steps the...

Indigenous Leaders Travel to Europe to Report Violations in Brazil

Delegation will visit twelve countries to warn authorities, companies and European society about violence against Indigenous Peoples in Brazil

Brasília, Brazil – A delegation of Indigenous leaders will visit twelve European countries between October 17 and November 20 to report serious violations against Brazilian Indigenous Peoples since President Jair Bolsonaro took office. Led by the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), in partnership with civil society organizations...

Amazon Fires Decreased in September, but Crisis Far From Over

"We need a real commitment from Bolsonaro's government to protect Brazil's forests and their indigenous and traditional communities, who are the true guardians of the Amazon. Bolsonaro has promised 'zero tolerance' for explosive deforestation and subsequent widespread arson; however, his policies and rhetoric have actually encouraged such crimes."

BlackRock's CEO Fiddles While the Amazon Burns

We can't allow asset managers to keep profiting from the Amazon crisis

What does the world's largest asset manager have to do with the fires raging in Brazil and other parts of the Amazon? In short: a lot. As the world's biggest money manager, BlackRock plays a key role in deciding where and how the $6.5 trillion in funds they manage are invested.

Brazilians and U.S. Allies Deliver Petition to BlackRock Urging It to Act for the Amazon

"BlackRock is a powerful economic actor that provides significant financing for the expansion of agribusiness. Protests that raise global awareness on the true impacts of this company's financing are very important because they show how it drives deforestation, the destruction of indigenous lands, and the genocide of indigenous peoples. We need to...

Response to Investor Statement on Amazon Deforestation and Fires

230 institutional investors from 30 different countries release joint statement calling for urgent action to protect the Amazon

"Next week is the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York. This would be the perfect moment for the U.S. financial institutions that have yet to take action for the Amazon to step up. To do otherwise would be to continue their complicity in Amazon destruction."

Amazon Watch Statement on Brazil-U.S. Amazon Plan

"It is absolutely preposterous to assert that private-sector 'development' in the Amazon is the way to protect the rainforest. To the contrary, private-sector 'development' is the cause of Amazon destruction. Further industrial expansion in the rainforest will undoubtedly drive further deforestation, pushing the Amazon closer to the ecological...

Amazon Fires Inspire Global Day of Action to Hold Politicians and Corporations Accountable

Oakland, CA – Following dozens of demonstrations across six continents advocating for the protection and preservation of the Amazon rainforest and its indigenous peoples, Amazon Watch today released a video with highlights from the Global Day of Action for the Amazon and launched a challenge to the global community to continue supporting the...

Global Day of Action for the Amazon

Today, Amazon Watch, the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), and Extinction Rebellion mobilized dozens of demonstrations in over twenty countries across six continents in a Global Day of Action for the Amazon. These non-violent, peaceful demonstrations around the world shine a light on the cycle of political corruption and...

Dirty Dozen Companies Driving Deforestation Must Act Now to Stop the Burning of the World's Forests

Groups call for the immediate suspension of all business and financing with traders active in the Brazilian Amazon"The Amazon is on fire. Corporations share the blame. They need to become part of the solution."

"Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro certainly deserves the primary blame for the fires currently burning in the Amazon, given his violent, regressive, and racist policies and his explicit encouragement to ‘open the Amazon for business'. But multinational corporations helped create these conditions for profiteering at the expense of the lungs of...

As the Amazon Burns, BlackRock Named As World's Largest Investor in Deforestation

"The fires currently raging in the Amazon clearly demonstrate the risk that agribusiness expansion poses for the Amazon rainforest, indigenous peoples, and the global climate. By expanding investments in the very industries complicit in that destruction, BlackRock is emboldening right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro to continue his quest to raze the...

Amazon Watch and Allies Issue Call for Global Day of Action for the Amazon on September 5th

Washington, DC – Amid the unprecedented raging fires across the Amazon, Amazon Watch is turning international outrage into action. Together, with Extinction Rebellion and the National Indigenous Association of Brazil (APIB), Amazon Watch, the leading global organization in defending the Amazon rainforest and the rights of its indigenous peoples...

Forest Offsets Not a Solution to Brazil's Fires

"These policies are the 21st century version of colonialism, resulting in the exploitation and eviction of indigenous communities from their homes all the while those in California can feel good about their continued emissions at home," said Kevin Koenig, Amazon Watch's Climate and Energy Director.

Note of Condemnation from the APIB

We need immense national and international solidarity to face this dark time. We are asking for help and support from national and international institutions to ensure that laws, justice and international treaties that Brazil has signed are respected.

Statement on Forest Fires in the Brazilian Amazon

"The unprecedented fires ravaging the Amazon are an international tragedy and a dangerous contribution to climate chaos," said Christian Poirier, Amazon Watch Program Director.

Indigenous Women Mobilize to Resist Bolsonaro in Major Brasilia Protests

August 13th, more than 2,000 indigenous women leaders from across Brazil will stage a mobilization in the nation’s capital as part of the country’s first Indigenous Women's March. Entitled "Territory: our body, our spirit,” this historic gathering responds to escalating violations of indigenous rights under the Bolsonaro government, as native...