Over ten years, I have been privileged to play a role in most of the organization's major campaign initiatives. While the moments of exhilaration, frustration, learning, anger, and beauty could fill a book, I want to share ten snapshots of key experiences that represent what serving with Amazon Watch has meant to me.
Rio+20 was recently held in Rio de Janeiro, yet Brazil's current energy polices have created glaring setbacks for the rights of indigenous peoples, the environment and Brazilian democracy.
A new short film about the struggle to defend the Xingu River and its people from the Belo Monte Dam and the Brazilian government's development plans for the Amazon.
Initially, my plan wasn't to disrupt the meeting, but I couldn't bite my tongue as claims were made about Brazil achieving "zero deforestation" with a great sustainable development plan. So I stood up and told the truth.
Al Jazeera | Due to the remoteness of the regions that the Yawanawa and other tribes have called home for thousands of years, very little is known, even within Brazil, about their cultural heritage, their role as the "keepers of the Amazon" and how their existence is inextricably bound to the preservation of the forests and waterways of their land.
Yale Environment 360 | As the United Nations' Rio+20 conference on sustainable development takes place in Rio de Janeiro this month, a prime example of the environmental and social tensions that accompany development will be playing out in northern Brazil.
Climate & Capitalism | The UN Conference on Sustainable Development ended last week in what can only be described as failure. We face enormous environmental problems, but the Rio+20 response offers nothing but empty words; no timescales for action, no firm commitments.
Brazil's indigenous and environmental agencies are deciding whether to authorize the irrevocable diversion of the Xingu River. Join thousands of others in sending a message to FUNAI and IBAMA today.
Altamira, Brazil – Indigenous communities of the middle Xingu ended their occupation of the Belo Monte dam's main cofferdam following two days of talks with Norte Energia. The action brought a notable level of national and international visibility to their concerns over the project's impacts on their health, livelihoods and environment, and...
Altamira, Brazil – Indigenous leaders representing six tribes affected by the Belo Monte Dam complex along the Amazon's Xingu River sent a letter today to President Dilma Rousseff and other government authorities calling for immediate suspension of the controversial project's Installation License.
Scenes from the indigenous-led occupation of Pimental Island on the Xingu River. More than 300 people representing 21 indigenous villages and 9 different ethnicities are participting so far.
The indigenous-led occupation of the main Belo Monte dam construction site is a key battleground for the future of the entire Amazon rainforest. It is powerful to be here on the ground supporting indigenous peoples in amplifying their voices.
Latinamerica Press | As the world's largest rainforest, with the highest concentration of biodiversity and one of the largest freshwater reserves on the planet, the Amazon is at the center of the environmental debate in Brazil. That was no different at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development this year, also known as Rio+20.
Today was marked by the arrival of nearly 30 Parakana leaders. In all, 17 indigenous villages from six different ethnicities are currently represented at the occupation demanding that construction of the Belo Monte dam stop.
The meeting with Norte Energia failed to reach any agreement. The Xikrin, the Arara and the Juruna of the Big Bend are still occupying the site, and we are calling for support to allow us to bring more of our people to join the occupation.
The indigenous occupation of the Belo Monte construction site entered its ninth day today. More indigenous people are reportedly joining the occupation each day, demanding that the construction stop.
Imagine that your livelihood, community, and entire culture are facing imminent destruction from the Belo Monte dam. International bodies have repeatedly sounded the alarm, yet the project advances with the force of a thousand bulldozers. What do you do?
Altamira, Brazil – Brazilian social movements and civil society organizations are facing politically-motivated prosecutions for their lawful opposition to the Belo Monte dam complex in the heart of the Amazon.
In the final days of the Rio+20 Earth Summit, several hundred indigenous people affected by the Belo Monte Dam began an occupation of the construction site. The occupation is gaining strength as more inhabitants join the blockade.
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.
Al Jazeera | Some of the people who may be directly affected by plans for sustainable development live along the Amazon river. Gabriel Elizondo took a six-day journey along the waterway to visit them, and hear their thoughts on Rio+20.
Al Jazeera | An estimated 200 indigenous people from Brazil's Amazon region have occupied a work area at the Belo Monte dam construction site, at least partially halting work on the controversial mega project on the Xingu river.
Democracy Now | Protests continue at the Rio+20 U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil. On Thursday, civil society delegates staged a walkout of the talks to call for bold action against global warming. Meanwhile, hundreds of indigenous activists marched through the streets of Rio de Janeiro to deliver a petition demanding fairer treatment over land...
REDD Monitor | In 1992, while the first Rio Earth Summit took place, hundreds of indigenous peoples met and produced the Kari-Oca Declaration and the Indigenous Peoples Earth Charter. 20 years later, in parallel with Rio +20 meeting, more than five hundred indigenous peoples met and produced the Kari-Oca II Declaration.
The Huffington Post | Twenty years ago I participated in the Earth Summit in Rio. I remember the hope and elation among hundreds of indigenous peoples from all four corners of the earth who had come together to push for their rights on an international stage. Far from the official summit from which they had been barred, one of the defining moments was the signing of...
Al Jazeera | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – "The development – the drilling, mining and damming – is affecting everyone, our communities and the Earth, our home and the only planet we have."
Altamira, Brazil – Indigenous peoples affected by the controversial Belo Monte dam complex in the Brazilian Amazon have occupied a coffer dam that cuts across channels of the river since last Thursday.
New York Times | Rio de Janeiro – If the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development has been criticized for being short on results, the mega-event has at least made the city a stage for a colorful cast of political and environmental personalities.
Nearly 1500 people used Rio's Flamengo Beach as a canvas. Their bodies formed the lines of an enormous image promoting the importance of free-running rivers, truly clean energy sources like solar power and including indigenous knowledge as part of the solution to climate issues.
