“These informal meetings and all publicity surrounding them have no validity as a mechanism for Indigenous peoples' participation. The truth cannot be hidden."
All Campaign Updates
Amazon Crime Crisis: U.N. Backs Indigenous Demands
U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues: governments and UNODC must include Indigenous Peoples in anti-crime and environmental policies
Amazonian Indigenous leaders delivered a clear and urgent message: organized crime and illegal economies are devastating the Amazon and threatening the survival of Indigenous Peoples.
Indigenous Leader Shot While Hunting as Violence Escalates in Shipibo Territory
The Shipibo community of Flor de Ucayali continues to face death threats and land invasions from drug traffickers
This attack is yet another example of the growing violence against Indigenous communities as criminal economies expand across the Amazon.
Oil Spills, Indigenous Resistance, and the Fight for Justice in the Peruvian Amazon
Indigenous communities of North Perú not only question when Petroperú will adequately attend to this oil spill, but also when they will truly access justice and remediation for past pollution and contamination by the company and other bad actors in the region.
Can Mining Override Agrarian Reform and Food Sovereignty in the Amazon?
Brazil’s Institute of Agrarian and Colonization Reform refuses to repeal a Bolsonaro-era rule authorizing mining and other industrial projects on protected lands in the Amazon
We recommend that INCRA immediately suspend IN 112 and replace it with a policy that better regulates the historical uneven relationship between large private enterprises and small farmers in rural settlements.
Amazon Watch is building on more than 28 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Investor Eye on the Amazon
Updates for shareholders and activists concerned about rainforest protection and human rights
The companies and banks behind Amazon destruction are feeling the heat as this year’s season of shareholder meetings comes to a close.
Safeguarding the Right to Self-determination at UNPFII
At the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Amazon Watch amplified Indigenous voices of strong female leaders underscoring the urgency of safeguarding the right to self-determination on the path to COP30
Achieving Indigenous autonomies and territorial governance, where self-determination is exercised, requires dismantling the mandates imposed by colonial and extractivist states and transforming them based on indigenous worldviews of harmony and collectivity.
Unmasking the Environmental and Human Rights Threats of Canadian Corporations
Despite its promises, Canada rejects key recommendations on the framework of the Universal Periodic Review and remains a threat to human rights and the environment
Contrary to upholding Indigenous rights, Canada rejected crucial recommendations regarding the regulation of its companies operating in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Investors Must Respect Indigenous Rights to Protect the Amazon
Respecting Indigenous Rights: An Actionable Toolkit for Institutional Investors provides investors with a starting point to educate themselves and others about Indigenous rights, as well as practical tools to develop policies, case studies, and data sources to identify and address Indigenous rights abuses.
An Emergency Action Plan to End the Killings in the Peruvian Amazon
In collaboration with AIDESEP and its most affected federations and other allies, we have issued a call to implement and support nine emergency measures aimed at preventing further murders and combating impunity.
Cargill-MacMillan Family Refuses to Meet With Visiting Indigenous Leader
“It is appalling that an emissary who traveled 4,000 miles to deliver an urgent message from her people would be treated with such dismissal and disrespect.”
Canada’s Belo Sun Mining Is Still Threatening the Brazilian Amazon
The Canadian mining company Belo Sun continues to threaten life in the Volta Grande do Xingu, and our campaign to halt the proposed largest open-pit gold mine in Brazil at the heart of the Amazon rainforest is in full swing.
Amazonian and Coastal Communities Target Potential Petroperú Financier Italian Agency SACE
In the face of mounting environmental and rights concerns, the Peruvian Federation of the Achuar Nationality, the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampís Nation, and the Cabo Blanco Fishing Association are targeting the potential financial investment by the Italian export credit agency in Petroperú.
Munduruku Village of Sawré Muybu in the Brazilian Amazon Installs Solar Power
“We are showing the Brazilian government and companies that we don’t need a dam to generate energy. We are showing the Brazilian government and companies that we are capable of anything.”
The Achuar and Wampis Peoples of the Peruvian Amazon Continue Their Fight Against Oil Exploration in Block 64
Watch this video update from David Peas, the Vice President of the National Federation of the Achuar of Peru, as he asks for continued support to keep Petroperú out of Block 64
David Peas, the Vice President of the National Federation of the Achuar of Peru, just sent us this personal message of gratitude and continued resistance.
Ecuador Makes History: Vote to Keep the Oil in the Ground in Yasuní Underway
Watch this video update from our Ecuador legal advisor, Nathaly Yepez, about the exciting referendum
The protection of Yasuní is crucial: It is one of the most biodiverse places on earth, and any invasions by oil and extractive activity could further destabilize our global climate and destroy the territory of the Tagaeri and Taromenane peoples.
Dismantling the Environment Is Shooting Yourself in the Foot
Nearly 800 organizations sign a letter rejecting Provisional Measure 1154 in Brazil
The substitute for Provisional Measure 1154, approved in the Mixed Committee, dismantles the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA) and the agencies linked to it and weakens the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI). The text needs to be amended by the House of Representatives and the Senate.
APIB Succeeds in Pressuring President Lula to Dismiss “Anti-Indigenous” Mining Bill
Deemed unconstitutional, if passed Bolsonaro's bill could have enabled high-impact projects to move forward without consulting Indigenous communities, it now requires a vote from the national congress
"We hope that the National Congress fulfills its duty to legislate for environmental balance, the social well-being of Brazilians, and respect for Indigenous peoples' ways of life."
Amazon Watch Response to Petroperú
Under international standards, the impacted communities should have been consulted for the creation of Block 64 as well as all leasing contracts, which did not happen. As such, the “intercultural dialogue mechanisms” cannot be considered as complying with the international standards of FPIC.
Deadly Clashes Erupt as Brazil Fights to Recover Yanomami Territory from Illegal Miners
Yanomami leader Júnior Hekurari reported that between 15 and 20 heavily armed miners arrived by boat and opened fire on locals.
At Any Cost? The Peruvian Government Launches a New Campaign to Attract Oil Investments in the Midst of the Crisis.
Is it prudent to invest in what will undeniably become a new front of social conflict and human rights violations in the north of the country, this time with Amazonian Indigenous people?
Letter Calling on President Biden to Immediately Pardon Human Rights Lawyer Steven Donziger
Steven Donziger’s prosecution is one more example of how far powerful interests are willing to go in their quest to silence those standing up for justice. They are trying to send a chilling message to environmental activists around the world that fighting against corporate interests can cost them their liberty and more.
NGOs Release Letter Accusing Brazilian State of Pará of Greenwashing Through Carbon Credit Schemes
Last Saturday, the government of Pará (along with other Amazon governors) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the LEAF Coalition to boost actions regarding sustainability and the bio-economy. While hailed by its advocates as an innovative step forward in halting deforestation, there are serious greenwashing concerns regarding the...
A Mistake or Cunning Strategy? We Demand Answers from Anglo American!
Amazon Watch | Anglo American is once again evading explanations for its intentions to mine on Indigenous territories in the Brazilian Amazon. On November 20, 2020, Anglo American stated that it had given up all applications for mining exploration inside Indigenous lands in Brazil. Following the release of the Complicity in Destruction III report by the...
Letter from APIB and Amazon Watch to Anglo American
The Munduruku address mining on Indigenous lands and threats to their people and territory, as Anglo American seeks at least 27 research permits in Munduruku territory
We invite Anglo American to make a public commitment to refrain from carrying out any mining activities on Indigenous lands in Brazil, regardless of changes in Brazilian legislation, in line with its human rights and biodiversity protection commitments, in particular the Declaration of ICMM's position on Mining and Protected Areas.
Statement on Violence and Deprivation of Freedom Against Forest Defender Salomé Aranda
As the network of Amazonian Women, we express our total rejection of violence and deprivation of liberty that Salomé Aranda – our sister, leader, and defender of the Amazon rainforest – is suffering. We demand her immediate release and that a transparent investigation be carried out on the situation of systematic violence that our sister has...
Forests and Human Rights: Principles for Asset Managers
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, has no clear policy on forests, land, and human rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities
BlackRock's Big Problem | In light of BlackRock's commitments to center climate in its investment strategy and the responsibilities it has stemming from its continued financing of deforestation-linked commodities, the BlackRock's Big Problem campaign urges BlackRock and other asset managers to adopt policies on Forests, Land, and the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples and...
Investor Eye on the Amazon
A primer for shareholders concerned about rainforest protection and human rights
The Investor Eye on the Amazon newsletter serves as a resource for socially-responsible investors, industry analysts, and researchers looking to better understand the risks associated with financing climate-damaging industries in the Amazon, and what they can do to protect the region.
Statement in Solidarity With Amazonian Indigenous Peoples Facing the Novel Coronavirus
In solidarity with Indigenous organizations, federations and nationalities of the Amazon who have expressed deep concern about the impending threat of COVID-19 in their ancestral territories and communities, we demand integrated, effective, and culturally adequate state responses to this crisis. This begins with an immediate moratorium on any...