Folha de S.Paulo | “We will not allow the interests of large corporations, such as Cargill and Bunge, to destroy our rivers and forests."
All News Articles
Ferrogrão Is a Shortcut to Collapse
The railway is being sold as a logistical solution, but in practice it means more deforestation, land invasions, and poison
O Globo | Ferrogrão is the backbone of a corridor that transforms the Amazon into a commodity export route and condemns Brazil to a subservient role.
Indigenous Groups Criticize Ecuador’s $47 Billion Oil Expansion Plan in Amazon
Associated Press | “The Amazon is not for sale. We will defend our territories because we have not been consulted – this is our home."
Interview With Chief Raoni: “Congressmen Only Think About Destruction, Not About Future Generations”
Indigenous leader says he is skeptical about the practical effects of COP30 and laments that, under the Lula administration, projects such as Marco Temporal and the Destruction Bill are moving forward
O Globo | On the eve of COP30, Raoni is also skeptical about the environmental meeting to be held in Belém.
California Lawmakers Seek to Curb Oil Imports from Amazon
Associated Press | “Consuming oil from the Amazon is incompatible with climate leadership. As the world’s fourth-largest economy, California is sending a powerful market signal by examining its crude footprint and role in Amazon destruction.”
Amazon Watch is building on more than 28 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Indigenous Groups Demand Action from South American Leaders at Amazon Summit
Associated Press | “There is no solution to any of the threats the Amazon is facing without its communities.”
When Criminals Rule the Amazon Jungle and Time Runs Out
The crisis of public security, environmental crime, and human rights must be on the agenda of the Summit of Amazonian Countries
El País | Without coordinated action and meaningful inclusion of local voices, the region faces escalating violence and irreversible damage to one of the world’s most critical ecosystems.
In Ecuador, Environmentalists Worry Noboa Is Unwinding Nation’s Green Reputation
Associated Press | “We are seeing a sweeping package of regressive reforms that are rolling back environmental protections, Indigenous rights guarantees, and threatening basic civil liberties like the freedom of speech and assembly,"
Soy Dictates the Path: How Ferrogrão is Reshaping Life in the Amazon
Folha de S.Paulo | "Soy farming will increase a lot. When it rains, the pesticides flow into the river. We have no wells to rely on. There’s nowhere to run, and all our children get sick."
Indigenous Wampis Are Ambushed in Peru After Government Backs Out of Anti-mining Joint Patrol
Associated Press | Indigenous leaders say the incident highlights the growing risks faced by land defenders and the government’s failure to uphold its promises.
California Is to Examine Its Amazon Oil Ties Following Pleas from Indigenous Leaders from Ecuador
Associated Press | “Being here with our brothers and sisters, with the local communities also fighting – in the end, we feel that the struggle is the same.”
Amazonian Communities in Peru Rejoice as Plan for Oil Drilling on Ancestral Land Stalls
Peru’s state-run oil company failed to attract any bids to develop an oil field that overlaps ancestral territories of several Indigenous groups
Associated Press | “Local communities and their allies will remain alert to this zombie project which has been killed multiple times but always attempts to return from the dead.”
The Wisdom That Panduro Took With Him
Three years after the army perpetrated the Alto Remanso massacre, in which several civilians were killed, a community that almost disappeared is trying to recover from the absence of the leader who healed them and taught them their language
Voragine | Pablo Panduro was killed on March 28, 2022 during an army operation in which 11 people were killed, and which was carried out against the Border Command, a FARC dissident group that controls most of Putumayo.
Survivors of Alto Remanso Massacre in Colombia Commemorate Their Dead
This past Friday, in Bajo Putumayo, another anniversary was held to remember the military operation that killed at least eight civilians. At the time, authorities tried to pass the victims off as guerrillas killed in combat
El País | On March 28, 2022, the Military Forces of Colombia carried out an operation by air, water and land. Eleven people died, four were wounded and around 350 were displaced.
Foreign Investors in Peru’s State Oil Company Risk Nation’s Turbulent Politics
In a region notorious for political instability, the South American country presents an extreme case
Financial Times | “This debt crisis drives Petroperú’s renewed plans to expedite new domestic oil production in highly contested reserves.”
Illegal Mining in the Amazon: “Criminal Governance Is Expanding and Becoming Increasingly Violent”
Mongabay | Raphael Hoetmer, director of Amazon Watch's Western Amazon Program, spoke with Mongabay Latam about the advance of mining in the Amazonian territory of Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela.
The Climate Crises in Los Angeles and the Amazon Rainforest Are Inextricably Linked
The Sacramento Bee | To address the root cause of these interconnected crises, we must unite our calls to keep oil in the ground, from California to the Amazon.
Amazon’s Advocates Fear Trump’s Return Means Little U.S. Help to Protect Rainforest
Associated Press | “Trump 2.0 will offer Amazonian governments a permission structure to ignore or walk back climate commitments, precisely at the moment when protection of the rainforest demands greater ambition and regional coordination.”
Petroperú Minimizes Oil Spill in Piura: Damage Reported in 10 Thousand Square Meters of Sea and Four Beaches
The state-owned company claimed the spill on the northern coast of Peru "was under control," but the Environmental Assessment and Oversight Agency and Municipality of Lobitos detect the spread of the environmental disaster
Infobae | An oil spill resulting from an underwater terminal of Petroperú’s Talara Refinery has spread to four beaches in Lobitos on the northern coast of Peru, affecting approximately 10,000 cubic meters of the sea.
President Biden: Stand Up to Chevron and Pardon Steven Donziger
Chevron spent billions trying to destroy him after he won the largest pollution case in history. It’s time for Biden to end this nightmare
The Guardian | Donziger’s story is nothing new. We all know that billion-dollar corporations wield their influence to silence critics. But what is so jarring about this case is the lengths to which Chevron has gone to manipulate the courts, corrupt the rule of law, and evade accountability.
Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest Falls to Lowest Since 2015
Reuters | President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office nearly two years ago on a promise to step up enforcement of environmental laws to rein in deforestation.
The Amazon Is in a State of Emergency: A Mandate for Action from Indigenous Peoples
After participating in the COP on transnational organized crime in Vienna, and while the biodiversity summit is being held in Cali, two leaders from Peru show how criminal economies are the main threat to the rainforest and the people who care for it
El País | The largest and most biodiverse rainforest in the world has become the most dangerous for those of us who protect it.
Environmental Delegates Gather in Colombia for a Conference on Dwindling Global Biodiversity
Associated Press | In the Amazon rainforest, threats to biodiversity include the expansion of the agricultural frontier and road networks, deforestation, forest fires, and drought, says Andrew Miller, advocacy director at Amazon Watch.
Staring Down the Barrel: What Peruvian Oil Company’s Crisis Means for the Public
Fate of cash-strapped Petroperú holds major implications for national economy, Indigenous groups and the climate
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism | “In the long term, PetroPerú has a big problem: it is billions of dollars in debt, its core business is oil – and the world is decarbonizing”
In Ecuador, Booming Profits in Small-scale Gold Mining Reveal a Tainted Industry
Mongabay | Lax regulation, corruption, and organized crime have enabled multimillion-dollar proceeds from drug trafficking to be laundered through illegally mined gold.
Amazon Fires Are Soaring Again – but Forest Loss Is Down. What’s Going on?
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism | “There are ongoing investigations by Brazilian authorities into whether farmers yet again organized a ‘fire day’ this year.”
Ecuador Starts Dismantling Yasuní National Park Oil Block Two Days Before Court Deadline
Associated Press | “The government is not meeting their judicial obligation to the court, they’re not fulfilling the mandate of the Ecuadorian people, and they’re not respecting the rights of the Waorani.”
Wall Street Banks Fund the Destruction of Our Indigenous Land
Newsweek | As representatives of communities who pay the highest costs of this toxic business, Indigenous Peoples demand banks prohibit new financing of Petroperú, and prevent its clients from pursuing new oil expansion.
Following the Money Behind Amazon Oil Development
Santander and HSBC worked on Petroperú bond issuance despite its record of Amazon oil spills
Financial Times | Local opposition has hampered Petroperú’s plans to start producing crude from two large blocks in the Amazon. For many banks, support for Amazon oil development must look like much more trouble than it is worth.