We were crowded around a table in a packed cafeteria, the roar of some 20,000 other COP 15 delegates making my translation job all the harder. I was sitting next to Marlon Santi, president of Ecuador’s powerful national indigenous organization CONAIE. On my left was Tito Puanchir, president of the country’s Amazonian indigenous confederation...
All Campaign Updates
Violent Clashes in Bagua, Peru: One Year Later
A year has passed since a police operation to end 55 days of peaceful indigenous protests in the Amazon basin resulted in a violent clash between military police and the peaceful protesters in Bagua last June 5, 2009. It was the worst violence Peru has seen in recent history, leaving 34 people dead and almost two hundred injured. As Amazon Watch’s...
Reforming the Inter-American Development Bank
We have learned much from our work around the IDB and other banks and know that there is great potential to influence critical actors through North-South collaborations.
Yasuni-ITT: Oil Change or More of the Same?
The Ishpingo, Tambococha, Tiputini oil fields are Ecuador's largest. According to estimates, they could yield up to 900 million barrels of heavy crude. But in a cruel twist of geologic fate, they happen to lie beneath one of the most biodiverse places on the planet – Yasuni National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Defending the Rivers of the Amazon
Today, Amazon Watch and International Rivers are releasing a new Google Earth tour and YouTube video called "Defending the Rivers of the Amazon," narrated by Sigourney Weaver, to draw attention to the impacts of the proposed Belo Monte Dam Complex on the people and ecology of the Xingu River.If built, Belo Monte would
Amazon Watch is building on more than 28 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Final Declaration from the Terra Livre Encampment: "In Defense of the Xingu: Against Belo Monte!"
Original Portuguese version belowWe, the indigenous peoples Juruna, Xipaya, Arara of Volta Grande, Kuruaia and Xicrin from the region of Altamira, the Guajajara, Gavião, Krikati, Awa Guajá, Kayapó of Mato Grosso and Pará, the Tembe, Aikeora, Suru?/p>
Acción Ecológica: ¿Qué celebramos con la firma del fideicomiso de la iniciativa Yasuní?
La firma del fideicomiso es un paso importante pues sin él la iniciativa Yasuní no tendría posibilidades de continuar, es más podríamos decir que después de 3 años empieza a concretarse ahora.
Entre todo/as lo logramos: La firma del fideicomiso para la Iniciativa Yasuní-ITT
Alberto AcostaUn día después de la conmemoración del segundo bicentenario del asesinato de los patriotas por parte de las tropas españolas en la ciudad de Quito, el día 2 de agosto del 2010, en el marco de la Iniciativa Yasuní-ITT
Bolivia and Ecuador: The State against the Indigenous People
By Raúl Zibechi for The Center for International Policy's Americas Program"These people are gringos who are coming here with NGOs. Take it somewhere else.
MARCHA HISTÓRICA POR LA DEFENSA Y TERRITORIALIDAD DE LAS NACIONES Y PUEBLOS ORIGINARIOS DE ABYA YALA
Unión Base, Puyo, EcuadorHermanos/asPRESIDENTES DE LAS NACIONALIDADESPresente.-De mi consideración: Germán Freire-NAE; Pedro Enqueri-NAWE; Alfredo Gualinga-NASHIE; Bartolo Ushigua-NASE; Juan Enomenga-ONWAN; Ángel Awak-FEPNASH.Z.CH.; Miguel Wisum-FEPCESH.S; Paco Chuji-FONAKISE; Miguel
Growing Legal Crisis Around Belo Monte
The Brazilian government's ruthless and politicized attacks on the Ministerio Publico Federal (MPF), in particular its targeting of the key Altamira-based Judge Antonio Carlos de Almeida Campelo, has seriously undermined the legal case against the controversial Belo Monte dam.
NGO Letter to President Obama about 1 June Meeting with Peruvian President Garcia
Amazon Watch - Change to Win - Defenders of Wildlife - Environmental Investigation Agency Friends of the Earth - International Brotherhood of Teamsters - Oxfam America Public Citizen - Sierra Club - Washington Office on Latin AmericaFriday, May 28, 2010President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Penn
Statement by APRODEH: Apu Pizango has the Right to Due Process and to Regain his Freedom
To promote dialogue between the government and indigenous peoplesAPU PIZANGO HAS THE RIGHT TO DUE PROCESS AND TO REGAINING HIS FREEDOMThe Human Rights Association of Peru (APRODEH) requests for the issuance of comparecencia (provisional release pending a future court date) as well as guarantees of due process fo
Alberto Pizango: Public Declaration to Peru and the World
REASONS I WENT INTO EXILEIn 2008 and 2009, we Amazonian indigenous peoples MOBILIZED OURSELVES DEMANDING the derogation of the legislative decrees issued by Alan Garcia. We denounced the violation of our right to be consulted, as established in Convention 169 of the ILO.
Brief on Belo Monte
The Federal Injunctions of the Belo Monte AuctionThe Belo Monte auction took place on April 20, 2010 amidst the street protests taking place in major cities across Brazil. Leading up to the auction date three injunctions (restraining orders) were issued by a federal judge of Altamira.
Request to UN Special Rapporteur Regarding Threats and Intimidation in Belo Monte Judicial Process
Movimento Xingu Vivo Para Sempre, Terra de Direitos - Organização de Direitos Humanos, Conselho Indigenista Missionário – CIMI, Sociedade Paraense de Direitos Humanos (SDDH), Justiça Global, Comitê Metropolitano do Movimento Xingu Vivo (Belém – Pará), Prelazia do Xingu, Comissão Pastoral da Terra – Pará, Rede F
Meet the Achuar Delegates
By foot, boat, bus and plane, three Achuar indigenous leaders from the Peruvian Amazon will travel to the United States and Canada from May 1st - May 9th as part of the launch of an international campaign to demand that Canadian oil company Talisman Energy immediately cease oil operations in the Achuar's ancestral Amazonian h
Testimony of Daysi Zapata Fasabi Before the U.S. Congress
"For thousands of years the Amazonian indigenous peoples have lived in harmony with the Amazon rainforest. Since the creation of the Peruvian state in 1821, however, we have been excluded and have been invisible in the public policies and plans."
Communiqué from Chief Megaron Txukarramãe
We, leaders and warriors, are here in our movement, determined to continue our blockade of the ferry crossing on the Xingu River. As long as Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva continues to insist on building the Belo Monte dam, we will remain here.
Brief on Belo Monte
The Federal Injunctions of the Belo Monte AuctionThe Belo Monte auction took place on April 20, 2010 amidst the street protests taking place in major cities across Brazil. Leading up to the auction date three injunctions (restraining orders) were issued by a federal judge of Altamira.
Cochabamba Chronicles: The World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth
Held April 20–22, 2010 in Cochabamba, BoliviaLocal Indigenous participants at the People's Climate Summit in
Federal Judge suspends auction and Belo Monte license
Federal judge of Altamira (state of Pará) agreed with the Federal Public Ministry in one of the public civil suits dealing with irregularities in the venture of the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric. The Federal Court ordered the suspension of the preliminary license for the Belo Monte hydroelectric da
Letter from James Cameron to President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva
April 8, 2010Your Excellency, President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva,I am writing to you as a concerned citizen of the Earth and on behalf of my children and future generations all over the world.
Pungarayacu and the Environment: Response to Ivanhoe Press Release*
Ivanhoe's most recent press release on the progress of the Pungarayacu project, posted March 16, 2010, contradicts the truth from the ground about what is happening with the project and glorifies the HTL drilling technol
Resolutions from the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) Assembly
EL GOBIERNO DE LAS NACIONALIDADES Y PUEBLOS DEL ECUADORLAS AUTORIDADES DE LOS PUEBLOS Y NACIONALIDADES INDIGENAS DEL ECUADOR, REUNIDAS EN LA CIUDAD DE AMBATO, ENTRE LOS DIAS 25 Y 26 DE FEBRERO DEL 2010, AMPARADOS EN SU PRESENCIA HISTORICA Y EN BASE DEL PRINCIPIO DEL ESTADO PLURINACIONAL CONSAGRADO EN LA CONSTITUCION D
A second hydrocarbon boom threatens the Peruvian Amazon: trends, projections, and policy implications A report by Matt Finer and Marti Orta-Martinez, Environmental Research Letters
A rapid and unprecedented proliferation of oil and gas concessions threatens the mega-diverse Peruvian Amazon.
AIDESEP Decries the Peruvian Government's Oil Rush
In light of the Peruvian State's push for the granting of oil and gas concessions in our Amazonian rainforest, AIDESEP would like the Peruvian and international citizens and decision-makers to know the following:1) We condemn the government of Peru for not fulfilling its obligations and failing to protect
Brazilian Government Shoves Belo Monte Down Our Throats Ahead of Campaign Season
Brazil's Xingu River, its indigenous and traditional inhabitants, and the immense stretches of intact Amazon rainforest that it traverses, are under threat.
From the Xingu Alive Forever Movement: a letter of denouncement and indignation against the approval of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Dam's provisional license.
This letter was issued by the civil society organization Xingu Alive Forever Movement (Movimento Xingu Vivo Para Sempre) strongly denouncing the approval of the provisional license for the Belo Monte mega-dam on the Xingu River.
