Late on Thursday, June 20th, the Chile-based oil company GeoPark withdrew its request for an environmental permit to begin oil drilling in a concession area known as Block 64, located in the northern Peruvian Amazon. The company's about-face came after a concerted campaign of protests from indigenous Achuar and Wampi communities opposed to oil...
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Amazonians Rising Up and Winning Against Oil!
"The government tried to sell our lands to the oil companies without our permission. Our rainforest is our life. We decide what happens in our lands. We will never sell our rainforest to the oil companies."
“My Message for GeoPark? Don’t Enter Achuar Territory.”
An indigenous delegation from the Peruvian Amazon prepares to take the fight to GeoPark's doorstep
"We don't want the oil company to enter our territory because they contaminate everything – the air we breathe, the forest from which we source our food. As our ancestors left our territory to us, we want to leave it for future generations."
Statement Regarding Decision to Delay Licensing of Ecuadorian Oil Blocks 86 and 87
"The decision to put a hold on auctioning blocks 86 and 87 shows that the advocacy made by Shiwiar, Sapara, and Kichwa indigenous peoples to protect their territories, that are part of the best preserved tropical forests in the country, has been successful. While we celebrate this victory, we know that the next step must not be further...
New Report: European and North American Companies Support Soy, Cattle, and Timber Companies Responsible for Recent Surge in Amazon Deforestation
A new report from Amazon Watch shows for the first time how firms that fuel the destruction of the Brazilian Amazon under Brazil's new president openly trade with and receive financing from a range of companies and major investors in Europe and North America. Although these producers of soy, cattle, and timber for export have documented links to...
Amazon Watch is building on more than 28 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Amazon Watch Statement on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) and the Use of Market Mechanisms
We cannot simply offset our way to a climate stable world. We need real climate action that addresses the primary cause of climate change: fossil fuel extraction and commodity-driven deforestation, and calls for climate justice.
Danger Zone for Peru’s Achuar People
The risk of new oil drilling in Achuar territory is more alarming than it has been since I started with Amazon Watch over twelve years ago. Fortunately, the Achuar are determined to protect their lands and families from contamination and they also benefit from the support of steadfast allies, both Peruvian and international.
Twenty Years of Accomplishments
Amazon Watch’s expertise and history as a principled ally to indigenous peoples uniquely positions the organization to help shape the global narrative on why and how we must defend the Amazon.
Brazil’s New President Threatens “the Lungs of the Planet”
If there is hope for the rainforest, and for countries where authoritarians threaten democracy and progressive agendas, it lies in the determination and power of civil society activists like Sônia Guajajara.
Protecting Indigenous Lands Protects the Environment. Trump and Bolsonaro Threaten Both.
Among the many parallels between their administrations, Bolsonaro and Trump are both taking extreme action to strip the hard-earned rights of indigenous peoples to the benefit of extractive industries and commercial farming. These policies present threats to our communities, the integrity of ecosystems on our lands and the stability of our climate.
GeoPark Fomenting Social Conflicts in Peru’s Amazon
Washington, DC – A detailed new report published by the non-governmental organization Center for Public Policy and Human Rights (Equidad Perú) identifies the oil company GeoPark as responsible for dangerous divide-and-conquer strategies in the Peruvian Amazon. The company is also facing related criticisms of downplaying environmental concerns in...
Emboldened by Bolsonaro, Armed Invaders Encroach on Brazil’s Tribal Lands
Ten days after Brazil's right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro took office, dozens of men entered protected indigenous land in a remote corner of the Amazon, hacking a pathway beneath the jungle canopy. Inspired by Bolsonaro's vow to open more native territory to commercial development, the men, armed with machetes, chainsaws and firearms, had come...
Defending Rights, Building Unity, and Protecting the Amazon Sacred Headwaters
In the remote, roadless rainforest territories along the border between Ecuador and Peru, over a dozen indigenous nationalities have launched an initiative to permanently protect about 60 million acres from industrial extraction and stop the drivers of deforestation. Dubbed the Amazon Sacred Headwaters, the initiative seeks to present a united...
Ecuadorian Indigenous People File Legal Action Over Rainforest Mining Project
The Shuar Indigenous people of Ecuador's southeastern Amazon-Andean corridor took legal action against the government today in Quito over multiple violations of their collective rights related to the San Carlos Panantza mining project.
Bolsonaro Wants to Plunder the Amazon. Don’t Let Him.
Mr. Bolsonaro's rise to power will test companies' promises to be responsible. Will leading global agribusiness companies be complicit in Mr. Bolsonaro's assault on the Amazon and its people, thus sacrificing their commitments, their reputation and our climate? And will financial institutions like BlackRock heed their own calls for companies to...
Statement on Bolsonaro’s Inauguration as Brazil’s President
"The coming months will prove pivotal in demonstrating the ability of Brazilian social movements and their allies around the world to forestall President Bolsonaro's most destructive policy proposals. As such, Amazon Watch is redoubling its work in solidarity with our embattled partners to push back against an agenda that portends dire...
Good News for Yasuní Park and Indigenous Rights!
Last week, Ecuador's Energy Minister, Carlos Pérez García, announced that – at least for now – the government will not pursue oil drilling in the "buffer zone" protected areas of Yasuní National Park, reversing plans revealed last month in a leaked draft decree. This is an important victory for our collective work to keep fossil fuels...
Investor Eye on the Amazon
The Investor Eye on the Amazon provides an update on our campaigns targeting corporations with ties to dirty industry in the Amazon, and it aims to serve as a resource for socially-responsible investors, industry analysts, and researchers looking to better understand the risks associated with investment in extractive industries - and their own...
Ecuador Walks Back Oil Drilling Plans in Amazon Rainforest
"Minister Pérez' announcement sends a clear message: civil society pressure to defend rights and ecosystems works, and expanding the fossil fuel frontier deeper into Ecuador's Amazon presents risks to companies and problems for the state. This is an important victory for our collective work to keep fossil fuels in the ground from California to the...
Ecuador’s Yasuní Bait and Switch
While Ecuadorian government officials were busy touting the country's advances to reduce emissions at COP 24 in Poland, activists gathered outside the country's Environment Ministry to protest government plans to greatly expand oil drilling in its remote Amazon rainforest and indigenous lands. These are fossil fuels the planet can ill afford to...
A Victory in the Struggle for REAL Climate Solutions!
Not only do offset programs allow continued pollution, but these particular forest protection schemes have a poor track record of actually protecting forests and often lead to the displacement of indigenous peoples who have stewarded their lands for millennia. Plus, offset schemes hurt the communities – predominantly people of color and indigenous...
The Voices of Amazon Women and a Visionary Declaration to Protect Indigenous Lands
"The Amazon Rainforest ecosystems are vital lungs of the Earth. Thus, the justice and well-being for the people of Sarayaku is inseparably tied to the fate of all people worldwide."
Ecuador’s Indigenous March Over 600km to Demand an End to Mining
"They're still in the construction phase and the environmental impacts are very severe," said Carlos Mazabanda, Amazon Watch's Ecuador Field Coordinator." More than 1,200 hectares of primary forest were clear-cut for the mine, which has affected rivers, aquatic life and indigenous communities' access to water."
Bolsonaro Victory Spells Disaster for the Brazilian Amazon, Spurs Resistance Movement
"The ascension of the divisive and callous politician Jair Bolsonaro to the presidency poses enormous challenges for democracy, human rights, and environmental preservation in Brazil. His administration could undo decades of hard-fought socio-environmental advances and move the country back toward the dark days of its brutal military dictatorship."
Block 64: The Wampis Nation Denounces the Serious Socio-Cultural Impacts of GeoPark and PetroPeru’s Maneuvers
The oil companies GeoPark and PetroPeru have no limits when it comes to forcing their operation in Block 64 in Loreto Region. In recent months these companies have increased their activities designed to confront a small handful of communities that support their project against the majority of communities that are opposed to the risk of seeing...
Ecuador Reduces Plan for New Oil Blocks in Amazon Rainforest Under Pressure from Indigenous Peoples
Oakland, CA – Ecuador's Hydrocarbon Minister Carlos Pérez unexpectedly announced that the oil auction planned for the end of 2018 would be reduced from the original sixteen blocks to two, as leaders of Ecuador's Amazonian indigenous nationalities gathered outside of the country's annual Energy, Mining, and Oil conference yesterday to denounce...
Uncontacted Tribes at Risk Amid “Worrying” Surge in Amazon Deforestation
Brazil is grappling with scores of deadly land conflicts, illustrating the tensions between preserving Indigenous culture and economic development
Thomson Reuters | Ilegal loggers and militias cleared an area three times the size of Gibraltar in Brazil's Amazon this year, threatening an "uncontacted" indigenous tribe.
Statement on the Entry of GeoPark into the Wampis Nation
The authorities of the communities of the Wampis Nation, found within the Morona district of the Loreto region, would like to address public opinion to express our rejection of the oil company GeoPark's entry into oil concession Block 64.
Wampis and Achuar Peoples Demand Annulment of Oil Block 64 to Be Operated by GeoPark
110 organized communities opposed the exploitation and transportation of oil within their territories
Representatives of the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampis Nation and the Federation of Achuar Nationalities of Peru are sounding the alarm about a non-representative commission of indigenous people who are trying to dialogue with the government to demand benefits from oil activities.
