CalMatters | The central theory of the Tropical Forest Standard has been proven false time and time again, first with the Kyoto Protocol, then with numerous public and private programs known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, or REDD+.
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Activists Follow the Money Fueling the Amazon Fires
Protesters around the world are singling out the bad actors profiting off deforestation
Inequality.org | While the world watches in horror as fires rage on in the Amazon, activists are shining a light on the big businesses destroying what's popularly known as the "lungs of the Earth." On September 5th, people around the globe stood in solidarity with the rainforest's indigenous communities by partaking in the Global Day of Action for the Amazon...
"Chaos, Chaos, Chaos": a Journey Through Bolsonaro's Amazon Inferno
A 2,000-km road and river odyssey in Brazil reveals consensus from all sides: Bolsonaro has ushered in a new age of wrecking
The Guardian | "If we go on like this, things will get worse and worse," predicted a senior official from Brazil's environmental agency, Ibama, diplomatically blaming the spike in Amazon deforestation during Bolsonaro's first eight months in power on the "political situation" in Brazil.
The Amazon Rainforest Was Once a Human Success Story. It Could Be Again
For millennia, Indigenous practices have enhanced the biodiversity, fertility, and carbon-sucking powers of the most biodiverse region on land
Vice | Many Indigenous people, and groups that support them, hope that the international focus on the Amazon fires will spur renewed efforts to protect demarcated Indigenous territories. Preserving the Amazon also depends on much stronger enforcement of environmental laws and the implementation of Indigenous land and forestry management on wider scales.
Follow the Money to the Amazon
Who is profiting from the development that led to these fires?
The Atlantic | This isn't just about one rogue head of state. To get to the underlying forces of much of the world's deforestation, from the lush Amazonian rain forest or the carbon-rich peatlands of Indonesia, you need to follow the money: Who is profiting from the development that led to these fires?
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Why It's Been So Lucrative to Destroy the Amazon Rainforest
G7 countries offered $20 million to combat fires in the Amazon. But it’s nowhere near enough to stop the deforestation.
Vox | The recent alarming fires in the Amazon rainforest raised the perennial concern of how to protect something that has value to the whole world but is contained within the borders of a few countries.
The Land Battle Behind the Fires in the Amazon
The Amazon fires could fuel the decades-long fight that indigenous people have waged for their land
The Atlantic | "As long as the state doesn't demarcate, we are under threat of invasions and explorations, so demarcation is our minimum legal protection to avoid these things,"says Sônia Guajajara, one of the most well-known indigenous leaders in Brazil.
How Beef Demand Is Accelerating the Amazon’s Deforestation and Climate Peril
Brazil’s cattle ranchers are clear-cutting and burning the rainforest amid a surge in beef exports
Washington Post | Cattle ranchers in the Brazilian Amazon are aggressively expanding their herds and willing to clear-cut the forest and burn what's left to make way for pastures. As a result, they've become the single biggest driver of the Amazon's deforestation, causing about 80 percent of it.
We Are Facing a Global Emergency in the Amazon. Here's What We Can Do.
CNN | Now that the world is finally paying attention to the Amazon Basin, it's important to also understand that governments and companies around the world are emboldening the Bolsonaro regime's toxic policies when they enter into trade agreements with his government or invest in agribusiness companies operating in the Amazon.
Blame Humans for Starting the Amazon Fires, Environmentalists Say
CNN | "The Amazon is incredibly important for our future, for our ability to stave off the worst of climate change," said Christian Poirier, Amazon Watch Program Director . "This isn't hyperbole. We're looking at untold destruction – not just of the Amazon but for our entire planet."
The Amazon Rainforest Has Been on Fire for Three Weeks. Here’s Why You’re Only Hearing About It Now.
Mic | "Indigenous people of the Amazon have been sounding the alarm about risks to the rainforest for years, and resisting the destruction, sometimes at the cost of their own lives," said Moira Birss. "Unfortunately, it seems the Amazon has to burn before the world pays attention."
The Amazon Is on Fire and the Smoke Can Be Seen from Space
The Amazon has been burning for weeks amid increasing deforestation. The intense smoke was detected by NASA and plunged São Paulo into darkness on Monday.
Vice | Earlier this month, Amazonas (the largest state in Brazil) declared a state of emergency over the rising number of forest fires. Fire season in the Amazon is just beginning – it runs from August through October, with its peak coming in mid-September, and the smoke is already so bad that it can be seen from space.
A Trump-Bolsonaro Free-Trade Agreement Is an Apocalyptically Bad Idea
Op-ed by Andrew Miller of Amazon Watch
The Hill | Proponents of the U.S. Brazil free trade agreement seem to be operating in an alternative universe, oblivious to or willfully ignorant of the environmental and social realities playing themselves out in Brazil.
Amazon Gold Miners Invade Indigenous Village in Brazil After Its Leader Is Killed
Brazil's police have been urged to investigate a “very tense situation” in Amapá state
The Guardian | Kureni Waiãpi said Brazil's far-right president Jair Bolsonaro had encouraged invasions like this. “It is because he, the president, is threatening the indigenous peoples of Brazil,” he said.
Miners Kill Indigenous Leader in Brazil During Invasion of Protected Land
The New York Times | Several dozen heavily armed miners dressed in military fatigues invaded an indigenous village in remote northern Brazil this week and fatally stabbed at least one of the community's leaders.
Amazon Infrastructure Puts 68% of Indigenous Lands at Risk
Mongabay | 68 percent of the indigenous lands and protected natural areas in the nine nations encompassing the Amazon region are under pressure from roads, mining, dams, oil drilling, forest fires and deforestation, according to a new report.
Indigenous Tribe Halts Oil Drilling in Amazon – for Now
WhoWhatWhy | "The Achuar and the Wampis communities have an opportunity now to convince GeoPark that this project is fatally flawed, before the company attempts to push it forward and exacerbates socio-environmental conflicts in the rainforest."
Peru Native Groups Use New Legal Strategy to Push Back on Oil, Mining Plans
Reuters | Indigenous groups in Peru are turning to the courts with a new legal strategy for keeping mining and oil projects off their land, racking up victories that could make it harder for companies to secure permits in the major minerals producer.
For the Achuar, Life Comes Before Oil
Two million acres of Achuar land is threatened by Geopark’s imminent exploitation of Block 64
Intercontinental Cry | "This is not the first time a company has tried to come into our territories – coming in with trickery – but the response has always been the same over four decades: we don't want oil."
Amazon Deforestation Up 20% in Past Year, Environmental Watchdog Says
Analysts blame uncontrolled logging and land invasion as Brazilian president questions climate change
Associated Press | Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his environment minister have questioned the reality of climate change and spoken in favor of expanding mining and industrial farming, including in the Amazon and protected areas.
Wall Street’s Sustainable Darling Is Profiting from Climate Change
The world's largest asset manager, BlackRock, has millions of dollars invested in fossil fuels despite claiming to be a steward of the environment
Vice | "It is time that BlackRock stops financing, sheltering and shielding destructive investments that threaten people and the planet," said Alfred Brownell, a Liberian activist who recently won this year's Goldman environmental prize.
An (Even More) Inconvenient Truth
Why carbon credits for forest preservation may be worse than nothing
ProPublica | The desperate hunger for carbon credit plans appears to have blinded many of their advocates to the mounting pile of evidence that they haven't – and won't – deliver the climate benefit they promise.
“Resisting to Exist”
Indigenous women unite against Brazil's far-right president
Mongabay | "The policies adopted by the current government... violate all our rights and aim to destroy us," said Maria Eva Canoé. "But we are strong, we are resistant. And we are here in this... the 15th encampment, to show to the government, and to all society, that we are alive, that we are resisting to exist."
Report Accuses Companies of Aiding Amazon Destruction
From asset manager BlackRock to agribusiness giant Bunge, researchers have cited a host of the world's most powerful companies for either allegedly financing or buying from groups that have been implicated in the destruction and deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.
Brazil: Indigenous People Rally in Capital to Protest Against Bolsonaro Onslaught
Thousands of indigenous people have descended on Brazil's capital Brasília to protest against a widespread assault on indigenous rights and territories by the government of the far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.
Indigenous Groups in Ecuador Convene to Talk Resistance in the Amazon
"The Shiwiar, Sapara and Kichwa nationalities of Kawsak Sacha decide to leave the oil in the subsoil and declare their territories intangible in perpetuity, where it is forbidden to extract non-renewable natural resources. The governments in turn must respect this decision."
Chevron vs Ecuador: International Arbitration and Corporate Impunity
The infamous story of the environmental pollution of the Ecuadorian Amazon by Chevron-Texaco – which has come to be known as the "Ecuadorian Chernobyl" – is entering a new phase
openDemocracy | "Justice as such does not exist, especially when the criminal is a transnational corporation and the victims are indigenous peoples, peasants, or nature."
Brazil’s New President Threatens “the Lungs of the Planet”
If there is hope for the rainforest, and for countries where authoritarians threaten democracy and progressive agendas, it lies in the determination and power of civil society activists like Sônia Guajajara.
Protecting Indigenous Lands Protects the Environment. Trump and Bolsonaro Threaten Both.
Among the many parallels between their administrations, Bolsonaro and Trump are both taking extreme action to strip the hard-earned rights of indigenous peoples to the benefit of extractive industries and commercial farming. These policies present threats to our communities, the integrity of ecosystems on our lands and the stability of our climate.
