Amazon Watch
    Amazon Watch

    End Amazon Crude

    The Amazon is a no-go zone for oil drilling

    The western Amazon is one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth. This vital rainforest is under threat from previous and ongoing oil extraction – which pollutes rivers, harms wildlife and human health, and opens the forest to roads, deforestation, and further exploitation.

    Amazon Watch works in close partnership with Indigenous peoples to stop oil extraction at the source and reduce global demand for Amazon oil. Together, 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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    Citi's New Environmental and Social Policy Falls Short

    Citigroup's unambitious new policy, released just before its annual general meeting of shareholders, ignores the climate and Indigenous rights risks of oil drilling in the Amazon

    "If Citi truly cares about being a leader on climate and Indigenous rights, it must end corporate financing for fossil fuel expansion in the Amazon and around the world – particularly when that expansion is planned for the territories of Indigenous peoples."

    April 21, 2020
    6,198 views
    3 min read

    Oil Spill Along the Coca and Napo Rivers Affects Ecuadorian Indigenous Communities

    Indigenous communities facing fresh water and food shortages as oil spill pollutes local river

    This spill could not have come at a worse time for Indigenous peoples and communities near the river, as they are working to protect themselves from the spread of COVID, and securing access to basic food, sanitary supplies, and potable water.

    April 9, 2020
    5,398 views
    2 min read

    Statement in Solidarity With Amazonian Indigenous Peoples Facing the Novel Coronavirus

    In solidarity with Indigenous organizations, federations and nationalities of the Amazon who have expressed deep concern about the impending threat of COVID-19 in their ancestral territories and communities, we demand integrated, effective, and culturally adequate state responses to this crisis. This begins with an immediate moratorium on any...

    April 2020
    1,635 views
    9 min read

    Urgent Action Needed to Protect Indigenous Peoples from COVID-19 in Ecuador

    Quito, Ecuador – In response to the global health crisis related to the coronavirus pandemic, yesterday Indigenous and human rights organizations in Ecuador sent a letter of concern urging the government to implement concrete, culturally-adequate, and effective protection measures in order to guarantee the fulfillment of Indigenous peoples' rights...

    March 27, 2020
    2,976 views
    10 min read

    Drilling in the Amazon? Global Financiers Say Yes

    TriplePundit | "The Amazon rainforest is crucial to climate stability, and oil drilling expansion is one of the greatest threats to it," said Moira Birss, campaign director of the finance program at Amazon Watch.

    March 23, 2020
    5,495 views
    3 min read

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

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    New Report Highlights Links Between Big Finance and Amazon Crude

    Activists urged to Join the #StopTheMoneyPipeline to take on Wall Street!

    In our newest report, Investing in Amazon Crude, and activist guide, Building People Power to End Investment in Amazon Crude, Amazon Watch details the ways that five of the world's most powerful financial institutions – Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, and BlackRock – actively contribute to climate change by providing debt and...

    March 12, 2020
    2,282 views
    3 min read

    U.S. Firms Bankroll Oil Extraction in the Amazon – Report

    E&E News | Major U.S. financial institutions are funneling billions of dollars into crude oil expansion in the western Amazon rainforest, according to a report released today that underscored Indigenous peoples' long-standing opposition to fossil fuel extraction on ancestral lands.

    March 12, 2020
    3,854 views
    4 min read

    Report: The Five Biggest Financiers of New Amazon Oil Boom

    BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, HSBC, and JP Morgan Chase defy their own commitments by backing dangerous oil and gas extraction in the western Amazon

    Oakland, CA – A report released today by Amazon Watch shows how five American and British financial institutions are actively accelerating climate change and human rights abuses by providing billions of dollars in debt and equity financing for crude oil extraction projects in the western Amazon. Already, millions of acres of the western Amazon...

    March 12, 2020
    4,219 views
    5 min read

    Building People Power to End Investment in Amazon Crude

    Building People Power to End Investment in Amazon Crude is a 4-page refresher for activists who want to better understand the role that major financial institutions play in escalating the climate crisis. It includes detailed data from the latest Amazon Watch research on the total debt and equity financing provided by five major firms to companies...

    March 2020
    3,441 views
    1 min read

    Investing in Amazon Crude

    The Network of Global Financiers and Oil Companies Driving the Amazon Toward Collapse

    This report outlines in detail the ways that five of the world's most powerful financial institutions are actively contributing to climate change by providing debt and equity financing for crude oil extraction projects in the Amazon. It highlights key examples of on-the-ground Indigenous resistance to oil extraction, which is not only terrible for...

    March 2020
    5,819 views
    3 min read

    Baby Steps from Leading Financiers Aren't Enough to Address the Climate Emergency

    It shouldn't take a million baby steps for the finance sector to adopt measurable policies that prioritize Indigenous rights and prohibit deforestation and fossil fuel extraction. JPMorgan Chase and BlackRock need to go much further. They need to stand up and make sweeping changes to their policies, now.

    February 28, 2020
    654 views
    4 min read

    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."

    February 6, 2020
    2,501 views
    4 min read

    Indigenous Opposition Forces Andes Petroleum Out of Controversial Rainforest Oil Block

    Oil company's departure latest in wave of indigenous resistance that has shelved new Ecuador drilling plans

    "The declaration by the government of force majeure in Block 79 is a result of our fight, and it was forced to recognize that these territories are ours, we live there. We are asking the government to remove all oil concessions from our territories. We will remain vigilant," said Yanda Montahuano, a Sapara leader.

    November 6, 2019
    5,981 views
    4 min read

    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...

    October 31, 2019
    1,213 views
    3 min read

    Indigenous Ecuadorians Too Strong to Be Ignored After Deal to End Protests

    After days of unrest, president agrees to stop austerity package – showing the political force of Ecuador's indigenous groups

    The Guardian | "I believe that peace triumphed," said Patricia Gualinga, from the Amazonian Kichwa community of Sarayaku. "But I feel a knot in my throat about the loss of the lives of indigenous brothers. There is a lot of pain to be healed and the government should be aware of this."

    October 16, 2019
    3,975 views
    4 min read

    Ecuador's Indigenous Movement Achieves Important Victory

    "How can we talk about 'development', when our territories where we've lived for hundreds of years are being exploited, are being auctioned off, turned into new oil concessions. This undeniably affects us!"

    October 14, 2019
    2,107 views
    3 min read

    Deal Struck in Ecuador to Cancel Austerity Package and End Protests

    The New York Times | Under the agreement, Mr. Moreno pledged to withdraw from an International Monetary Fund-backed program, known as Decree 883, that raised fuel prices, and the Indigenous leaders agreed to call off more protests. The two sides agreed to work together to put in place a new economic policy of government spending cuts and taxes to increase revenues.

    October 13, 2019
    2,683 views
    4 min read

    The Women of the Amazon Have Come in Peace

    Quito, Ecuador – We are women of peace, defenders of our territories and our families. We are making this statement after much pain and indignation, witnessing so much inhuman repression, and after many days of suffering, racism and violence against our brothers and sisters who participate in the National Strike, where people are demonstrating in...

    October 12, 2019
    6,154 views
    2 min read

    Brutality, Violence, and Repression in Ecuador

    Ecuador's indigenous movement is under attack while demanding justice and respect for their rights and territories

    "For centuries, we have protected our lands in the mountains and the Amazon, and we will not allow indigenous peoples, indigenous territories, and our global climate to pay the cost for the government's mounting debt to China and international lenders. Once again, we are putting our bodies and our lives on the line to protect our families, rights...

    October 11, 2019
    1,820 views
    7 min read

    Statement on the National Strike by Ecuador's Indigenous Movement

    "This moment of crisis presents Ecuador with a unique opportunity to heed the call of its people, support indigenous-led solutions, begin a transition to a post-petroleum economy, and put into practice the visionary concepts guaranteed by their Constitution, including the rights of nature and 'buen vivir' (living well), as well as respecting...

    October 8, 2019
    4,177 views
    3 min read

    Amazon Defenders Make Their Voices Heard at Climate Week

    As fires continue to rage in the Amazon rainforest, millions of people have taken to the streets around the world to demand radical, systemic change to the way humanity is handling the climate catastrophe. At New York's Climate Week, indigenous leaders from the Amazon, pro-democracy activists from Brazil, and members of Amazon Watch's team arrived...

    October 5, 2019
    4,663 views
    7 min read

    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.

    September 24, 2019
    1,689 views
    3 min read

    Statement on Murderous Invasion of Brazilian Indigenous Territory

    On Saturday July 26, dozens of heavily armed wildcat gold miners invaded the remote Amazonian territory of the Waiãpi indigenous people in the Brazilian state of Amapá, driving out residents by threatening violence. This invasion followed the miners’ murder of local leader Emyra Waiãpi on Monday July 22nd, who was stabbed to death before his body...

    July 29, 2019
    2,359 views
    2 min read

    Power to the Protectors in Ecuador

    Kichwa Communities Fight Fossil Fuel Expansion with Renewable Energy

    This spring, we carried out the second install of our Power to the Protectors program in three Kichwa communities in the central Ecuadorian Amazon, all threatened by new oil expansion.

    July 11, 2019
    2,197 views
    5 min read