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Hydroelectric Dams

It Doesn’t Matter If Ecuador Can Afford This Dam. China Still Gets Paid.

To settle the bill, China gets to keep 80 percent of Ecuador's most valuable export – oil – because many of the contracts are repaid in petroleum, not dollars. Pumping enough oil to repay China has become such an imperative for Ecuador that it is drilling deeper in the Amazon, threatening more deforestation.

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.

US Funds with Big Amazon Farming Stakes Face Bolsonaro Choice

Amazon Watch is running a campaign against BlackRock for its investments in companies that cause deforestation in the Amazon. In the past, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has called on companies to invest with social and climate impact in mind.

Strict Amazon Protections Made Brazilian Farmers More Productive, New Research Shows

Strong environmental protections are necessary to save the Amazon, protecting Brazil and the world from the loss of this critical, fragile habitat. Far from being bad for business, Brazil's Amazonian protections help sustain the country as a global breadbasket. If Bolsonaro scraps them, he won't just imperil a legendary rainforest. He'll hurt...

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."

Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.

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Jair Bolsonaro: Looming Threat to the Amazon and Global Climate?

With little more than a week to go until a runoff election, far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro – who has affirmed his intention to withdraw Brazil from the Paris Climate Agreement – continues to be the rising political star in the world's eighth biggest economy, and the nation that stands as guardian to a major portion of the Amazon...

Throwing Stones at BlackRock’s Fossil Fuel Investments

One of the world's largest fund managers, BlackRock, which has been proclaiming its high sustainability and ethical values is fighting off a barrage of criticisms that it is in fact one of the worst offenders against the planet.

Environmental Campaign Targets BlackRock Amid Claims of “Climate Destruction”

Calls out Fink for failing to "walk the talk"

Investment Week | An environmental campaign has criticised BlackRock for allegedly being the "largest owner of fossil fuel companies and single largest contributor to climate destruction", and singled out CEO Larry Fink as failing to manage the business in line with his own expectations of stocks the firm invests in.

The Amazon on the Brink

Once a leader in protecting the region's vast forests, Brazil is now moving in the opposite direction

The New York Times | If the government's retrenchment on environmental protection continues, there may soon be nothing to stop the chain saws on the Amazonian frontier, where the rule of law can be weak and land is frequently seized and cleared illegally. This has implications beyond Brazil. The Amazon's lush forests make up the largest reserve of carbon dioxide on...

Brazilian Legislators Break Law, Attack Amazon, Trade Freely with World: Report

Mongabay | A report published this week by Amazon Watch reveals that six prominent Brazilian politicians – members of the bancada ruralista agribusiness lobby and all but one up for election in October – have been found guilty of serious environmental, economic, and social crimes and offenses.

New Report: Northern Consumers Finance Assault on Brazilian Amazon and Its Peoples

Brazilian politicians pushing environmental and rights rollbacks gain direct economic benefits from these policy changes that allow them to produce more agricultural commodities for the global market, report shows

Oakland, CA – A hard-hitting report published today unmasks key Brazilian political actors behind an ongoing assault on the Amazon rainforest and exposes the global corporate and financial entities that support them. The report from Amazon Watch reveals how the supply chains of leading brand names like Coca-Cola, and the portfolios of asset...

Complicity in Destruction

How northern consumers and financiers sustain the assault on the Brazilian Amazon and its peoples

Despite their importance, the Brazilian Amazon and its peoples are suffering the worst assault in a generation. Deforestation is mounting steadily while hard-fought environmental and human rights protections, critical to the future of the rainforest, are under serious attack. Indigenous and traditional communities themselves suffer...

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.

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.

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...

Government Crackdown on Illegal Amazon Gold Mining Could Backfire for Brazil’s Munduruku

The rights and safety of Indigenous communities must be protected from these threats as well as their territory

"Once again, the [police] operation did not do its work." Given the grave socio-environmental impacts of organized crime in the Amazon, the Brazilian government must reign in local mafias, be they miners, loggers, or land grabbers. However, it cannot do this with isolated actions, nor by allowing its informants – in this case imperiled indigenous...

Growing Movement Builds Unity to Defend Indigenous Brazil

Last week's mobilization was a shining example that spirited resistance is alive and well even in the dark days of the presidency of Michel Temer. This resistance provides a critical counterweight to growing repression and environmental devastation and deserves ample support, from local to global levels, to send a firm message to the Brazilian...

NGOs Denounce Tapajós Basin Intimidation, Violence, Brazil Inaction

The 38 NGOs include Amazon Watch, Instituto Socioambiental, and WWF Brasil

Mongabay | Thirty-eight national and international NGOs issued a strongly worded statement demanding the Brazilian government uphold environmental laws, act on indigenous rights violations, and end escalating intimidation by the builders of hydroelectric dams on the Teles Pires River. Also condemned was the Temer administration's failure to prosecute illegal...

Institution Protecting Indigenous Rights in Brazil Under Attack

FUNAI's duty is to protect and promote the rights of Brazil's native peoples. Among its chief responsibilities is to identify, title, and supervise the country's vast array of indigenous territories. Yet the right to ancestral lands free from industrial activity - 98.5% of which fall within the Amazon's diverse ecosystems - presents an obstacle to...

Spring 2018 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...

World Water Day: Deadly Plight of Brazil’s River Defenders Goes Unheard

At a high-level talking shop for the global water industry in Brazil, river defenders and community activists – who are often murdered or criminalized for trying to protect their resources – have set up an alternative forum to share their stories

The Guardian | Alessandria Munduruku described how women have moved to the forefront of the community's campaign to protect territory. "The government doesn't care for us, only for agribusiness so our struggle is very difficult. We are up against illegal mines, loggers, ports, roads, agribusiness and investors from China and Canada," she said. "The men are weak...

They Owned an Island, Now They Are Urban Poor

Construction of the Belo Monte dam has cast men, women and children who lived rich lives along the Xingu River to the outskirts of Altamira, Brazil’s most violent city. Here, to the sound of gunfire, they must live behind barred windows, and buy food with money they’ve never had – or needed before

The Guardian | "I had a better life than anyone in São Paulo. If I wanted to work my land, I did. If I didn't, the land would be there the next day. If I wanted to fish, I did, but if I'd rather pick açaí, I did. I had a river, I had woods, I had tranquility. On the island, I didn't have any doors. I had a place ... And on the island, we didn't get sick."

Mega-Dams May Be History in the Brazilian Amazon!

Last week's announcement should be celebrated as a tentative victory, albeit a fragile one that demands vigilance as Brazil continues to weather political and financial instability. This victory will only become a reality when we insist it be upheld. We owe this to our on-the-ground partners for all they do on our behalf to defend this life-giving...

The Era of Mega Hydropower in Brazilian Amazon Appears Over

"This policy change reflects not just Brazil's tough economic realities, but also the growing impact of indigenous peoples, social movements and their allies, who have mobilized in an unprecedented way to protect their rights and their rivers, lives and livelihoods, and will continue to do so as long as threats to their homes and the Amazon...

Brazil Announces End to Amazon Mega-dam Building Policy

The government's hydroelectric dams policy change announced this week will surely be greeted as a hopeful sign by environmentalists and indigenous groups. But experts warn that a much bigger strategic policy shift is needed regarding infrastructure planning and agribusiness before the Amazon can be deemed safe from major deforestation.

License Revoked for Belo Sun Gold Mine in Victory for Indigenous Rights in Brazil

"This ruling is a rare instance of justice for the indigenous peoples of the Lower Xingu, who have already suffered immensely after the construction of the Belo Monte mega-dam directly adjacent to their territories. Given the dam's impacts on local peoples and their ecosystem, it is essential that Belo Sun continue to be held to the highest...

From Carbon Sink to Source: Brazil Puts Amazon, Paris Goals at Risk

"The very agents of wanton destruction of the Amazon are now controlling the legislative and executive branches of the federal government and working day and night to increase deforestation and degradation via bills and acts that are being tolerated by the judiciary."

JPMorgan and BlackRock Invest in Amazon Destruction

Oakland, CA – Global financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase and BlackRock put the climate, indigenous peoples, and their customers at risk with their continued financing of companies that drill for oil in the Amazon rainforest, demonstrates a report, Investing in Amazon Destruction, released today by Amazon Watch.