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.
The New Republic | Luiz Eloy, a member of the Terena people and a lawyer with the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, said in an email that BlackRock has "changed absolutely nothing to alter its investment strategy, which pours money into the very companies that brutalize us and take down forests on an industrial scale. Talk means nothing to us, not after...
An expert study released today reveals serious deficiencies in the environmental impact assessment submitted to Brazilian authorities by Canadian mining company Belo Sun. The analysis exposes an unacceptable degree of risk, resulting in a scenario where the tailings dam at the proposed Volta Grande gold mine will fail, contaminate the Xingu River...
Roraima State, Brazil – In a new global campaign led by a coalition of Yanomami and Ye'kwana organizations, Indigenous leaders define the #MinersOutCovidOut campaign as "a cry for help against an old nightmare which has turned even more deadly." Launching internationally today, the campaign demands that the Brazilian government immediately remove...
Impunity cannot be brought to an end solely by increasing indictments and convictions against low-level henchmen. Instead, those who benefit and profit from these acts of violence must also face consequences, including the companies that benefit from illegal land grabbing and Amazon deforestation, like mining, agribusiness and logging.
COVID-19 poses a mortal threat to Amazonian Indigenous peoples. As of April 7th there have already been at least 1,868 cases of the disease in the region and 59 deaths. Those numbers are likely to explode in the coming weeks, and we need to take action now to prevent more deaths.
Encouraged by Bolsonaro's project to open up Indigenous territories for economic exploitation, non-Indigenous people are putting more than 300,000 Indigenous people in the Brazilian Amazon at risk of contracting the novel coronavirus. What's worse is that the deforestation caused by these criminal industries is encroaching upon the territory of...
"We, Indigenous peoples, are the main target of Bolsonaro’s government. The Amazon is on fire. Laws and policies to protect the environment and uphold our rights are being dismantled. Our institutions are being gutted. The president has taken action against demarcation of our lands, threatening our existence. This puts lives at risk, especially in...
Brazil's president once again attempts to erase the Indigenous way of life through his policies and actions. "Is this what we want: to wipe out the Indigenous peoples? Is this Brazil's policy?" asked Brazilian Congresswoman Joênia Wapichana.
"BlackRock is clearly feeling the pressure from the climate and Indigenous rights movement to align its investment practices with a sustainable world, which includes how it engages with and invests in agribusiness," said Moira Birss, Climate and Finance Director at Amazon Watch. "Its new statement identifies many of the key risk factors of the...
"Illegal mining and illegal prospecting go beyond environmental degradation and deforestation," said Christian Poirier, Amazon Watch's Program Director. "These activities provoke a breakdown of the social and cultural balance, which is already occurring in Indigenous territories."
Sônia Guajajara, Executive Coordinator of the Association of Brazil's Indigenous Peoples said: "This film is very important for us at this moment. It demonstrates the artists' engagement in Amazon protection by showing the key role Indigenous peoples play in defending the forests, the planet, and life itself."
"BlackRock is clearly feeling the pressure from the climate and Indigenous rights movement to align its investment practices with a sustainable world, which includes how it engages with and invests in agribusiness," said Moira Birss, Climate and Finance Director at Amazon Watch.
Various news outlets have noted that both the Australian and Amazon tragedies were related to climate change but failed to describe a key difference between them: the fires in Australia are almost exclusively wildfires, while those that ravaged the Brazilian Amazon were intentionally set by people, primarily for land speculation and agribusiness.
"This announcement is a major step in the right direction for BlackRock," said Moira Birss, Finance Campaign Director at Amazon Watch. However, It still leaves questions about how it plans to address the fact that it is the world's biggest investor in deforestation."
A coalition of some of the nation's leading climate, youth, and Indigenous organizations launched a major new mobilization, Stop the Money Pipeline, that will pressure banks, insurance companies and asset managers to stop financing fossil fuels and deforestation and start respecting human rights and Indigenous sovereignty.
For everyone that hosted a fundraiser, shared our videos and posts, or did something creative to spread awareness and protect the Amazon, thank you. This movement requires all hands on deck. We need to maintain the same sense of urgency in order to protect it and its Indigenous peoples. Onward together!
As the Amazon rainforest falls victim to the criminal Bolsonaro regime, forest defenders – from indigenous peoples and traditional communities to local NGOs – are being targeted by an unprecedented wave of violence and intimidation.
BBC News | "All those countries are here making declarations about cutting emissions, Ecuador and Peru are making declarations about protecting the Amazon but what we are seeing is a whole different plan to expand extraction, there's a gap between what countries are committing too and what they are actually planning to do in terms of fossil fuel expansion."
"At a time when the world needs to be racing to protect the Amazon, a new oil boom in the headwaters of the mighty Amazon River in Ecuador and Peru puts this area, known as the Amazon Sacred Headwaters, in great peril."
At a time when the world needs to be racing to protect the Amazon, a new oil boom in the headwaters of the mighty Amazon River in Ecuador and Peru puts this area, known as the Amazon Sacred Headwaters, in great peril.
This afternoon, an unidentified individual shot and killed two indigenous chiefs, Firmino Prexede Guajajara and Raimundo Guajajara, and injured two others.
The Star | "We can't accept Belo Sun in our region, not in Brazil," indigenous leader Bel Juruna told the thousands of carnival-goers in attendance that day. "We demand that this company leave us alone on our lands, that the government respects us and respects our nature."
Earlier today, members of the Guajajara people's Forest Guardians, a volunteer land and environmental monitoring force, were ambushed by a group of illegal loggers in the Araribóia indigenous territory, leaving one Guardian dead and another gravely wounded. Forest defender Paulo Paulino Guajajara was killed by a shot to the face, while the attack...
BlackRock is a major investor in the industries driving deforestation and indigenous rights violations in the Amazon. That's why, as the Amazon fires crisis escalated through late summer, we joined with allies at Rainforest Action Network, Greenpeace USA, and Friends of the Earth US to contact BlackRock directly about the meaningful steps the...
"The companies you represent bear part of the responsibility for the threat we Indigenous People are facing in Brazil. Be conscious about your responsibility. Everything is at stake, the rainforest, the climate and our survival," said Sonia Guajajara, one of the ten Indigenous leaders from APIB visiting Europe.
The Guardian | "I believe that peace triumphed," said Patricia Gualinga, from the Amazonian Kichwa community of Sarayaku. "But I feel a knot in my throat about the loss of the lives of indigenous brothers. There is a lot of pain to be healed and the government should be aware of this."
"How can we talk about 'development', when our territories where we've lived for hundreds of years are being exploited, are being auctioned off, turned into new oil concessions. This undeniably affects us!"
The New York Times | Under the agreement, Mr. Moreno pledged to withdraw from an International Monetary Fund-backed program, known as Decree 883, that raised fuel prices, and the Indigenous leaders agreed to call off more protests. The two sides agreed to work together to put in place a new economic policy of government spending cuts and taxes to increase revenues.
"For centuries, we have protected our lands in the mountains and the Amazon, and we will not allow indigenous peoples, indigenous territories, and our global climate to pay the cost for the government's mounting debt to China and international lenders. Once again, we are putting our bodies and our lives on the line to protect our families, rights...
