Associated Press | “We have to continue defending the future, and we need more and more people to join this cause.”
The Siona of Buenavista are a beacon of resistance against incursions of oil companies like GeoPark into their territories. Solidarity from Colombian and international allies can be crucial to their success.
The vision for the Amazon Pearl, created by the hundreds of families that live there, is beautiful: Live off the land in a sustainable way, while creating a professional future for youth through environmental education.
GeoPark's current attempts to expand operations into the Colombian and Ecuadorian Amazon are creating serious human rights and environmental challenges for the company and risks for investors, Amazon Watch detailed in a 19-page risk alert published today, coinciding with GeoPark’s quarterly earnings call for investors.
Together, BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard hold $46 billion in debt and equity in oil companies currently operating in the Amazon rainforest. While the prospect of moving the world's largest asset managers to divest from climate destruction may seem daunting, it's not impossible. That's where you come in. Client investors have power.
New York, NY – Prompted by the recent alliance in Colombia between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and GeoPark, an oil company credibly accused of human rights and environmental malfeasance in the Amazon rainforest, an international group of more than forty organizations wrote to the UNDP Executive Board on Friday, June 4. The...
"As long as the world's largest investors choose to place profits over people by continuing to pour money into the fossil fuel industry in the Amazon, our entire planet is at risk. BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard must end their complicity in Indigenous rights abuses, forest destruction, and climate chaos," said Moira Birss, Climate and...
The “Big Three” manage trillions of dollars of investments for individual and institutional investors all over the world, including pension funds and university endowments. Together they control nearly 20 trillion dollars. By investing in oil companies with horrific environmental and human rights records, they are not only flagrantly ignoring...
Amazon Watch expresses our solidarity with Colombian civil society and popular movements facing violent repression by state security forces, riot police (ESMAD), and the national army, since the national strike began on May 28. We are deeply concerned by reports of over 1,000 cases of violence, over 700 arbitrary arrests, at least 37 deaths...
"The oil companies are operating in the Amazon anyway, and we can help make sure they abide by human rights standards." Such was the rationale presented by the head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Colombia, Jessica Faieta. The UNDP managed to get itself into quite a pickle and found itself in the uncomfortable position of...
"Partnerships between UN agencies and oil companies seriously undermine the United Nations’ moral authority on climate and environmental issues. But UNDP Colombia isn’t just partnering with your run-of-the-mill oil company polluting the Amazon Rainforest. In Colombia, the UNDP is working with GeoPark which local communities have consistently...
Amazon Watch is celebrating 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin! What started with our founder, Atossa Soltani, confronting Fernando Cardoso, then the president of Brazil, face-to-face on March 11, 1996, is now a powerful organization building upon that legacy and deepening our commitment to...
Today, we celebrate a major victory after years of collaboration and hard work to fend off another multinational oil company that was supported by the world's largest investment firms and powerful governments.
"GeoPark's departure from Block 64 is a testament to the vision and persistence of the Achuar people and Wampis Nation. Let this be the final nail in Block 64's coffin," said Andrew Miller, Advocacy Director at Amazon Watch.
The Investor Eye on the Amazon newsletter serves as a resource for socially-responsible investors, industry analysts, and researchers looking to better understand the risks associated with financing climate-damaging industries in the Amazon, and what they can do to protect the region.
The Wampis Nation, one of the most organized Indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Amazon, is calling out Chile-based oil company GeoPark for putting their communities at risk of the COVID-19 contagion. Leaders of the Wampis Nation have received information that GeoPark community-relations workers are violating Peru's national quarantine by...
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...
"As the Achuar People, along with the Wampis Nation, we completely reject the entry of GeoPark into our territory. You all are aware of human rights and environmental law, yet you still insist on polluting our lands. Understand that no matter how much you insist on entering our territory, we are never going to allow oil companies to come in."
Nelton Yankur Antich, president FENAP, which represents 45 communities located in both the Pastaza and Morona river basins, said, "We are here specifically to manifest our decision not to permit the entry of GeoPark into our territory."
WhoWhatWhy | "The Achuar and the Wampis communities have an opportunity now to convince GeoPark that this project is fatally flawed, before the company attempts to push it forward and exacerbates socio-environmental conflicts in the rainforest."
Reuters | Indigenous groups in Peru are turning to the courts with a new legal strategy for keeping mining and oil projects off their land, racking up victories that could make it harder for companies to secure permits in the major minerals producer.
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...
"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."
Intercontinental Cry | "This is not the first time a company has tried to come into our territories – coming in with trickery – but the response has always been the same over four decades: we don't want oil."
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.
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...
On Wednesday, we got some incredible news: the CEO of the world's largest investment firm announced he was radically shifting the company's priorities, including moving money out of fossil fuels because they cause climate change and pressuring the companies it owns to align with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. Yet soon our cheers turned...
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...
Thank you to all our friends and supporters who joined us on October 5th, 2018 for our annual gala - Amplify! A celebration of voices from the Amazon.
More than a decade after Avatar brought global attention to the destruction of Indigenous lands, Amazon Watch has released a new short video narrated by Oona Chaplin and featuring director James Cameron, legendary Chief Raoni Metuktire, and Goldman Prize winner Alessandra Korap Munduruku.
