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.
FPIC
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...
Amazon Watch is building on more than 28 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
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.
Belo Monte: There Is Nothing Green or Sustainable About These Mega-dams
The Conversation | Belo Monte is just one of many dams across the globe that have been justified – and funded – as sustainable pursuits. Yet, this conflates the ends with the means. Hydroelectricity may appear relatively 'clean' but the process in which a mega-dam is built is far from it.
Impacts of Mining Project “Mirador” in the Ecuadorian Amazon
Using satellite imagery, GIS data, and remote sensing analysis, this interactive multimedia presentation is a tool for tracking and analyzing the effects of the the "Mirador" project, an open pit mine with the purpose of extracting copper, silver and gold, in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest.
Chinese/Western Financing of Roads, Dams Led to Major Andes Amazon Deforestation
Mongabay | "We are seeing some of the same manifest destiny-style development schemes that characterized the region decades ago. It is rapidly turning the Amazon from carbon sink to carbon source at the time the climate – and planet – can least afford it," said Kevin Koenig of Amazon Watch.
Indigenous Federation to GeoPark: Peru Project a Big Risk
Achuar reaffirm resistance to GeoPark in new video released ahead of oil company’s annual shareholder meeting Friday
San Lorenzo, Peru – A federation of indigenous communities deep in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest affirmed its rejection of planned oil operations in its ancestral territory ahead of Friday's annual shareholder meeting of GeoPark.
Visionary “Living Forest” Proposal to Be Launched by Kichwa People of Sarayaku in Ecuador
Proposal for New International Category of Forest and Rights Protection to Be Presented to Government Officials and International Dignitaries
The Kichwa People of Sarayaku will officially launch its Kawsak Sacha, (Living Forest) proposal in Ecuador this July 2018 with a four-day exhibition and conference in Quito that will showcase Sarayaku's way of life, culture, and vision and will involve a formal presentation to the Ecuadorian government and international dignitaries.
CalPERS Investment Policy Change a Win for Indigenous Peoples
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System has quietly approved extensive changes to its Governance and Sustainability Principles, including a ground-breaking recognition of the right of indigenous peoples to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC). CalPERS, the largest public pension in the U.S with $356 billion in assets under...
Brazil’s Political Storm Driving Amazon Deforestation Higher
Mongabay | Many experts aren't surprised by these land-grabber assaults, even though the Apyterewa preserve lies within the area of influence of the giant Belo Monte dam built on the Xingu River, and even though one of the conditions for the dam's construction, agreed to in 2010, was that the government protect this territory and evict all illegal intruders...
The Shiwiar Nation of Ecuador Raises Its Voice Against Oil Drilling in Its Territory
"It was not a consultation, they came only with offers that we know are false. We were not in any way consulted as our rights say. As Shiwiar we had already spoken out against this project of oil exploitation and since we also opposed this supposed consultation, hydrocarbons entered our territory using indigenous people living in the city. "
Letter to Ecuadorian President Moreno in Support of the Sapara Nation
We write you to express our support for the Sapara Nation and for their demand for an end to any and all oil activities in their territory, whether now or in the future.
ENI-AGIP Oil Project Threatens Indigenous Territories in the Ecuadorian Amazon
Indigenous organizations have rejected the company's presence in their territories and an Indigenous leader has been subjected to threats and intimidation
"This attack is a reprisal for the struggle that I've been waging to defend life and our territories against the threat that is still being pushed upon us, fossil fuel exploitation in our territories."
Defending Indigenous Lands, Territories, and Resources at the UN
More than 1,000 representatives of indigenous peoples traveled to New York in late April to participate in the 17th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Amazon Watch supported and accompanied Amazonian leaders to call for respect and protection of their lives, cultures, and ancestral territories and an end to the harassment and...
Indigenous Amazonian Leaders at U.N. to Demand an End to Resource Extraction and Threats Against Rights Defenders
Women's delegation from the Ecuadorian Amazon will bring call for permanent protection of rainforest lands to the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples
Indigenous representatives from several nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon will attend the17th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York City from April 16 to 27.
A Village in Ecuador’s Amazon Fights for Life as Oil Wells Move In
Ecuador's Yasuní National Park is home to Indigenous people who live in near-total isolation from the rest of the world – and wish to remain that way
NRDC | To an outsider visiting the rainforest of Ecuador's Yasuní National Park, one of the most biologically diverse places on earth, it seems almost inconceivable that Baihua and his people have survived as hunter-gatherers there in the 21st century – and even harder to believe they'll be able to do so for much longer.
