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.
GeoPark
Hope and Danger in the Colombian Amazon
Amazon Watch and a high-level diplomatic delegation traveled to southern Colombia in early May to the “Amazon Pearl” to learn about and support local struggles against armed groups and extractive industries
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 Oil Company (GPRK) a High-Risk Investment, Report by Human Rights and Environmental Organization Details
Risk alert based on recent field mission outlines the social, political, legal, environmental, and reputational risks for GeoPark’s operations in the Colombian and Ecuadorian Amazon
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.
Do You Invest with BlackRock, Vanguard, or State Street? Help Protect the Amazon!
Client investors have a major role to play in ending Amazon destruction
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.
Civil Society to the United Nations Development Programme: Sever Ties to the Oil Industry
UNDP Executive Board must exclude all fossil fuels from current and future alliances to protect Indigenous and traditional communities, the environment, and our climate
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...
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street Invested $46 Billion in Amazon Oil Companies
New report by environmental and human rights organization, Amazon Watch, highlights case studies on billions in amazon oil investments by the "Big Three" asset managers
"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...
Investing $46 Billion in Client Money on Amazon Destruction
How the world’s largest asset managers quietly pour billions into oil companies tied to rights abuses
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...
Colombian Civil Society Launch National Strike, Face Violent State Repression
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...
Blue-Washing? GeoPark Tries to Launder Its Image Through U.N. Collaboration
Can the United Nations support human rights defenders with one hand, while receiving money from an oil company with the other? An emerging scandal in the Colombian Amazon is forcing the U.N. to deal with the fallout from this contradiction.
"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...
United Nations Development Programme in Colombia Announces Agreement with Oil Company GeoPark
"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...
Happy 25th Birthday, Amazon Watch!
Protecting the rainforest and our climate in solidarity with Indigenous peoples
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...
#AdiosGeoPark: Peruvian Indigenous Peoples Expel Another Oil Company
The Achuar People of the Pastaza and the Wampis Nation secure a new victory for the climate justice movement by defeating fossil fuel company GeoPark
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.
Indigenous Resistance Expels Oil Company GeoPark from Peruvian Amazon
The Chile-based oil company's announcement follows years of protests, lawsuits, outreach to major shareholders, and direct advocacy with the CEO
"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.
Investor Eye on the Amazon
A primer for shareholders concerned about rainforest protection and human rights
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.
COVID-19: Is GeoPark Contaminating Amazon Communities?
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...
Summer 2019 Investor Eye on the Amazon
A primer for shareholders concerned about rainforest protection and human rights
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...
An Earthquake Rocks GeoPark
"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."
Amazon Leaders Tell GeoPark CEO James Park: Leave Our Territory
Eight Achuar and Wampis leaders from the Peruvian Amazon confronted GeoPark executives at the oil company’s annual shareholder meeting
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."
Indigenous Tribe Halts Oil Drilling in Amazon – for Now
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."
Peru Native Groups Use New Legal Strategy to Push Back on Oil, Mining Plans
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.
Statement on GeoPark's Withdrawal of Its Request for a Drilling Permit
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...
“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."
For the Achuar, Life Comes Before Oil
Two million acres of Achuar land is threatened by Geopark’s imminent exploitation of Block 64
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."
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.
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...
If BlackRock Has a Purpose, It’s Not Confronting Climate Change
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...
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...
Amplify! A Celebration of Voices from the Amazon
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.
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...
