Amazon Watch
    Amazon Watch

    Mining Out of the Amazon

    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.

    Ecuadorian Indigenous Organizations Deny "Agreement" Announced by Solaris Resources

    AGM to occur amidst financial setbacks, decreasing share prices, and social conflicts resulting from flagship mining project in the Ecuadorian Amazon

    “Solaris has entered our territories illegally and without consultation, co-opting former leaders, dividing communities and families, and provoking confrontations."

    June 20, 2024
    4,426 views
    4 min read

    Solaris Resources Faces Major Setback As Deal With Zijin Mining Falls Through

    Project controversies, regulatory delay, and investor skepticism doom CAD$130 million deal over Ecuadorian Amazon project

    Canada’s Solaris Resources announced yesterday that a CAD$130 million investment deal with Chinese firm Zijin Mining was dead, abruptly ending a much touted infusion of capital needed to advance its flagship Warintza project.

    May 22, 2024
    6,453 views
    3 min read

    Safeguarding the Right to Self-determination at UNPFII

    At the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Amazon Watch amplified Indigenous voices of strong female leaders underscoring the urgency of safeguarding the right to self-determination on the path to COP30

    Achieving Indigenous autonomies and territorial governance, where self-determination is exercised, requires dismantling the mandates imposed by colonial and extractivist states and transforming them based on indigenous worldviews of harmony and collectivity.

    May 14, 2024
    3,262 views
    4 min read

    Unmasking the Environmental and Human Rights Threats of Canadian Corporations

    Despite its promises, Canada rejects key recommendations on the framework of the Universal Periodic Review and remains a threat to human rights and the environment

    Contrary to upholding Indigenous rights, Canada rejected crucial recommendations regarding the regulation of its companies operating in Latin America and the Caribbean.

    May 6, 2024
    3,024 views
    5 min read

    Amazon Watch is building on more than 28 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.

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    Shuar Arutam People Notch Major Wins Against Amazon Mining in March

    In a span of only three weeks, the PSHA launch a series of successful actions at a local, national, and international level to reaffirm their opposition against Solaris Resources’ Warintza project

    The past month saw significant victories for the Shuar, turning the tide against Canadian mining company Solaris Resources.

    March 22, 2024
    1,355 views
    5 min read

    Ecuador’s Indigenous Organizations Unanimously Reject Canadian Mining

    "We know the government is in Canada trying to sign agreements with mining companies, but there has been no consultation for the Warintza project. The project violates the Ecuadorian constitution and our rights. Let it be known that we have not given our consent."

    March 6, 2024
    3,171 views
    2 min read

    Ecuador’s President Ignores Indigenous Opposition to Mining at PDAC

    Official leader of Shuar-Artuam People of Ecuador rejects statements alleging community support for Solaris Warintza mining project

    "The rosy picture painted today by the government and mining sector is misleading to investors. The reality is that the mining industry is reeling from local resistance to its projects and adverse decisions from its highest court."

    March 4, 2024
    4,334 views
    3 min read

    Over 100 International Organizations Denounce Belo Sun’s Efforts to Criminalize Brazilian Land Defenders

    Canadian mining company Belo Sun is attempting to build the largest open-pit gold mine in Brazil, and now it has filed a criminal lawsuit against local community members and activists who are speaking out about the environmental and human rights impacts of the project

    “We must halt all mining ventures in the Amazon, as they pose grave and irreversible threats to global climate stability and the future of humanity.”

    February 16, 2024
    5,753 views
    4 min read

    Guardians Unite: Defending the Xingu Against Belo Sun’s Threat

    The Gathering was a key moment to reaffirm our collective resistance and understand the realities of communities grappling not only with the disastrous Belo Monte hydroelectric dam but also the looming threat of Belo Sun’s proposed mine. 

    February 6, 2024
    1,930 views
    3 min read

    Belo Sun Mining Seeks to Criminalize Amazon Defenders

    The Canadian gold mining company’s criminal lawsuit attempts to silence and intimidate defenders of the Volta Grande do Xingú, including community leaders, Amazon Watch, and other environmental and human rights activists

    In a blatant effort to intimidate and silence its critics, Belo Sun Mining has filed a criminal lawsuit targeting more than 30 people – most of them small-scale farmers – as well as community leaders, environmental defenders, researchers, and representatives of Brazilian and international organizations.

    February 1, 2024
    1,394 views
    6 min read

    Investors Must Respect Indigenous Rights to Protect the Amazon

    Respecting Indigenous Rights: An Actionable Toolkit for Institutional Investors provides investors with a starting point to educate themselves and others about Indigenous rights, as well as practical tools to develop policies, case studies, and data sources to identify and address Indigenous rights abuses.

    January 5, 2024
    5,536 views
    4 min read

    Peruvian Congress Just Legalized Deforestation

    "Most experts in Peru agree that the interest behind modifying the Forestry Law is to adapt to the new import restrictions of products that deforest the Amazon in the European and U.S. markets in an underhanded way. The authorities of these countries must make a firm statement that they will not ‘fall for’ the game. Millions of hectares of forest...

    December 20, 2023
    5,684 views
    3 min read

    Amazon Emergency: Nine Urgent Measures to Ensure Justice and Effective Protection for Defenders in Peru

    Apu Quinto Inuma Alvarado is yet another victim of the violence unleashed in the Peruvian Amazon

    The murder of Apu Quinto cannot remain "just another case" that generates indignation and is then forgotten. On the contrary, it is time to assume and declare that the Amazon is in emergency, in order to make the protection of defenders a national and international priority.

    December 1, 2023
    1,190 views
    5 min read

    New Policy Paper Provides Roadmap to Tackle Organized Crime in the Amazon

    Lima, Peru – A new policy paper by Amazon Underworld, Amazon Watch, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, and InfoAmazonia details a roadmap for governments across the region to tackle the ruthless expansion of crime organizations and illicit markets in the most biodiverse region of the world.

    November 21, 2023
    2,142 views
    4 min read

    Amazon Underworld

    Criminal Economies in the World's Largest Rainforest

    This report shows how criminal organizations and armed groups have expanded their presence, increased their political control, and diversified their economies in the Amazon with disastrous impacts on Indigenous peoples.

    November 2023
    4,226 views
    2 min read

    The Growing Threat of Organized Crime in the Amazon

    Supporting Indigenous rights and territories is an essential element of any strategy

    Organized crime has been present in the region for many years, and it has recently become a major threat to the Amazon and Indigenous rights and territories.

    November 16, 2023
    5,975 views
    5 min read

    Indigenous Women Reforesting Hearts and Minds to Heal Mother Earth

    “The struggle for Mother Earth is the mother of all struggles!”

    “We are here to say that we are the healing of the Earth, we are the ancestral voice of the Earth speaking to us. It is not possible to think about valuing human rights if you kill the Earth."

    November 14, 2023
    4,364 views
    4 min read

    Unmasking Canada’s Extractive Industry Violations at the UN Human Rights Council

    Pressure mounts in Geneva against Canada as civil society demands Indigenous and socio-environmental rights commitments

    Civil society organizations also urge Canada to enact regulations ensuring gold's origin traceability, especially when mining occurs in Amazonian countries. They call for a comprehensive energy transition plan that respects human rights and promotes the gradual abandonment of extractive industries that jeopardize the Amazon's ecological balance.

    November 9, 2023
    3,796 views
    4 min read

    Seven Challenges for the New Ecuadorian Government

    Ecuador’s powerful business class is in power yet again following the election of Daniel Noboa

    We question whether he will prioritize the protection of nature and the rights of Indigenous peoples as he promised during his campaign or – more likely – carry on with the extractivist agenda of prior administrations and continue to disregard Indigenous rights.

    October 26, 2023
    4,957 views
    4 min read