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    Amazon Watch

    Tapajos

    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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    Amazon Fires: Indigenous Peoples Mobilize to Save Their Territories, and the World Steps Up in Solidarity

    The crisis is not over, but we also need to prevent the next emergency now

    The current crisis is not the beginning of the assault on the Amazon rainforest and its indigenous guardians, and unfortunately, it will not be the last. Long before Brazil's current far-right government took power, local and global industrial interests set the stage for these fires, and they will not change their behavior unless they are...

    September 17, 2019
    3,649 views
    5 min read

    The Amazon Burns, and the World Responds

    Bolsonaro’s hate-filled rhetoric aims to set the stage for a coordinated assault on indigenous land rights, as political representatives of Brazil’s powerful agribusiness sector work to open native lands to industrial activities. In this dire context, it is essential that Brazil’s vibrant resistance movement continue to gain strength and momentum.

    September 4, 2019
    2,037 views
    3 min read

    With the Brazilian Amazon in Flames, We Must All Be the Resistance

    Today we may be witnessing the tragedy of our lifetime: the Brazilian Amazon is in flames and in peril. Indeed, it's not only the Amazon, but our entire planet that is in crisis as the devastation of this life-giving biome poses a real, existential threat for all of humanity.

    August 23, 2019
    5,413 views
    3 min read

    Indigenous Women Mobilize to Resist Bolsonaro

    Yesterday, nearly 3,000 indigenous women leaders from across Brazil staged a mobilization in the nation’s capital as part of the country’s first Indigenous Women's March. Entitled "Territory: our body, our spirit,” this historic gathering was in response to escalating violations of indigenous rights under the Bolsonaro government, as native...

    August 14, 2019
    7,181 views
    3 min read

    As the Brazilian Amazon Burns, Indigenous Peoples Take a Stand

    Last month Amazon Watch visited the Munduruku people in the Amazonian state of Pará, whose nation stretches the vast Tapajós River basin. Our stay in the contested Sawré Muybu territory was illustrative of the spiraling threats faced by indigenous peoples in Bolsonaro’s Brazil.

    August 1, 2019
    3,945 views
    7 min read

    Government Crackdown on Illegal Amazon Gold Mining Could Backfire for Brazil’s Munduruku

    The rights and safety of Indigenous communities must be protected from these threats as well as their territory

    "Once again, the [police] operation did not do its work." Given the grave socio-environmental impacts of organized crime in the Amazon, the Brazilian government must reign in local mafias, be they miners, loggers, or land grabbers. However, it cannot do this with isolated actions, nor by allowing its informants – in this case imperiled indigenous...

    June 28, 2018
    2,241 views
    5 min read

    Growing Movement Builds Unity to Defend Indigenous Brazil

    Last week's mobilization was a shining example that spirited resistance is alive and well even in the dark days of the presidency of Michel Temer. This resistance provides a critical counterweight to growing repression and environmental devastation and deserves ample support, from local to global levels, to send a firm message to the Brazilian...

    May 2, 2018
    4,901 views
    4 min read

    NGOs Denounce Tapajós Basin Intimidation, Violence, Brazil Inaction

    The 38 NGOs include Amazon Watch, Instituto Socioambiental, and WWF Brasil

    Mongabay | Thirty-eight national and international NGOs issued a strongly worded statement demanding the Brazilian government uphold environmental laws, act on indigenous rights violations, and end escalating intimidation by the builders of hydroelectric dams on the Teles Pires River. Also condemned was the Temer administration's failure to prosecute illegal...

    April 4, 2018
    5,224 views
    5 min read

    World Water Day: Deadly Plight of Brazil’s River Defenders Goes Unheard

    At a high-level talking shop for the global water industry in Brazil, river defenders and community activists – who are often murdered or criminalized for trying to protect their resources – have set up an alternative forum to share their stories

    The Guardian | Alessandria Munduruku described how women have moved to the forefront of the community's campaign to protect territory. "The government doesn't care for us, only for agribusiness so our struggle is very difficult. We are up against illegal mines, loggers, ports, roads, agribusiness and investors from China and Canada," she said. "The men are weak...

    March 22, 2018
    5,563 views
    5 min read

    Native Brazilians Try to Close Major Illegal Mining Site Polluting River in Pará

    Folha de S.Paulo | Tired of waiting for the government to take action against the major illegal mining sites located in the Munduruku Indigenous Territory and in the Crepor National Forest, Munduruku warriors and leaders organized an expedition to drive non-indigenous prospectors out of the area.

    February 5, 2018
    1,590 views
    2 min read

    Mega-Dams May Be History in the Brazilian Amazon!

    Last week's announcement should be celebrated as a tentative victory, albeit a fragile one that demands vigilance as Brazil continues to weather political and financial instability. This victory will only become a reality when we insist it be upheld. We owe this to our on-the-ground partners for all they do on our behalf to defend this life-giving...

    January 9, 2018
    1,600 views
    3 min read

    Brazil Announces End to Amazon Mega-dam Building Policy

    The government's hydroelectric dams policy change announced this week will surely be greeted as a hopeful sign by environmentalists and indigenous groups. But experts warn that a much bigger strategic policy shift is needed regarding infrastructure planning and agribusiness before the Amazon can be deemed safe from major deforestation.

    January 3, 2018
    3,110 views
    5 min read

    Climate Justice Now! Keep It in the Ground!

    "My message here at COP 23 for the people, for allies of the world, is that we need to fight together, unite forces, because the states that are here speaking in our name are at a negotiating table where supposedly they are looking for solutions, but these solutions are for them, not for Indigenous peoples."

    December 4, 2017
    4,010 views
    7 min read

    Xingu River Defender Antônia Melo Honored for Her Lifelong Struggle

    "I am but drop of water in the ocean, but together with many others we can shape the force of its waters and make change. This is what motivates my commitment to continue fighting, so that human rights, social-environmental justice, and that life be affirmed for present and future generations!"

    October 11, 2017
    4,873 views
    4 min read

    Brazilian Firm Wants To Build New Dams in Amazon’s Aripuanã Basin

    With the bancada ruralista mining / agribusiness lobby in control of the Temer government and Congress, a Brazilian company, Intertechne Consultores, sees it as an opportune time to revive a shelved plan to build dams in the Amazon’s Aripuanã basin.

    August 14, 2017
    5,728 views
    5 min read

    We Are Made of the Sacred!

    A mobilization of the Munduruku people, which began two months ago by women concerned with defending sacred places and indigenous rights and led to an occupation of the construction site of the São Manoel hydroelectric dam project, ended on Friday. The Munduruku, however, have made it clear that their struggle continues.

    July 26, 2017
    5,957 views
    5 min read

    Toxic Mega-Mine Looms Over Belo Monte’s Affected Communities

    On the banks of Brazil's lower Xingu River, a toxic controversy looms large, threatening to heap insult upon the grievous injuries of the nearby Belo Monte hydroelectric dam. Belo Sun would become Brazil's largest open-pit gold mine, straddling the territories of three indigenous peoples and other traditional communities that are already reeling...

    April 3, 2017
    6,413 views
    5 min read

    "It Opens the Floodgate"

    "You cannot deny land to indigenous people that are ancestrally attached to it and expect them to continue to exist as a culture," said Christian Poirier, program director at Amazon Watch.

    March 21, 2017
    4,359 views
    5 min read