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    Tapajos

    Amazon Assembly Unifies Resistance to Dams on Brazil's Tapajós River

    Historic gathering builds opposition to government's plans for new mega-dam complex

    Santarém, Brazil – Tensions are building over the Brazilian government's polemic plans to circumvent the law in order to dam the Tapajós River. On November 27th, representatives of a diverse coalition of threatened indigenous peoples and other traditional communities assembled with religious leaders and activists to challenge a new Amazon...

    December 1, 2014
    3,386 views
    3 min read

    Resistance and Hope on the Tapajós River

    This week's "Caravan to Resist Dams in the Amazon" marked the largest political action ever staged in opposition to the Brazilian government's authoritarian march to dam the Tapajós River. Assembled on the banks of the majestic river, members the region's indigenous and traditional communities joined religious leaders and activists to stand as one...

    November 28, 2014
    5,133 views
    2 min read

    Activists Join Indigenous People to Protest Construction of Amazon Mega-Dam

    Greenpeace join the Munduruku to protest against the construction of a hydroelectric project on Tapajós River in Pará state

    Greenpeace | Greenpeace activists joined the Munduruku deep in the Amazon rainforest to protest the construction of a major hydroelectric project. The group gathered at a beach on the banks of the Tapajos River and displayed a message in the sand that read "Free Tapajós". The beach is located near the waterfall of the "São Luiz do Tapajós" project, the first...

    November 27, 2014
    3,445 views
    2 min read

    Peaceful Warriors: The Mundurukú Resist Dams With Strength and Art

    Today some 60 Mundurukú people and 10 activists gathered at an island near the proposed São Luiz do Tapajós dam site in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, and performed an act of strength, dedication, and perseverance demonstrating their passion at any cost to save the Tapajós region.

    November 27, 2014
    3,072 views
    2 min read

    Eye on Brazil: Tensions Escalate on the Tapajós River

    The Brazilian government's decision to dam the Amazon's Tapajós River demonstrates a shocking disregard for the rights of the region's indigenous and traditional peoples. Tensions continue to escalate, with the Mundurukú people carrying out an "auto-demarcation" process of their land in defiance of the government's intentional deferral of the...

    November 25, 2014
    5,958 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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    A Dam Revival, Despite Risks

    Private Funding Brings a Boom in Hydropower, With High Costs

    New York Times | While some dams in the United States and Europe are being decommissioned, a dam-building boom is underway in developing countries. It is a shift from the 1990s, when amid concerns about environmental impacts and displaced people, multilateral lenders like the World Bank backed away from large hydroelectric power projects.

    November 19, 2014
    4,510 views
    5 min read

    Brazilian Judge Sides with Tribe over Land Threatened by Dams

    Environment News Service | In a struggle between a Brazilian indigenous tribe and the federal government over two dams that would flood lands claimed by the tribe, a federal judge has ruled that the government must immediately publish its report delineating the tribe's territory that has been withheld for more than a year.

    November 6, 2014
    5,952 views
    4 min read

    Amazon in Focus 2014

    Plus Our Annual Financial Report for 2013

    We stand at a critical moment in history. Amazon Watch is facing this challenge with great resolve and creativity. We are a powerful community and without you and your support, none of our work would be possible.

    Fall 2014
    3,092 views
    2 min read

    Brazil's Proposed Mega-Dam Auction Provokes Outrage, Indigenous Fight

    Indian Country Today | When Brazil announced plans September 12 to build a new dam on the Tapajós River, they violated their own legal requirements to comply with a process of free, prior, and informed consultation with threatened indigenous and traditional communities.

    October 3, 2014
    1,010 views
    4 min read

    Brazil Waffles on Indigenous Rights and Dams in the Amazon

    If the Belo Monte disaster set a grim paradigm for human rights and environmental protection in the Amazon, then the manic race to dam the nearby Tapajós River confirms that the Brazilian government will stop at nothing to produce energy at any and all cost.

    October 3, 2014
    6,179 views
    3 min read

    Amazon Women on the Frontlines of Climate Change

    A selection of photos from Amazon Women on the Frontlines of Climate Change, a traveling photography exhibit with written and live testimonies from indigenous women leading solutions on the frontlines of the Amazon as the region confronts the impacts of climate change.

    September 23, 2014
    6,150 views
    1 min read

    Brazil Suspends Auction for Tapajós Mega Hydro

    BNamericas | The Brazilian government has suspended the auction of the 6.1GW São Luiz do Tapajós hydroelectric plant earmarked for December. The announcement comes a day after environmental lobby group Amazon Watch accused Brazil of "flouting" international law by failing to properly consult local communities about the project.

    September 17, 2014
    5,525 views
    1 min read

    Brazil's Announcement to Auction New Amazon Mega-dam Provokes Outrage

    Plans to build new dam on the Tapajós River flout legal requirements for consultations with threatened communities

    Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – In a precipitous move last Friday, Brazil's Ministry of Mines and Energy set December 15th as the date to auction the construction of the massive São Luiz do Tapajós hydroelectric dam, the first in a series of large dams slated for construction on the Tapajós River, one of the Amazon's largest tributaries.

    September 16, 2014
    4,426 views
    4 min read

    Amazon Tribe Fights Brazil Dam Project

    BBC News | Over the last few months some 13,000 Munduruku have been protesting against government plans to build a series of hydroelectric dams that will flood part of their land on the upper reaches of the Tapajos river.

    August 4, 2014
    2,888 views
    4 min read

    Tensions Rise on the Tapajos River

    Peaceful Mundurukú gathering met with brutality

    As the Brazilian government ramps up reckless plans to build another mega-dam complex – this time on the Amazon's Tapajos River – tensions reached a fever pitch last week with a hate-driven mob raining violence on a peaceful protest gathering of Mundurukú people.

    May 19, 2014
    1,786 views
    4 min read

    Brazilian Judicial Abuses Questioned on Anniversary of Military Coup

    Human rights commission hears case questioning state use of dictatorship-era legal device

    Washington, DC – Marking the 50th anniversary of Brazil's military coup, Brazilian community representatives and their legal advocates questioned President Dilma Rousseff's administration last week at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights over its flagrant use of a legal mechanism that dates to the country's dictatorship.

    March 31, 2014
    3,458 views
    3 min read

    Indigenous Leader Condemns Brazil's Rights Abuses at United Nations

    Speakers highlight violations stemming from Amazon dams at Human Rights Council

    Geneva, Switzerland – In a groundbreaking event at the 25th United Nations Human Rights Council, the national coordinator of Brazil's Association of Indigenous Peoples Sônia Guajajara exposed an alarming disregard for indigenous peoples' rights by the Brazilian government as it rushes to promote an unprecedented wave of large dam...

    March 11, 2014
    4,706 views
    4 min read

    In Pictures: "Klamazon" Brings Unity and Hope

    A recent delegation led by Amazon Watch unites indigenous youth from the Klamath and Xingu rivers

    My journey over the past four years in this fight against the Belo Monte dam has been intense, but accompanying the Klamath delegation to the Xingu brought hope not only to the local populations of the Xingu, but also to myself!

    March 6, 2014
    3,563 views
    2 min read

    Mundurukú Indians in Brazil Protest Tapajós Dams

    IPS | The Brazilian government, which is already building the Belo Monte mega-dam on the Xingú river in the northeastern Amazon state of Pará, also wants to construct another huge hydropower complex on the Tapajós river, in the same state.

    December 12, 2013
    3,426 views
    5 min read

    Journey to the Tapajós, Rainforest Home of the Munduruku

    "The message we want the world to know this is that our people are united and we will be even more united to fight for our rights," declared Akay Biorébu, second captain of the Munduruku warriors.

    November 21, 2013
    1,674 views
    3 min read

    Tapajos: Public Consultation? More of a PR Exercise

    Latin America Bureau | At the outset, the public was told firmly that no spontaneous contributions from the floor would be accepted. Only written questions would be allowed, but no instructions were given on when or how to hand over questions. As far as I could see, no one from the back of the stadium submitted a question, which was not surprising given that many of the...

    October 4, 2013
    4,610 views
    7 min read

    Indigenous Rights Under Assault in Brazil

    How can the Brazilian government justify forcing its native peoples, who were subject to centuries of injustice and genocidal abuse, to continue enduring the brunt of the country's uncontrolled economic expansion against their will?

    August 8, 2013
    6,353 views
    5 min read

    Indigenous Protests and Unity in Brasília

    The fight for the Amazon has just begun

    International Rivers | "The Minister says he wants to consult with indigenous peoples, but that the government's decision to build the dams has already been made. What kind of consultation is that?"

    June 18, 2013
    2,933 views
    5 min read