Mining in the Amazon has terrible effects on the livelihoods and health of Indigenous peoples and frontline communities as well as the overall balance of the Amazon’s biological diversity. Yet, mining giants with well-known track records of devastation and rights violations are eyeing Indigenous and traditional communities’ lands and other protected areas in the Amazon.
Despite committing to withdraw from all mining interests in Indigenous lands, multinational companies continue to bulldoze through communities and their territories to complete their mining projects. Banks and asset managers are once again behind this extractive surge by financing these company’s projects.
Folha de S.Paulo | São Paulo, Brazil – Today, the Folha website published the English version of "The Battle of Belo Monte", the first multimedia article from the "All About" series that launched other digital dossiers over 2014.
Washington Post | Economists and opposition leaders say this focus on Brazil's "national champions" neglects smaller, nimbler firms that are developing new technologies and products to diversify a commodity-dependent economy. They also say that BNDES's huge loans are fueling inflation that the Central Bank of Brazil must scramble to control.
IPS | The Brazilian government, which is already building the Belo Monte mega-dam on the Xingú river in the northeastern Amazon state of Pará, also wants to construct another huge hydropower complex on the Tapajós river, in the same state.
Mongabay.com | "We applaud the MPF for taking vigorous steps to uphold Brazilian environmental and human rights legislation, putting the brakes on a project that would heap further tragedy on the communities already faced with the disastrous Belo Monte dam," said Amazon Watch's Christian Poirier in a statement.
The Wall Street Journal | Rio De Janeiro, Brazil – Brazilian federal prosecutors issued a warning Wednesday that they could seek to block licensing for the country's largest gold-mining project because Canada's Belo Sun Mining Corp. hasn't produced a study explaining its impact on local indigenous communities.
Associated Press | Sao Paulo, Brazil – Federal prosecutors are investigating allegations that the consortium building a huge dam in the heart of the Amazon rain forest spied on an environmental activist group opposed to the dam.
Today is International Mother Language Day, a day promoted by UNESCO to recognize the intrinsic value in the diversity of languages across the world and the importance of their conservation for the good of humanity.
Toronto Star | The Brazilian government wants to see more research on a massive gold-mining project near the Amazon River before the Canadian firm behind it goes ahead with developments.
Salon.com | Three years after Avatar's Quito premiere, declarations of martial readiness are multiplying and gaining volume throughout the tribal territories of Ecuador's mountainous southeast. The warnings bare sharpest teeth in the Shuar country of the Cordillera del Condor, the rain forest mountain range targeted by President Rafael Correa for the...
I am writing on behalf of the magical and mystical Amazon rainforest and the traditional populations that inhabit its sacred places. Last year you followed our battles and supported us, and your actions made a difference.
A Pública | "It's going to start", warned a friend who worked on the dam's construction. "The Madeira River is dangerous, it demands respect. The engineers say that they have all the technology, but nothing controls the reaction of this river."
I'm writing with a soulful message from the EDM (electronic dance music) community, straight from the hearts of two ambassadors that have long supported our work – Janine and Ken Jordan.
Last month the sixth Pan Amazon Social Forum brought together hundreds of community leaders, academics, and NGO representatives from across the Amazon to discuss and debate common challenges and forge collaborative solutions.
In recognition of the International Day of Human Rights, people all over the world participated in an "International Day of Action for Justice Now" to stop the Belo Monte Dam in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon.
Right now we are witnessing a critical moment in Brazil's history. Brazil's current energy polices have created glaring setbacks for the rights of indigenous peoples, the environment and Brazilian democracy. It's time to take action for justice.
Conflicts have erupted on the brink of the VIII Forum on Indigenous people and the electric sector. In three regions, indigenous peoples have found themselves face-to-face with what "development" really means for them.
After 35 days of protests and 11 days of occupation, the indigenous peoples and traditional groups occupying the Belo Monte construction site have left, with their heads held high. Most of them were heard for the very first time; and that fact alone was already a sign of victory.
With my heart racing and under a light rain, I climb up the Pimental cofferdam, together with the indigenous warriors who are writing their own history here. Within minutes the raised earthen dam bed is taken by people who have lived here much longer than we can imagine.
A flock of vultures have landed on the banks of the mighty Xingu River, and they've come to stay. International mining executives anxiously await the river's death to begin extracting the rich seams of gold that line its banks.
IPS | Up to 80 Yanomami men, women and children in a remote community in the Amazon jungle in southern Venezuela were reportedly killed in early July by wildcat gold miners from Brazil, according to indigenous organisations.
Amnesty International | Governments across the Americas are putting profit before the physical and cultural survival of thousands of Indigenous peoples, said Amnesty International in a briefing paper published ahead of the International Day of Indigenous Peoples.
Reuters | In the 19 months since Rousseff took office, longstanding rules that curtail deforestation and protect millions of square kilometres of watershed have been rolled back.
Environment News Service | The Peruvian government must immediately halt violent repression of mining protesters, more than 80 environmental and human rights organizations demanded today.
Financial Times | Even as world leaders signed off on new commitments to sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro last week, Brazilian politicians were debating a bill that would open up the nation's vast indigenous territories for mining.
The Guardian | The new Humala government promised there would be no more Baguas, but "the politics of the president of the republic are nothing more than the continuation of the aggressive politics of Alan García," says Alberto Pizango.
Three years ago yesterday, Peruvian police opened fire on a group of protesters near the town of Bagua in northern Peru. The violent clashes that ensued left 34 dead and over 200 injured in the worst violence in recent history.
NACLA | The Peruvian right is celebrating Humala's betrayal of his electoral promises, while the popular organizations that helped bring Humala to power continue to mobilize against Peru's neoliberal economic model.
President Dilma has just 9 days left to veto this hatchet job before it becomes law. With the world watching, which side of history will she choose to be on? Will her legacy be Amazon ruin? Or, will she act on behalf of future generations?
The New York Times | Rio de Janeiro – President Dilma Rousseff is facing one of the defining moments of her presidency as pressure builds on her to veto a bill that would open vast protected areas of forests to ranching and farming, potentially reversing Brazil's major gains in slowing Amazon deforestation.
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