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    Tapajos

    Indigenous Representatives Call on GE to Save Their Amazon Home

    Jacksonville, FL – Earlier today, Munduruku Indigenous leaders from the Amazon participated in General Electric's Annual General Meeting, where they asked the company not to take part in a controversial mega dam project in the heart of the Amazon.

    April 27, 2016
    4,546 views
    2 min read

    Bold Moves Block Tapajós Mega-dam and Uphold Indigenous Rights, for Now

    In the shadow of last week's contentious vote to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's indigenous agency FUNAI and environmental agency IBAMA made unexpected, decisive rulings in defense of indigenous rights and ecological protection in the Amazon.

    April 26, 2016
    5,426 views
    3 min read

    Amazon Mega-dam Suspended, Providing Hope for Indigenous People and Biodiversity

    This Wednesday, IBAMA, the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Resources suspended the São Luiz do Tapajós dam’s license, citing its threat to the Indigenous lands of the Munduruku Indians, a land claim just recently recognized by FUNAI, Brazil’s National Indian Foundation. The decision could still be reversed by the Brazilian...

    April 25, 2016
    6,512 views
    10 min read

    Brazil Amazon Dam Project Suspended Over Concerns for Indigenous People

    While the recession may have forced a pause in the development of the region, Brazil’s political crisis, which looks set to see President Dilma Rousseff removed from office next month, could change that dynamic. “We are living in a moment of great instability. Potentially, a new Ibama president could reverse the decision.”

    April 25, 2016
    2,501 views
    3 min read

    Insider Claims Rousseff Coalition Took Funds from Belo Monte Mega-Dam

    "It further confirms what we've suspected since the project was rammed forward, in violation of Brazil's legislation and constitution," said Christian Poirier, program director of Amazon Watch. "Today's news sheds further light on the rampant corruption that underpins the construction of Belo Monte. Aside from its looming ethical...

    April 8, 2016
    3,767 views
    3 min read

    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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    Belo Monte and the Face of Development We Refuse To See

    It does not come as a surprise to those who have followed the Belo Monte saga over the last six years that the mega-dam has been allowed to begin operating this year without first complying with most of its legally mandated socio-environmental conditions.

    April 4, 2016
    3,206 views
    12 min read

    Belo Monte a Symbol of Obscene Destruction and Corruption in Brazil

    Amazon Watch and our allies have long argued that the Belo Monte mega-dam project made no sense in terms of energy production or economics – especially taking into account the enormous environmental and social destruction it was certain to cause. The dam was constructed despite the steadfast resistance of the affected Kayapo and riverine peoples...

    March 17, 2016
    4,253 views
    2 min read

    Honoring River Defenders: Brazil’s Munduruku People

    In light of last week's damning evidence directly implicating Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and her predecessor Lula da Silva in a kickback scheme, a driving force behind Brazil's dam-building boom has been laid bare: corruption.

    March 14, 2016
    5,410 views
    2 min read

    Report from the Amazon: Altamira, a City Transformed by the Belo Monte Dam

    The scale of this change, mind-boggling as it is, is not unusual in this part of the world. Over the last half century, Brazil’s economic frontier reached the region, bringing a huge influx of workers – waves of loggers, gold-panners, cattlemen, miners, road and dam builders.

    March 9, 2016
    7,022 views
    7 min read

    Which Chinese Corporations Have Their Eyes on the Amazon?

    The implosion of Brazilian businesses with the Lava Jato corruption operation, the devaluing of the Real currency, and the rise in credit rates in Brazil have created an opportunity for Chinese businesses to establish greater participation in the country. Taking advantage of this situation, the China Three Gorges enterprise is preparing to make an...

    February 24, 2016
    4,525 views
    11 min read

    Belo Monte: Burning Legal Timber Stokes the Fires of Brazil’s Illegal Lumber Market

    The burning of trees and animal deaths is only the first stage of a vicious cycle that marks the relationship between Belo Monte and the surrounding forest. Authorized to devastate thousands of hectares, the plant should use the timber for its own purpose or donate it for external use. The entry of large volumes of timber into the local market...

    February 5, 2016
    3,647 views
    12 min read

    Honoring the Legacy of Terry Turner

    Terry's incisive ethnographic work with the Kayapo people, and his longstanding advocacy on behalf of their culture, forests, and rivers, earned him unique respect and admiration from Kayapo leadership, who called him 'Wakampu'.

    January 21, 2016
    1,162 views
    4 min read

    In Brazil, 2016 Announces New Conflicts and Challenges for the Amazon

    2015 could only be defined as a bad year for Brazil. Economic meltdown, political crisis, social adversity, and environmental destruction defined the last twelve months. Yet rather than striking out in new directions as 2015 drew to a close, the Brazilian government was doubled down on its failing socio-economic model, ushering in a new wave of...

    January 7, 2016
    4,301 views
    3 min read

    Five Reasons To Be Hopeful for the Future of the Amazon

    The Amazon rainforest can seem unimaginably vast. Similarly, the fight to defend it from the onslaught of industrial-scale threats like oil drilling, logging, and huge dams can appear overwhelming. But across the region, local indigenous peoples and our work to support them is making the difference and protecting the lands they have known for...

    December 29, 2015
    3,029 views
    4 min read

    Solstice Reflections of Our Work at COP21 and Beyond

    As I reflect on our recent work at COP21 in Paris on the Winter Solstice, I am very proud of what we achieved and filled with great hope for our work ahead. The Amazon Watch team did an incredible job of accompanying and supporting a twelve-person delegation of indigenous leaders, women and youth from the Kichwa community of Sarayaku in the...

    December 22, 2015
    4,700 views
    6 min read

    The Human Side of the Climate Change Equation

    While government officials inside COP21 conference rooms just outside Paris were reviewing the cost-benefit analyses of cutting down on emissions or debating the numerical semantics of the warming of the earth, the human side of climate change and environmental destruction took center stage just a few kilometers south at the Maison des Metallos on...

    December 15, 2015
    4,972 views
    3 min read

    What the Paris Climate Agreement Means for Indigenous Rights and Hydroelectric Dams

    The final agreement from the Paris climate talks has been the subject of much controversy regarding the language in the document pertaining to indigenous rights. Any semblance of a legally binding measure pertaining to these rights was omitted from the final agreement that was signed by the governments of 190 countries. The agreement concluded a...

    December 15, 2015
    2,748 views
    6 min read

    "Where Our Government Kills, We Cultivate Life"

    At the closure of this year's critical COP21 summit in Paris, the most inspirational stories do not stem from official negotiations. They emanate from the heroic efforts of global indigenous movements, bringing a message of resilience and defiance from the front lines of climate change.

    December 14, 2015
    4,804 views
    3 min read

    Communities from Latin America Among Those Honoured with Equator Prize 2015

    "Our struggle is large and dangerous, but we know we shall win. I've been to Belo Monte so I know what these dams represent: if they are built on the Tapajós they will flood our lands, and destroy our fish and hunting. We've come to put an end to this madness," Munduruku Chief Suberanino Saw told Amazon Watch in 2104.

    December 11, 2015
    4,218 views
    4 min read

    Brazilian Indigenous Movement Receives Prominent UN Environmental Prize at COP21 in Paris

    Paris, France – Indigenous leaders Maria Leusa Kaba Munduruku and Rozeninho Saw Munduruku will receive today the prestigious UNDP Equator Prize at an awards ceremony at COP 21, in recognition of the Munduruku people's courageous efforts to protect their territories in the Brazilian Amazon from threats posed by planned hydroelectric dams, as well...

    December 7, 2015
    587 views
    4 min read