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    Indigenous Peoples Call for Urgent Action to Protect the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Region

    Amazon rainforest and Indigenous rights under imminent threat from oil and mining

    Lima, Peru – On the heels of widespread indigenous protests in Ecuador, and at the Latin American Parks Congress, the Indigenous federations that are part of the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Initiative called for emergency support to stop the governments of Ecuador and Peru from expanding new fossil fuel, mining, and large-scale industrial development...

    October 15, 2019
    2,358 views
    4 min read

    Declaration for the Protection of the Amazon Sacred Headwaters

    We, the Indigenous Peoples of Ecuador and Peru together with our allies, call on the global community for solidarity, as our very survival depends on the survival of the Amazon rainforest which is under constant and unprecedented attack.

    October 15, 2019
    1,369 views
    3 min read

    Power to the Protectors in Ecuador

    Kichwa Communities Fight Fossil Fuel Expansion with Renewable Energy

    This spring, we carried out the second install of our Power to the Protectors program in three Kichwa communities in the central Ecuadorian Amazon, all threatened by new oil expansion.

    July 11, 2019
    2,237 views
    5 min read

    Amazonians Rising Up and Winning Against Oil!

    "The government tried to sell our lands to the oil companies without our permission. Our rainforest is our life. We decide what happens in our lands. We will never sell our rainforest to the oil companies."

    June 18, 2019
    4,943 views
    5 min read

    Statement Regarding Decision to Delay Licensing of Ecuadorian Oil Blocks 86 and 87

    "The decision to put a hold on auctioning blocks 86 and 87 shows that the advocacy made by Shiwiar, Sapara, and Kichwa indigenous peoples to protect their territories, that are part of the best preserved tropical forests in the country, has been successful. While we celebrate this victory, we know that the next step must not be further...

    May 10, 2019
    891 views
    3 min read

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

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    Respect Rights and Traditional Knowledge to Protect Mother Earth

    Once a year, the United Nations Headquarters in New York welcomes hundreds of indigenous leaders and representatives from around the world for the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Amazon Watch spent the week accompanying and amplifying the voices and solutions of Amazonian leaders from Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil.

    May 2, 2019
    1,307 views
    4 min read

    Indigenous Groups in Ecuador Convene to Talk Resistance in the Amazon

    "The Shiwiar, Sapara and Kichwa nationalities of Kawsak Sacha decide to leave the oil in the subsoil and declare their territories intangible in perpetuity, where it is forbidden to extract non-renewable natural resources. The governments in turn must respect this decision."

    April 1, 2019
    1,827 views
    5 min read

    Defending Rights, Building Unity, and Protecting the Amazon Sacred Headwaters

    In the remote, roadless rainforest territories along the border between Ecuador and Peru, over a dozen indigenous nationalities have launched an initiative to permanently protect about 60 million acres from industrial extraction and stop the drivers of deforestation. Dubbed the Amazon Sacred Headwaters, the initiative seeks to present a united...

    February 12, 2019
    6,651 views
    6 min read

    Ecuador’s Corruption Hangover

    Despite efforts to curb corruption, President Moreno is following the same oil-stained playbook that helped get Ecuador into a cycle of debt and dependency. He has green-lighted new drilling in Yasuní National Park and plans to open up areas in the country's roadless southern rainforest, still hoping that Ecuador can drill its way to prosperity.

    January 10, 2019
    6,622 views
    3 min read

    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...

    December 24, 2018
    3,827 views
    2 min read

    Portraits: Women Defenders of the Amazon

    For decades, oil companies have taken advantage of the resource-rich land of the western Amazon, violating the basic human rights of the indigenous people while simultaneously inflicting harm and destroying the beautiful rainforest. Indigenous communities have responded with powerful messages, defending their land at all costs. At the forefront of...

    December 20, 2018
    3,821 views
    3 min read

    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...

    December 19, 2018
    4,954 views
    2 min read

    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...

    December 6, 2018
    2,348 views
    4 min read

    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...

    November 27, 2018
    2,857 views
    3 min read

    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."

    November 16, 2018
    5,433 views
    4 min read

    Today We Celebrate Life and Resistance on the Front Lines of Extraction

    Día de los Muertos is traditionally a day for remembering and honoring those who have come before us. For those of us committed to environmental justice, that often includes remembering those who have lost their lives resisting the impacts of pollution, deforestation, and land grabbing. In this celebration of resistance, of course we also took...

    November 1, 2018
    4,639 views
    2 min read

    New Climate Report Calls for Action Not Desperation

    Scientists have finally caught up with the lived experience and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples. As the Florida Panhandle picks up the pieces and North Carolina recovers from its second hurricane in less than a month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued its most dire warning yet.

    October 19, 2018
    6,190 views
    6 min read

    Amazon in Focus 2018

    While the threats to the Amazon and indigenous peoples seem daunting at times, we cannot lose sight of hope and victories on the horizon. And while the day-to-day isn't always good, there are still many reasons to be hopeful for the future of the Amazon. Indigenous peoples across the Amazon are resisting extraction and further destruction of their...

    October 9, 2018
    937 views
    2 min read

    Great News for Earth Defenders!

    Finally, we have some good news to report: Latin American and Caribbean countries are lining up to ratify a new treaty requiring stricter protections for the environment and for Earth Defenders! In recent months Amazon Watch worked to publicize the Agreement's importance and organized our supporters to push for its ratification – a big THANK YOU...

    October 4, 2018
    939 views
    3 min read

    Indigenous Communities Reject Oil Drilling in Block 10

    The recent approval of a new oil concession in Ecuador fails to fulfill Indigenous rights enshrined in the country’s 2008 constitution

    NACLA | "I come from the Amazon, and my people have long defended the rainforest from threats like oil drilling, which would destroy our forest home. We know that a majority of oil exported from the Amazon comes to California to be processed, also harming the communities near refineries and contributing to global climate change," said Mirian Cisneros...

    September 27, 2018
    4,364 views
    7 min read

    Climate Action Must Address Fossil Fuels, Protect Forests, and Listen to Communities

    "We are here because 2.5 million acres of our forests are being negotiated behind our backs. Our forests are not just carbon," said Marlon Santi of Sarayaku. "Allowing oil companies to continue to pollute while using the forests we have protected for millennia as carbon sinks without our consent is not a climate solution."

    September 21, 2018
    6,144 views
    5 min read

    Indigenous, Frontline Community Groups and Climate Leaders Decry Greenwashed Climate Summit, Deliver Open Letter to Gov. Brown

    In open letter to Brown, communities most affected by climate change demand real people- and earth-based solutions

    San Francisco, CA – On day three of the Solidarity to Solutions Week countering the upcoming Global Action Climate Summit, frontline leaders hosted a rally and delivered an open letter rejecting the Governor's Climate and Forest Task Force and demanding its cancellation.

    September 10, 2018
    5,065 views
    3 min read

    Ecuador’s Indigenous Activists Are Under Attack. Will the Government Protect Them?

    President Lenín Moreno should make protecting Indigenous groups a priority, says Amnesty International's Americas director

    Americas Quarterly | As indigenous peoples from across Ecuador commemorate the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples on August 9th, activists will demand that Ecuador's President Lenín Moreno fulfills his promise to protect them and their territories. The day comes as a string of recent threats and attacks against indigenous human rights defenders has...

    August 8, 2018
    3,657 views
    4 min read

    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.

    July 19, 2018
    4,924 views
    5 min read