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    Amazon Watch

    End Amazon Crude

    Keep Amazon Oil in the Ground!

    Amazon Watch’s End Amazon Crude campaign works in close partnership with Indigenous peoples to stop oil extraction at the source and reduce global demand for Amazon oil. We also support Indigenous communities in Ecuador and Peru in their fight for reparations and remediation for the devastating impacts of decades of oil operations. Together with Indigenous partners, we are building pressure on governments, corporations, and consumers to phase out Amazon crude and protect the rainforest – before it’s too late.

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    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...

    November 4, 2021
    4,681 views
    4 min read

    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.

    November 4, 2021
    2,034 views
    6 min read

    Isolated Indigenous Peoples Under Threat of Oil Expansion

    New access road under construction intends to go deep into Yasuní National Park's "No Go" Zone

    In late October, Ecuador’s right-wing president Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency, citing rising violent crime. But the surprise move also conveniently suspended civil liberties just as civil society was gearing up to protest his economic and policy proposals seeking to implement neoliberal reforms and a business-friendly environment...

    November 2, 2021
    1,528 views
    10 min read

    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...

    October 13, 2021
    2,834 views
    4 min read

    Amazon Watch is building on more than 28 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.

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    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.

    October 6, 2021
    3,041 views
    4 min read

    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.

    October 6, 2021
    5,882 views
    7 min read

    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...

    October 4, 2021
    3,020 views
    7 min read

    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...

    October 1, 2021
    2,544 views
    7 min read

    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,"...

    October 1, 2021
    5,833 views
    7 min read

    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...

    September 24, 2021
    5,285 views
    8 min read

    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.

    September 23, 2021
    755 views
    4 min read

    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...

    September 21, 2021
    4,515 views
    4 min read

    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...

    September 21, 2021
    6,043 views
    4 min read

    Ecuador's New Presidential Administration Opens Doors to Expand Extraction

    During his first 100 days in office, Ecuador’s new president, Guillermo Lasso, made it clear that his government’s economic policy will be based on extractivism. According to the new administration, natural resources, such as oil, gas, and minerals, found in Ecuadorian subsoil are "essential," given the economic situation he inherited due to poor...

    September 16, 2021
    4,085 views
    6 min read

    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...

    September 10, 2021
    2,744 views
    4 min read

    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.

    September 5, 2021
    5,167 views
    2 min read

    European Bank Intesa Commits to Exclude Amazon Oil from Headwaters Region of Ecuador, Peru

    Stand.earth, Amazon Watch call on other banks to follow suit

    "Intesa's new commitment to exclude oil from the Amazon Headwaters region shows how banks can expand Amazon-specific exclusion policies beyond just trade financing. While the policy falls short of the call for banks to extend Amazon oil exclusions to the entire Amazon Biome, it illustrates how geographic exclusions are a necessary part of banks'...

    August 2, 2021
    4,590 views
    4 min read

    The Amazon Rainforest-Sized Loophole in Net Zero

    How net zero pledges can lead to false solutions for Amazon rainforest and climate protection

    Trading forest protection for continued greenhouse gas emissions presents a false and dangerous "solution" to the climate crisis. Instead, emissions must be drastically reduced, forests must be protected for their own sake, Indigenous forest stewardship must be recognized and respected, and the root causes of deforestation – namely commodity...

    July 2021
    1,475 views
    2 min read

    Banking on Amazon Destruction

    How European and U.S. banks fund the oil and gas industry despite environmental and social risks driving the Amazon over the brink

    In Amazon Watch and Stand.earth’s latest report, Banking on Amazon Destruction, researchers compare the Environmental and Social Risk (ESR) policies of target banks to their actions. Together, we are calling on banks to exclude all types of finance (including investment) for any company engaging in the oil industry in the Amazon, setting markers...

    July 2021
    5,892 views
    1 min read

    Investing in Amazon Crude II

    How the Big Three Asset Managers Actively Fund the Amazon Oil Industry

    Three of the world's largest asset managers – BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street – with trillions of dollars under their control, invest in oil companies with horrific environmental and human rights records across the Amazon Basin. Right now, these asset managers hold a large amount of risk by actively contributing to Indigenous and human...

    June 2021
    3,528 views
    2 min read

    BlackRock Must Commit to Indigenous Rights – Not Just Climate Change

    Mongabay | "In Brazil the operations of corporations like the ones we mention above, into which BlackRock directs substantial investments on behalf of clients, have profound negative impacts on our communities, our forests, and the climate," APIB wrote. "You therefore have a responsibility for our future. And if the Amazon is destroyed, the future of the...

    March 19, 2021
    5,001 views
    5 min read

    BlackRock to Press Companies on Human Rights and Nature

    Bloomberg | Environmental group Amazon Watch welcomed BlackRock's moves but said they didn't go far enough. BlackRock failed to identify transparent expectations, time lines and consequences for company inaction on these issues, according to Moira Birss, Amazon Watch's Climate and Finance Director. "BlackRock should adopt a definitive no-deforestation and...

    March 17, 2021
    1,907 views
    3 min read

    What Do You Get When You Beat Chevron in Court? 500 Days of Home Detention

    "As my physical world has shrunk, the online world has expanded by multiples of thousands. And once I get through this, I have no doubt that Chevron will be paying this judgment such that thousands of Indigenous people and rural communities will have a clean environment and thousands of lives will be saved. That's what this is ultimately about."

    December 22, 2020
    2,984 views
    4 min read

    Manufacturing Consent: Ecuador to Draft New Bill on the Consultation of Indigenous Peoples, Without Consulting Them

    "We demand that an FPIC law be put forth in harmony with and respect for our peoples and nations and our ways and time frames for discussion, analysis, and decision-making. We are not going to acquiesce to an illegitimate law written from their desks in Quito," said a CONFENIAE statement. "Since this will be a law regarding the collective rights...

    November 18, 2020
    783 views
    4 min read

    Climate Activists Ramp Up Pressure on BlackRock During Fires Week of Action

    Despite positioning itself earlier this year as a financial firm that leads on climate, BlackRock continues to be a major financial investor in the deforestation commodity companies currently fueling the fires in the Amazon. BlackRock is a top investor in deforestation-risk commodities around the world, and despite vague commitments to prioritize...

    September 4, 2020
    1,136 views
    4 min read

    Climate Activists Stage Direct Action Against BlackRock’s Continued Financing of Amazon Fires

    Activists post decals of Amazon fire destruction on BlackRock's San Francisco and New York headquarters calling out financier for climate commitments that fail to address deforestation and Indigenous rights violations

    "According to MAAP, as of August 30th of this year, over 1.1 million acres (453,000 hectares) of recently deforested areas have burned in the Brazilian Amazon. Given the urgency of what's happening in the Amazon today, it's encouraging to see that activists are turning out from coast to coast to hold BlackRock accountable for its contributions to...

    September 3, 2020
    5,123 views
    2 min read

    European Banks Urged to Stop Funding Oil Trade in Amazon

    Indigenous people in headwaters region say financing harms communities and ecosystems

    The Guardian | Marlon Vargas, the president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon, said: "I wonder if the executives of banks in Europe know the real cost of their financing. How can they possibly sleep peacefully knowing their money leaves thousands of indigenous peoples and communities without water, without food and in...

    August 12, 2020
    779 views
    4 min read

    European Banks Face Indigenous Calls to End Amazon Oil Trade

    Reuters | European banks committed to backing action on climate change face allegations of double standards from indigenous groups in Ecuador after a report named them as major players in the trade in oil from the Amazon rainforest.

    August 12, 2020
    4,445 views
    5 min read