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    Investor's Eye on the Amazon

    In our Winter 2015 issue, we bring you the latest updates and investor risks associated with companies operating or investing in the Amazon region.

    Winter 2015
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    BNDES: Brazil's powerhouse bank

    Al Jazeera English | With his slicked-back hair, neatly trimmed, close-cropped beard, and impeccably pressed suits, Luciano Coutinho looks like any other obscure Brazilian banker.But he is anything but an average banking man.Coutinho is the president of the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social - Brazil's national de

    December 1, 2009
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    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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    Brazil Bank Funds Destructive Projects, Say Activists

    Interpress Service (IPS) | RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 26 (IPS) - Public money in Brazil is being used by the state development bank to finance deforestation projects and others that trample rights, concentrate wealth, and encourage "imperialist" expansion of large national companies, according to activists at a three-day meeting in this southeastern city.

    November 26, 2009
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    Letter from Peoples Affected by Brazil's Development Bank

    The following letter came out of a three-day meeting organized by the Plataforma BNDES, a group of Brazilian and South American civil society organizations and social movements pushing to reform Brazil's Development Bank (BNDES) from a highly questionable and destr

    November 25, 2009
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    Looking ahead, Brazil's farmers take up reforestation

    The Washington Post | LUCAS DO RIO VERDE, BRAZIL – For nearly 20 years, Luiz Alberto Bortolini cleared trees and planted soybeans as fast as he could, one of many pioneers who turned this barren outpost into prosperous farmland.Now, he and hundreds of other successful farmers are replanting trees as part of an ambitious initiative to

    November 23, 2009
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    Civil Society Holds the First Meeting of Peoples Affected by BNDES Financed Projects

    Plataforma BNDES | November 11, 2009 - From the 23rd to the 25th of November, the Plataforma BNDES, a representative body of more than thirty organizations, social movements and networks from Brazilian civil society, will be hosting the first annual 'Meeting of Populations Affected by BNDES Financed Projects' at the Circo Voador in Rio de Janei

    November 11, 2009
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    A People Beyond the Riverbanks

    Written By Cristiano Navarro, Brasil de FatoTranslated by Natalia TaddeiBolivians will be affected by the dam projects, yet their lands have been not included Brazil's environmental impact study.

    August 4, 2009
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    Tragic history repeats itself on Brazil's Madeira River

    By: Christian Poirier, Amazon Watch Brazil Program CoordinatorAlong the banks of Brazil's Madeira River, the rusty remnants of the Madeira-Mamoré railroad, built a century ago to run steam engines from Porto Velho to Guajará-Mirim in Bolivia, lay in ruins.

    July 16, 2009
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    Environmental lawsuits filed against Amazon dam projects

    Recharge News | Civil lawsuits have been filed against Brazil's environment institute for ignoring environmental concerns when issuing licenses to allow the construction of two dams on the Amazon's Madeira River.

    July 9, 2009
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    Varias ONG critican al Banco Santander por financiar una presa en la Amazonía

    EFE | Washington, 14 mayo - Una coalición de organizaciones medioambientales instaron hoy al Banco Santander a retirarse de un consorcio que construye una presa en la Amazonía que, a su juicio, provocará graves daños ecológicos y sociales."Si (el Santander) quiere ser considerado como un banco responsable, no puede fina

    May 14, 2009
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    Brazilian Social Movement Condemns "Dictatorship on the Madeira River"

    The Brazilian Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) issued the following statement to denounce the treatment of riverine communities who are being impacted by the construction of the Santo Antônio and Jirau dams on the Madeira River in Brazil's Rondônia state.

    April 29, 2009
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    With an eye on Copenhagen, indigenous groups talk climate change

    Climate Wire | Indigenous people from around the world are meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, this week to discuss climate change – which has led to conditions they didn't create but that they often suffer from disproportionately, many said.And as the world negotiates a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, indigenous groups say they w

    April 21, 2009
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    Despite Protests, Work Continues on Madeira River Dams

    Recent events surrounding the Santo Antonio and Jirau hydroelectric dam schemes underway on the Amazon’s Madeira River highlight the controversial nature of these projects as well as the lack of public consensus around the Brazilian government’s “development” plans for the Amazon basin.

    April 1, 2009
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    Brazil's Madeira Riverbank Dwellers Call for Help

    Members of the riverbank communities on Brazil’s Madeira River sent a letter to Brazil’s President Lula da Silva prior to his visit to see work on the two dam sites of Santo Antonio and Jirau, key projects of the Initiative for the Regional Integration of Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA).

    March 20, 2009
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    Civil Society Organizations from 13 Countries Highlight Inter-American Development Bank Failure

    Development Model Condemned as 50th Bank Meeting Approaches

    March 18 (IDB.50 Coalition) - As the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary in Medellin, Colombia, a coalition of 42 civil society organizations from across Latin America is calling it to account for its failure to eradicate poverty and inequality across the region.In a paralle

    March 18, 2009
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    COIAB meets with Prince Charles in Manaus

    The coordinator-general of the National Indigenous Organization of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), Jecinaldo Satere, delivered a document to the heir of the British throne detailing the position of indigenous peoples on environmental issues.

    March 13, 2009
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    S.O.S. Amazon! Over 1700 People Create Human Banner and Urge Global Action

    Brazilian Indigenous Leaders Unite International Efforts to Defend the Amazon Rainforest during the World Social Forum

    BELEM, Brazil – Indigenous people from across Latin America today led over 1700 participants of World Social Forum to form a human banner, using their bodies to draw attention to the increasingly precarious situation of the Amazon rainforest.

    January 27, 2009
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    WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: "Wake Up, World!" - SOS from the Amazon

    Interpress Service | BELÉM, Brazil, Jan 27 (IPS) - A human banner made up of more than 1,000 people, seen and photographed from the air, sent the message "SOS Amazon" to the world, in the first action taken by indigenous people hours before the opening in northern Brazil on Tuesday of the 2009 World Social Forum (WSF).The mass message ref

    January 27, 2009
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