Amazon Watch

All Campaign Updates

The Achuar Reject Petroperú’s Oil Expansion – Yet Again

Amid mounting debt and political pressure, Petroperú scrambles to revive Block 64, but Indigenous nations expose sham consultations and defend their territories from fossil fuel expansion

“These informal meetings and all publicity surrounding them have no validity as a mechanism for Indigenous peoples' participation. The truth cannot be hidden."

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.

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.

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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.

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.

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...