The impacts of new drilling in the Amazon rainforest have been dire both for its world-renowned biodiversity and its indigenous peoples, many of whom have long rejected controversial drilling plans on their lands.
Yasuni
“Buen Vivir” for Whom?
Despite its professed commitment to protection of Mother Earth and to placing sustainable living over profits, Ecuador under Correa has pursued a resource extraction strategy that prioritizes short-term revenue generation over environmental protection and indigenous territorial rights.
Breaking Precious Ground
Just this past spring, in a move that shocked the international conservation community, Ecuador began trucking the first barrels of crude out of Yasuní. Is this the beginning of the end for one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems?
U.N. Experts Slam Ecuador Over Forced Closure of Land Rights Group
The United Nations criticized the government of Ecuador on Friday for ordering the closure of a land rights advocacy group that supports an indigenous community protesting mining plans in land they claim as their ancestral home.
New Witch Hunt in Ecuador Against Indigenous and Environment Defenders
Ecuador became an even more difficult place to be a defender of indigenous rights and the environment in recent days. You would think a country with constitutionally-enshrined protections for Mother Nature would support and encourage indigenous and environmental rights defenders, but sadly that is not the case, and it has implications for the...
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
As Oil Companies Dig Into Yasuní National Park, Ecuadorians Are Fighting Back
"If we can't manage to protect places that are this important,"" says Kevin Koenig, Ecuador program director for Amazon Watch, "then it seems unlikely that we'll be able to protect the rest of the planet. Depending on what happens here, we could be at the beginning of what could turn out to be a very tragic story."
Tired of Superheroes? Here Are Some Movies With Real Heroes Fighting for Our Future
Check out one of the stunning new films recently released about the Amazon and the heroic environmental defenders protecting it and defending us from climate change.
Sarayaku People’s Struggle for Justice in Ecuador Presented in Interactive Digital Map
On the occasion of a public compliance hearing at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights today, members of the indigenous Kichwa community in Sarayaku exposed the Ecuadorian State's failure to comply with the 2012 judgement issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, using a new interactive digital story-map to demonstrate how the...
We’re Not Giving Up On Our Climate! Our Future Is Depending On Us!
We will not let Trump or anyone else stand in our way of defending our climate, our rights, or the Amazon. Join us in calling for an end to Amazon crude and to keep all fossil fuels in the ground to avert climate chaos!
Reimagining Progress: Voices from the Ecuadorian Amazon
Developed jointly by the pair after experiencing first-hand the pressures faced by indigenous people in the Ecuadorian Amazon during 2015, the project was launched with the primary aim of raising international awareness of some of the key threats currently faced by the Sápara and Kichwa communities of Ecuador, specifically their long-running...
Yasuní Man Film Is an Intimate Portrait of a Beautiful Land Under Siege for Its Oil
In recent weeks, the first wells inside the Yasuni fields have come into full commercial operation. According to Amazon Watch, the oil from the Yasuni fields is being pumped to California, where it is processed at US refineries.
Amazonian Communities at the Front Line Against Climate Change
In spite of their frequent exclusion from the debate, indigenous communities are proposing innovative solutions to the international community regarding environmental protection and climate change.
Amazon Watch 20th Anniversary Gala
Thank you to all our friends and supporters who joined us at our 20th Anniversary Gala on Wednesday in San Francisco, where we shared food, music, dancing, and inspiring words about our last 20 years and our vision for the years to come supporting indigenous peoples and protecting the Amazon.
U.S. Imports of Amazon Crude Oil Driving Expansion of Oil Operations
Crude oil imported to the U.S. from the Amazon, most of which gets refined in California, is driving expansion of oil operations into the rainforest, according to a new report.
Now Is the Time To #EndAmazonCrude!
Today Amazon Watch issued a new call to the consumers and companies in the U.S. and around the world: End Amazon Crude! With the release of a new investigative report, an animated video by long-time ally and Pulitzer Prize winning animator Mark Fiore, an infographic, and a petition to demand that refineries in the U.S. stop sourcing crude from the...
Finally, a Gross Climate Habit Californians Should Feel Really Guilty About
The analysis, done by Amazon Watch, a nonprofit working to protect the rainforest, is the first to document the extent to which Amazon rainforest crude oil is present in the United States. Not only does this oil contribute to local air pollution and global climate change, but the expansion of fossil fuel extraction in the Amazon Basin threatens...
U.S. Drives Rainforest Destruction By Importing Amazon Oil, Study Finds
U.S. imports of crude oil from the Amazon are driving the destruction of some of the rainforest ecosystem's most pristine areas and releasing copious amounts of greenhouse gases, according to a new report conducted by environmental group Amazon Watch.
Amazon Crude Used in U.S. Truck Fleets Is Destroying the Rainforest
Oakland, CA – A new report entitled From Well to Wheel: The Social, Environmental and Climate Costs of Amazon Crude released Wednesday by Amazon Watch reveals the extent to which U.S. imports of crude oil from the Amazon – most of which are refined in California – help drive the ongoing expansion of oil operations into some of the Amazon...
From Well to Wheel
Unbeknownst to most, oil extraction in the Amazon is not only rampant; it is also expanding rapidly as global supplies dwindle and economic pressures multiply. Even lesser known is the fact that the majority of this rainforest-destroying fossil fuel ends up in gas tanks throughout the United States.
Solidarity from the Amazon to Standing Rock
Indigenous leaders from the Ecuadorian Amazon traveled to North Dakota this week to share with the Standing Rock Sioux and the #NoDAPL movement their solidarity and personal experience in successfully defending their sacred sites and water by expelling oil companies from their ancestral rainforest territory.
Ecuador Begins Drilling for Oil in Pristine Corner of Amazon
Ecuador began drilling for oil on Wednesday near an Amazon nature reserve known as Yasuni, a site that President Rafael Correa had previously sought to protect from development and pollution under a pioneering conservation plan.
Ecuador Announces First Commercial Barrel of Oil from Yasuní’s ITT Fields
From deep inside the most biodiverse part of Earth's largest rainforest, there is terrible news: Oil extraction has begun in quite possibly the worst place imaginable.
Oil Production Begins at Controversial Amazon Drilling Project
Tomorrow, Ecuadorian state oil company Petroamazonas will produce the first barrel of commercial crude from the ITT fields that lie beneath Yasuní National Park, an area that some scientists have called the most biodiverse rainforest on Earth.
Historic Gathering of Indigenous Leaders Champion "No Go" Areas for Sacred Sites at IUCN World Conservation Congress
A delegation of 25 powerful indigenous leaders from around the world will attend the quadrennial IUCN World Conservation Congress (WCC) in Honolulu, Hawai'i, from September 1 to 10. The WCC is the world's largest recurring conservation event attended by government, corporate, nonprofit and academic leaders, among its many influencers.
Unclean Hands: Corruption Plagues Ecuador’s Oil Deals with China
Ecuador is desperate to drill because it owes China billions as part of loan deals between the two countries that have Ecuador handing over much of its oil to China through 2024. The oil price crash has also exacerbated the issue, forcing Ecuador to deliver twice or three times the amount of crude to pay off the debt. Sound like a bad deal? It is...
Drilling Towards Disaster: Ecuador’s Aggressive Amazonian Oil Push
Last week, the Ecuadorian government announced that it had begun constructing the first of a planned 276 wells, ten drilling platforms, and multiple related pipelines and production facilities in the ITT oil field, known as Block 43, which overlaps Yasuní National Park in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest.
Ecuador Drills for Oil on Edge of Pristine Rainforest in Yasuní
"By drilling Yasuní-ITT, the Ecuadorian government is threatening to destroy one of the most biodiverse and culturally fragile treasures on the planet for what amounts to about a week of global oil supply," said Amazon Watch's director, Leila Salazar-Lopez.
A Journey to the Front Lines of Ecuador’s Next Oil Battle
"In the rainforest, everything is possible. Here are our pharmacies. Here are our libraries. Here is our treasure, our life. Not only for us, for the entire world. So our future generations, your children, your children's children, can live and breathe clean air."
Indigenous Women Unite to Defend the Amazon, Mother Earth and Climate Justice
I am filled with hope by the alliance of indigenous Amazonian women who came together in a historic march in defense of the Amazon, Mother Earth and Climate Justice on International Women's Day. It was the first time ever that indigenous Amazonian women from seven nationalities joined forces and marched together in defense of their rights...
